Marvel Teases British Superhero Team The Union

Article updated February 19, 2020:

Marvel have announced “The Union,” a five-issue comic starring a new British superhero team by writer Paul Grist (“Kane,” “Jack Staff”) and artist Andrea Di Vito (“Ant-Man and the Wasp”). Spinning out of the crossover event ‘Empyre’ in May, the comic will see longtime Marvel hero Union Jack (Joseph Chapman) join forces with four new characters, namely the sword-wielding Britannia; the spritely Kelpie; the hulking Snakes; and the mysterious Choir.

Union Jack first appeared in July 1976’s “The Invaders” #7 as a wartime ally of Captain America, Namor and the Human Torch: Chapman, the present day incarnation of the character, has previously been a member of other British Marvel superhero groups like the Knights of Pendragon and MI-13. Grist is an English writer/artist whose previous credits include Marvel’s 1996 “Daily Bugle” series, and the 2000 Image series “Jack Staff,” which was created as a pastiche of Union Jack. He commented, “This is the comic I’ve been waiting 40 years to write! New heroes! New adventures! And a team that’s falling apart before it’s even begun!”

The new characters were designed by cover artist R.B. Silva (“Powers of X”), who told Marvel, “I really like Medieval themes and when I was designing these, I thought of the series The Last Kingdom on Netflix. With Britannia and Kelpie, I wanted them to look like Medieval warriors and I just simplified and modernized it from there. For Snakes, I thought of the visual for the [public] executioner. Someone the enemy will fear from just a look. And for the Choir, more of a light visual, something that can enable quick movements. On her knife I put three dragon’s heads. I know on Wales’ flag they have a dragon with only one head but I thought, why not three?” Interior artist Di Vito is an Italian penciler/inker who has regularly drawn Marvel titles since Michael Avon Oeming’s “Thor” run in 2004.

“The Union” #1 will be released in May.