Marvel Comics’ Avengers will take on a world they never existed in May

In May, Marvel’s Avengers the comic book will take a strange turn: it will not contain any Avengers. Writer Jason Aaron and artist Ed McGuinness new arc will explore a Marvel Universe where the Avengers never formed – but many of their villains did – in a revealing Marvel Comics form.

“Welcome to a world where Tony Stark never built Iron Man armor,” Marvel’s press release states, “Where Thor is an atheist who drinks hard and despises hammers. Where Wakanda is dismissed as a myth. And where Captain America was never found in the ice, because there was no Avengers to find him. Instead, this world has always been protected by Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, America’s Supreme Squadron.

Image: Iban Coello, Espen Grundetjern / Marvel Comics

The Supreme Squadron are … well, they’re a pastiche of the Justice League, usually led by the orphaned alien Hyperion, alongside the Night Nighthawk, the Warrior, et cetera. In Marvel Comics’ current state, this is the US state-sponsored super team – coordinated by disillusioned agent Phil Coulson – after the Avengers fell out of favor following the whole debacle. of the Secret Empire.

In this new Marvel Universe, the squadron also has its own sequel of new supervillians, each of which seems to have a certain mashup quality to them. Dr. Juggernaut appears to be a version of Doctor Doom who claimed the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak and obtained Juggernaut’s powers. Thanos is using “infinity rings” this time around, pointing to some qualities shared with Iron Man’s villain, the Mandarin. Everything is very Infinity Warp-y.

The new arc – featuring Blade as the only person in the Marvel Universe who remembers the way things once were – will debut in Avengers in May.