The Avengers' New Lineup Revealed

Midtown Comics has a trio of interlocking variant covers for Uncanny Avengers, All-New X-Men and Avengers, all drawn by superstar Marvel artist J. Scott Campbell, which will roll out with the releases of those titles over the course of October, November and December. Of course, Marvel's solicitations aren't yet available and while we knew that Jonathan Hickman and Jerome Opena were working on Avengers together, we had no idea until now who might actually be starring in that title. Fortunately, Campbell has given fans a sneak peek at his in-progress cover, in the form of a page on the Midtown site where you can buy the thing, and so now it seems as if we know. The lineup--consisiting of Iron Man, The Hulk, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Spider-Man seems like it's a substantially pared down version of the current team, with the large cast that was the norm for so much of the Brian Michael Bendis run on The Avengers simply divided between this book and other Marvel team titles. And for only $8, you can buy one yourself, with one of New York's best-known retailers setting that as the price tag for their custom variant cover...and for the scoop to show up on comics news sites! It also, perhaps not surprisingly given the fact that most of this team has been teamed recently with the Guardians of the Galaxy in Avengers Assmble, seems to be suggesting a somewhat more cosmic flavor to the title: "It's a new day and a new beginning for the Earth's Mightiest Heroes," says the text below the image on the Midtown site, "with a brand new team that's bigger and better than ever before! And they won't just be 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes', either – when the galaxy is in danger, the Avengers will answer the call!" Avengers #1 will be on sale December 5, 2012.