Mirroring the MCU, Marvel Comics' Thunderbolts* Series Becomes The New Avengers

With the Thunderbolts movie now in theaters, Marvel Comics is preparing to cap off one incarnation of the franchise and usher in a brand new era for this long-running super-team. But there’s a twist. Just as Marvel surprised MCU fans by retitling Thunderbolts as “The New Avengers” after its first weekend of release, the new Thunderbolts comic is also undergoing the same title change. Now heroes like Carnage, Clea, and Wolverine face the challenge of living up to the example of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Do they have what it takes?

Maybe, but it’s going to be a real uphill battle for these characters to become a cohesive and functional Avengers team. That was the big takeaway from our recent chat with writer Sam Humphries. Read on to learn more about the Thunderbolts/New Avengers shake-up, how Humphries selected this motley but powerful roster, and what new threat demands such a team of heavy-hitters.

Who Are the New Avengers?

Given that Marvel Studios is notoriously secretive about upcoming projects, we were curious when in the process of developing his Thunderbolts pitch Humphries knew about the title change. Was he planning a New Avengers comic from the beginning, or was this a more recent swerve? Fortunately, it turns out this wasn’t a last-minute surprise dumped in his lap, but part of the plan from the very beginning.

“It was part of the very first conversation I had with Alanna [Smith],” Humphries tells IGN.
It's been exhilarating and maddening to keep this top secret for months. Like planning a surprise party, but for thousands of people. I don't even have a document on my hard drive that says ‘New Avengers’ on it. You never know.”

Humphries continues, “Initially, there were some logistical details to be worked out behind the scenes, so I had to be prepared to pivot on a dime. But the whole plan was locked in by the time I started the first issue. You can see it in the lineup -- the New Avengers and the Killuminati both have echoes of [Brian] Bendis' and [Jonathan] Hickman's New Avengers teams. Jed's [MacKay] got a killer lineup of do-gooders in the Avengers book, and I wanted our book to distinguish itself with a bunch of bastards.”

As for that lineup, Humphries reveals that he had a lot of freedom to pick and choose his Thunderbolts/New Avengers. The goal was to pick characters that could represent the various major superhuman corners of the Marvel Universe.

“Oh, this was so much fun,” Humphries says. “My basic concept was -- the Illuminati were seven kings and heroes from seven different corners of the Marvel Universe, so what if we did the same with some of the biggest badasses representing mutants, the mystical world, the Spider family, the gamma family, and so on? I have immense gratitude for our amazing editor Alanna Smith who supported this idea from the jump, even though she had to liaise with pretty much every Marvel editorial office to make it happen. That scream you hear is her Microsoft Teams begging for mercy. And big thanks to all the editors and creators who were generous enough to trust us with their wonderful, cherished characters! Love you all! (They're gonna regret it.)”

As Humphries alludes above, the various New Avengers aren’t necessarily bastions of morality and superheroic decency. This is a team of hardened killers, monsters, and one cranky underwater monarch. Much like the original New Avengers from 2004, this team is brought together by fate and circumstance, and they aren’t going to immediately get along.

“I think the phrase I used in my pitch was ‘interpersonal dynamics go BOOM,’" Humphries says. “These aren't level-headed guardians of humanity, these are a bunch of hothead bastards trying to use their bad impulses for good, with mixed results. They should not be allowed to be in the same room together. The big question is, who hates each other the most? It might be Clea and Carnage. Or it might be Namor and Laura. Or it might be…”

Bucky Barnes and the Killuminati

Despite the new series mimicking the MCU in terms of its title change, the actual New Avengers roster is quite a bit different from the MCU version. The one constant here is Bucky Barnes, who is sticking around after the current Thunderbolts team takes its final bow in Thunderbolts: Doomstrike. It’s going to fall on the former Winter Soldier to wrangle this group of big personalities and bigger powers into a functional team.

“I have so much love for Jackson [Lanzing] and Collin's [Kelly] long, glorious run with Bucky,” Humphries says. “I'm honored and lucky to follow what they've achieved with the character. And Bucky's gonna need the wisdom and experience of every insane thing they put him through. The world is upside down and someone needs to do something about it, damn it.”

What threat could possibly demand the combined might of Wolverine, Namor, Carnage, Clea, and Hulk? Just as the New Avengers are inspired by the classic Illuminati lineup, their opponents in the series are a direct offshoot of the Illuminati. Humphries calls them the “Killuminati.”