Marvels Heroic Age has two teams of Avengers
If you were wondering why Marvel decided to cancel three of their most successful titles after the events of the NK maligned Siege event, then you do not know the Marvel Comics business model. Whenever there is a relaunch, go for the ol’ number one. Following in that process, Marvel has announced 5 members of the new Avengers team led by the creative team of Brian Bendis and John Romita Jr. But Marvel still likes to squeeze the orange that is their fans for every pint they are worth, so today they announced a second Avengers book written by luminary talent of Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato. This will be a book entitled “The Secret Avengers.” Analysis after the break.
So let’s start with who is an Avenger this time around. Then I will devote a very special paragraph to the Secret Avengers. We have Bucky as Captain America. While this is a great step up for the sidekick turned legacy hero, one wonders if he can truly lead a team that will comprise of a God and former head of SHIELD. Maybe Bucky can have a different dynamic than Steve ever did, though I am curious how his threat to kill Tony Stark will go over. Eh, Tony had his mind rebooted; that’s penance enough right?
Speaking of Tony, Iron Man is part of this new coalition. Isn’t that going to be kinda hard now that he is completely broke? Doesn’t matter, ’cause Matt Fraction put Tony through hell, sex, and mind rebooting to clear up the character and put him into the new decade. Of course he has screwed with every single member of the Avengers team, so the dynamic is going to be fascinating to see. That and his armor is ugly. I don’t care if the armor is from 3010 and is shiny, it’s look dumb with all of those lights.
Completing the holy trinity of the Avengers is Thor. This is a guy who spent most of his time remaking a kingdom, reestablishing his secret identity, and in general avoiding people. Unless you count the time he smacked Iron Man around and helped with the Skrull invasion where he gave Iron Man the brush off. Can’t wait to see how these former friends get over the idea that Tony declared war on most of them, led to the death of a friend, and in general screwed over the superhero populace. Oh, and he gave Norman the Thunderbolts which led to Norman’s Dark Reign. Thor being on this team is either the act of ultimate forgiveness, or Thor keeping his eye on Tony.
In the “Pitch This” article that Josh and I wrote, we established the idea of Kate Bishop (the young avengers Hawkeye) being on the Avengers team. Marvel decided the better idea was to not have Kate, but bring back Clint. Hey, that’s cool Marvel. Why is Clint doing this? He gave the identity to Kate, he seemed happy as Ronin, and he has no reason to even take this identity back. Does the war in Asgard create a hankering to snipe people behind the back, like Marvel just did to Kate Bishop? I love Clint, but he worked fine as Ronin.
And then there was Spider-woman. A secret agent working for multiple agencies finds time to don a bright red and yellow costume and hang out with the very public Avengers team. That fits really well in the dynamic, but hey the Black Widow was an Avenger, right? Oh wait, she retired first. Now that we have a Secret Avengers team that would greatly benefit from a freeking SPY in their ranks, other than Bucky, I really question why the hell is she even here? Only clue I have is she is a Bendis pet character.
Finally, let’s get to this century’s Secret Defenders. Now I am not disputing the fact that the Secret Avengers team has a dynamite creative team, I am just wondering what the hell is the point of the team. Two secret agent spy types are in the high profile Avengers team! The image we have, all in shadow, seems to either be Spider-man or other Heroic Age teasers like Beast or Gorilla Boy from Agents of Atlas. Lord knows what this series will be, but I DO have hope in the title. Brubaker excels at street level-espionage-noir tales. I really hope that this title leads in this direction.
And what do you, the fans, think of the latest developments? Do you have a lot of hope or NERD RAGE? Let us know! More news as it breaks!
2 Responses to “Marvels Heroic Age has two teams of Avengers”
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I’ll totally be reading the Brubaker Avengers. Splitting them up just gives me a good excuse to drop another Bendis title.
[...] had a lot ot say about Siege, his Twitter feed, and the Avengers. Nerdiest-Kids recently wrote an article about the Bendis relauch of the Avengers AND the recently announced Secret Avengers. Now it seems [...]