Who Are Marvel’s New Avengers?

Marvel Comics is giving the Avengers a fresh start and that includes an entirely new team roster.

Avengers #1 launches in May from writer Jason Aaron and artist Ed Guinness. This will be the first time in years that Marvel has only been publishing a single Avengers series. As part of Marvel’s “Fresh Start” lineup, Avengers will ship 18 issues a year, replacing the multiple-series franchise of titles that included books like New Avengers, Secret Avengers, and Uncanny Avengers in the past.

Avengers #1 reflects that status quo. After the events of Avengers: No Surrender, the three Avengers teams that joined forces in that consolidated single series are pared down to the point that there are practically no Avengers left. This leaves a vacuum for this new Avengers team form.

The series will have a similar format to Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder series, shifting back and forth between present day events with the current Avengers team and the story of the prehistoric Avengers of 10,000 BC that was introduced by Aaron in the Marvel Legacy one-shot. That team includes the first Black Panther, Ghost Rider, Odin, the Phoenix, Starbrand, Iron Fist, and Agamotto. The threat introduced in the Marvel Legacy one-shot, the enormous Dark Celestials, will tie the two stories together.

“We wanted to get back to a small, core lineup. With big, iconic characters at the heart of that,” Aaron says. “So we get Steve, Tony, and Thor Odinson back together at the heart of this new team, and the rest of the team we build around them over the course of the first arc. My aim with this series is basically, if you only read one Marvel comic — not that you should read just one Marvel comic, but if you did — if you picked this book up, this would show you the landscape of the Marvel universe issue after issue. We want to feature the biggest characters and go to the coolest, most exotic locations around the Marvel U.”

So we know who the prehistoric Avengers are and have an idea about the threat the Avengers are facing, but what about this new roster of Avengers in the modern day? Here’s a rundown of who the new Avengers are and what is going on in their lives in the Marvel universe right now.

Iron Man

After some time away, the founding Avenger is returning to the team.

Iron Man hasn’t just been away from the Avengers though. He’s actually been catatonic since his last throwdown with Captain Marvel (more on her later) in Civil War II.

Tony Stark has come back to consciousness recently, though he’s yet to reclaim the mantle as Iron Man. Doctor Doom is still using the title to try to redeem himself for his past transgressions while Riri Williams, Tony’s former apprentice, has been carrying on her teacher’s legacy as Ironheart.

Ironheart is set ot join the Champions. Doom’s future is unclear. Tony will reclaim the spotlight as Iron Man in Invincible Iron Man #600, Brian Michael Bendis’ last issue. The series will then be handed off to Dan Slott and likely given a new first issue as part of Marvel’s “Fresh Start.”

Thor

Thor is another Avenger reclaiming his mantle at the same time that he is rejoining the Avengers.

For the past several years, the Odinson has been unworthy of wielding Mjolnir after Nick Fury whispered into his ears the words, “No god is worthy.”

Since then, Jane Foster has been the Goddess of Thunder, fighting to keep peace across the realms. But Jane is also fighting cancer and every time she transforms into Thor she becomes iller. Her story will come to a head in the conclusion to “Death of the Mighty Thor.”

Jason Aaron has been writing a grand Thor saga since 2012. It should be exciting to see how that weaves into his Avengers run.

Captain America

For the first time in years, the big three prime Avengers will be on the team at the same time.

Captain America isn’t technically a founding member of the Avengers, but he is as synonymous with the team as Thor or Iron Man.

Where Thor and Iron Man are just now reclaiming their mantles, Captain America went through that process in last year’s Secret Empire event. Captain America had been corrupted by the Red Skull and a sentient cosmic cube and turned into a Hydra sleeper agent. That evil Captain America took over America and plunged it into a Hydra-ruled fascist state. Luckily, the true Captain America emerged from the recesses of evil Cap’s mind with a new body to defeat the Hydra regime.

Captain America has been touring America, trying to restore the American people’s trust in him. More recently, he’s been flung into a dystopian future. Avengers will likely begin just after Cap returns.

Black Panther

Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America long ago established themselves as the prime Avengers trinity. Black Panther aims to become the fourth member of that elite club in Jason Aaron’s run.

When the series was announced, Aaron stated that he planned to turn the Avengers’ “Big Three” into a “Big Four.”

“I think the Big Three of the Avengers are really, really close to being the Big Four,” Aaron said. “I think Black Panther definitely deserves to be at the heart of an Avengers team like this, when you’re talking about the biggest, most iconic characters from that lineage. He has a big, big role to play, not just in this arc, but in this book going forward, and it’s really fun to be writing him again.”

Captain Marvel

Carol may not be a founding Avengers, but she is a longtime member as Captain Marvel and before that as Ms. Marvel and Warbird.

She’s returning to the team in time to reestablish herself as one of the premiere heroes of the Marvel Universe just in time for her big screen debut in the Captain Marvel movie in 2019.

What’s interesting here is that she’ll be on a team with Iron Man. She and Iron Man were leading opposite sides in Marvel’s Civil War II, something Jason Aaron has not forgotten.

“They’re not exactly all warm and fuzzy with each other,” Aaron said.

She-Hulk

Jennifer Walters was another major casualty of Civil War II, but where Iron Man was knocked out of commission during the final battle against a fellow hero, She-Hulk was taken down by the villain Thanos in what was the inciting incident of the conflict.

Thanos not only put Jen in a coma but killed War Machine, which is one major reason that Iron Man became so passionately opposed to Captain Marvel’s use of predictive judgment.

When Jen awoke from the coma, her She-Hulk form had turned gray and become a manifestation of her of her trauma from the event. Though she appears to be green again, Aaron says her powers will be even more in flux.

“You’ll see us playing with her powers a little bit, trying to differentiate her more from the Banner Hulk, and make her a more unique interesting version of the Hulk in her own right,” he said.

Ghost Rider

Robbie Reyes will become the first Ghost Rider to join the Avengers.

Robbie is unique among the Ghost Riders in that his origin story is different than that of Johnny Blaze or Danny Ketch. Robbie is not possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance but instead haunted by his dead uncle, who was a Satanic serial killer.

Because of this, Robbie’s powers have been different from those of past Ghost Riders. However, in Marvel Legacy #1 – which was also written by Jason Aaron – Robbie found that he was able to use the Ghost Rider’s signature ability, the penance stare. Perhaps he has more in common with the other Ghost Riders than he originally thought.

Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange rounds out the new Avengers team, but only temporarily. This is a spot that will rotate in and out different members depending on the team’s needs and the needs of the story that Jason Aaron is trying to tell.

Doctor Strange’s involvement in the first arc suggest arcane mischief is afoot, but that’s just speculation. What we do know is that Aaron himself set up Strange’s current status quo, one where Earth’s magic was nearly stripped away entirely by a universe-hopping, anti-magic group called the Empirikul.

More recently, some of that magic has been restored to Earth through the efforts of Loki, so Strange should be more powerful than he has been in some time when he rejoins the Avengers.