The times, they are a-changin' for the Avengers. Even if it were just the final issue of Avengers vs. X-Men in October, fans could expect the Avengers lineup to change and evolve just as it has after other major event comics like Civil War and Secret Invasion. But October also marks the beginning of Marvel NOW! The Avengers are going to be a very different group a month from now.
Previously, Marvel revealed what to expect from Rick Remender's Uncanny Avengers and Kelly Sue DeConnick Avengers Assemble rosters. But those two groups feature fairly small, intimate casts. If you want scale, what better writer to turn to than Jonathan Hickman? Hickman is set to take over both relaunched versions Avengers and New Avengers as part of Marvel NOW! While we don't know much about the latter book yet, we do know that Avengers will ship biweekly beginning in December and feature a much larger cast of characters than the current series.
Today, Marvel finally shed more light on that mystery roster. On their website, they revealed a gatefold image comprised of covers (drawn by Dustin Weaver) from the first three issues of the new series. These three comics show the roster to include:
- Captain America
- Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers)
- Black Widow
- The Falcon
- Iron Man
The lineup is an eclectic mix of returning favorites, former Avengers returning to the fold, and completely new additions. Hickman's earlier hints that he planned to include members of the New Mutants clearly panned out. Also pictured is a mystery character in the background of the issue #1 cover.
It's also worth noting that these covers still don't depict the full lineup. Hickman noted on Twitter today, "Image released today is not the complete roster, we intentionally left off new characters for spoiler reasons." He later elaborated that eight more characters remain unrevealed, pushing the roster beyond the originally announced 18 and to almost two dozen Avengers.
Any guesses who the remaining eight characters are? What about the mystery character shown here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.