"Marvel's Thunderbolts Series Rebrands as New Avengers, Echoing MCU"

With the Thunderbolts movie now captivating audiences in theaters, Marvel Comics is poised to conclude one chapter of the franchise and herald a new era for this iconic super-team. However, Marvel has thrown a curveball at fans by renaming the Thunderbolts as "The New Avengers" following its first weekend of release. This unexpected twist is mirrored in the comics, where characters like Carnage, Clea, and Wolverine are tasked with embodying the spirit of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Can they rise to the occasion?

The transition to a cohesive and effective Avengers team will be challenging for these characters, as highlighted in our recent conversation with writer Sam Humphries. Dive deeper into the Thunderbolts/New Avengers transformation, Humphries' selection of this eclectic yet formidable lineup, and the looming threat that necessitates such a powerful team.

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Who Are the New Avengers?

Given Marvel Studios' reputation for secrecy, we were eager to learn when Humphries was informed about the title change during the development of his Thunderbolts pitch. Was the New Avengers concept part of the initial plan, or a later pivot? Humphries clarifies that the title change was a foundational element from the start.

"It was part of the very first conversation I had with Alanna [Smith]," Humphries shares with 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 elaborates, "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."

In crafting the lineup, Humphries had considerable freedom to select characters representing various facets of the Marvel Universe. "Oh, this was so much fun," Humphries enthuses. "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.)"

The New Avengers aren't the typical paragons of virtue; they're a mix of hardened killers, monsters, and even a cranky underwater monarch. Much like the original New Avengers from 2004, this team is assembled by fate and circumstance, and their initial interactions are bound to be explosive.

"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

While the new series reflects the MCU's title change, the roster differs significantly. The constant is Bucky Barnes, who remains after the current Thunderbolts team concludes in Thunderbolts: Doomstrike. It's up to the former Winter Soldier to unite this diverse group into a functional team.

"I have so much love for Jackson [Lanzing] and Collin's [Kelly] long, glorious run with Bucky," Humphries expresses. "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."

The New Avengers face a formidable adversary inspired by the Illuminati, dubbed the "Killuminati." Humphries teases, "Someone tried to make duplicates of the Illuminati, and someone f***ed up. Now there's seven demented and deformed worst-case scenarios running around. Bucky's gonna have big problems keeping his team together. And the same goes for the Killuminati and their 'leader' -- Iron Apex."

Collaborating with artist Ton Lima, whose previous works include New Thunderbolts and West Coast Avengers, Humphries describes Lima's art as drawing inspiration not from the MCU, but from another action-packed movie franchise. "Ton is a BEAST," Humphries praises. "He makes the good guys look brutal and sexy, and the bad guys look brutal and disgusting. I told him he needed to watch every Fast and the Furious movie in a row ten times without breaks. Based on his pages, I think he actually did it, the madman!"

The New Avengers #1 is set to release on June 11, 2025.

For more insights into the MCU's latest developments, explore why Thunderbolts was renamed The New Avengers, and delve into why the MCU has a big problem with Sebastian Stan's Bucky.