Marvel released a nice little teaser today for their Free Comic Book Day issue of their All-New, All-Different Avengers, with two members revealed and four in shadow. So who will be the newest members of the Avengers post Secret Wars? Here's our thoughts, with some educated guesses and some rampant speculation. Hit the jump to see more.
Let's start by talking about the characters that are clearly identified. First of all:
KAMALA KAHN IS AN AVENGER!
You have no idea how happy this makes me. Kamala's acceptance by the Marvel fanbase, and her ability to bring in new readers, is fascinating and groundbreaking. But as someone who absolutely loves the character, and how much she nerds out at the site of superheroes - can you imagine Kamala's reaction to getting to join the Avengers? Oh man, I absolutely cannot wait for that issue.
The other great thing about Kamala's inclusion is the role she's likely play in the story - as the audience's in. We've talked about Kamala's ability to connect with audiences, so what better way to bring in a new audience than to give them a central character that's easy to identify with? I expect we'll see a lot of this tale from her perspective, which is fantastic.
FEMALE THOR AND FALCON CAPTAIN AMERICA ARE STICKING AROUND
A lot of people cynically assumed that Marvel would use Secret Wars to reset their status quo and undo some of the changes that have been happening in the universe recently. Instead, we get Female Thor right up top, and a silhouette that's clearly Sam Wilson (with the wings and the shield) directly below her. This is great news, and means that, even with the major changes that are probably happening in Secret Wars, these two new and interesting character changes are not going back to square one. Bravo, Marvel, for sticking to your guns despite some fan backlash.
Now, who are the rest of the team?
NOVA, BUT WHICH ONE?
The flyer on the bottom right just feels like Nova. The pose, those arm bands, most comic fans would identify the character outright as Nova. But the question becomes - which one? The Sam Alexander Nova that was launched by Jeph Loeb has been the Nova for a while now, but Richard Ryder's following is huge, and if they were going to launch Nova in the films (say, in Guardians 2), they might decide to go with Ricard instead of Sam. Admittedly, since we can't see the headspikes, the costume looks more like Sam's - and the writers may want two young characters for the audience to identify with. We'll have to see, but my money's on Sam for now.
SUPERIOR OR INVINCIBLE?
Top left looks an awful lot like Iron Man. Since the Axis crossover event, Iron Man's been a bit...well, evil. He's calling himself the Superior Iron Man now, and wearing a white armor that looks like it was designed by Steve Jobs. Art for Secret Wars has already shown us that version of Iron Man going up against an Iron Man from an alternate universe that looks more like classic 616 Tony Stark. So which Iron Man are we seeing in the Avengers? My guess is, the more heroic Tony. The silhouette shows a lot of angles coming out of the armor, where the Superior suit is all curves. That leads me to believe that we'll get classic red and gold Iron Man back before the end of Secret Wars, and he'll be serving as an Avenger. Business wise, it makes sense - with this many unfamiliar characters on their flagship team, Marvel will want a proven money maker.
And now, for the out-of-left-field pick...
In the upper right, that sure as heck looks like Doctor Doom. "Doctor Doom?! An Avenger?!" you say. Well, there have been stranger members of the Avengers, and Doom has been a "good guy" before. Add that to the fact that Secret Wars will be pulling characters from a multitude of universes into the Marvel universe proper, and there's a chance that this Doom may be from a What If, or 2099, or some other place where he wasn't all bad. Still, I don't think there's a Doctor Doom out there without an ego the size of Mars, so we'll certainly be seeing some interesting clashes of personality with Iron Man, at least.
And finally...
That's Spider-man in the middle, as much as I might hope it's The Scarlet Spider. Peter Parker is the safe bet. But we know for sure that Miles Morales will be joining the main universe post-Secret Wars, and Marvel is already putting some awesome and diverse choices in this line-up of the Avengers. So yeah, my money's on Miles. Will I be surprised if it's Peter? No, but I'd still be willing to bet that Marvel will continue to put their money where their mouth is on diversity, and stick an African American Spider-man in the center of the cover on their big Avengers relaunch. We'll see.
What do you guys think? Who will be an Avenger, and who would you like to see?
Mike Fatum is the Editor in Chief of the Ace of Geeks, and a co-host of the Ace of Geeks Podcast. He's really excited for the world of Marvel post-Secret Wars, especially as evidence mounts that it's not a reboot.
No comments:
Post a Comment