Rolling behind the news of Sam Wilson taking over as Captain America, Marvel has now revealed through Entertainment Weekly that this is all part of an initiative known as “Avengers NOW!”, which finds a new Avengers roster and three big new books – the previously announced new “Thor” #1 from Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman, “All-New Captain America” from Rick Remender and Stuart Immonen, and the newbie (as rumored) being “Superior Iron Man” from the team of Tom Taylor and Yildiray Cinar – guiding the way.
The Avengers roster – which includes the new woman Thor, Sam Wilson as Cap, Superior Iron Man (who seemingly is still Tony Stark), Scarlet Witch, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man, The Winter Soldier, Angela, Deathlok, Medusa, and Inferno from the Inhumans – feels very, very movie/TV oriented, and is probably the biggest hodgepodge of a roster I’ve seen since the days of Triathalon. The article didn’t specifically say that there was going to be an Avengers relaunch, but I have to imagine there is one on the horizon, especially with the EW article stating that other new series are coming.
In regards to “Superior Iron Man”, EW shared that this series launches in November, and finds Stark heading to San Francisco with a new “Genius Bar” costume and a new, apparently more dick-ish perspective on life, as Marvel EIC notes, “like the Superior Spider-Man, Superior Iron Man is a character that’s hard to root for.”
It’s an interesting turn, and one that kind of feels like almost test marketing things for the film world. Still, it should be interesting, and it is interesting to note that both the Fantastic Four and X-Men characters are completely absent from the line-up (given their recent efforts to shoehorn in Wolverine, who is “dead”, this stands out as weird). More on this as it develops, but I am dying to hear readers thoughts on this one.
*Note: as an able commenter on Twitter pointed out, this image EW ran could actually not be the new Avengers team, but just a collection of characters connected to the efforts (like Gorilla Man making it into those old “The Heroic Age” teasers). Good point.
