Avengers… synergize! In 2012, Marvel Comics launched Avengers Assembleto coincide with the release of the Marvel Studios blockbuster The Avengers. Described as a jumping-on point for new readers, the 25-issue series was set in the Marvel Comics canon but featured a cast inspired by the movie: Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk. In another synergistic move with the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stark Tower was rebuilt as the new Avengers Tower, and Earth’s mightiest heroes faced off against the mad cosmic tyrant Thanos (revealed as the benefactor of Tom Hiddleston’s Loki in the film’s post-credits scene).
This week’s Avengers Assemble #1 by Steve Orlando (Scarlet Witch) and artist Cory Smith (Wolverine) is the first in a new, five-issue volume, which sees Steve Rogers assemble the AVENG.E.R.S.: the Avengers Emergency Response Squad.
(Photo: Avengers Assemble #1 (2012) and Avengers Assemble #1 (2024). – Marvel Comics)
The A.E.R.S. operates out of Avengers Mansion and deploys the crisis team across the globe to face such threats as Sin, the Serpent Society (featured in 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World), the demon Mephisto (rumored to appear in Marvel Television’s Ironheart), the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes, the new vampire-hunting Nightstalkers, and Doctor Doom (who is being positioned as the villain of a 2025 crossover event ahead of Robert Downey Jr.’s role as Victor Von Doom in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday and 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars).
While the current iteration of the Avengers includes Captain America (Sam Wilson), Iron Man (Tony Stark), Thor, Black Panther (T’Challa), Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers), Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff), Vision, and Storm of the X-Men, the A.E.R.S. assembles lesser-known superheroes like Lightspeed, Night Thrasher, and Lightning alongside characters who have recently featured in the MCU.
(Photo: Marvel Comics)
Avengers Assemble spotlights Photon (Monica Rambeau, played by Teyonah Parris in The Marvels), Shang-Chi (Simu Liu, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner, Hawkeye), Hercules (Brett Goldstein, Thor: Love and Thunder), and Wonder Man (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Disney+’s upcoming Wonder Man series).
As it happens, the MCU Avengers have been disassembled since the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. The new Avengers could include such established heroes as Spider-Man (Tom Holland), Captain America (Anthony Mackie), Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Black Panther (Letitia Wright) alongside Photon, Shang-Chi, She-Hulk, and Wonder Man as Avengers 5 is rumored to assemble more than 60 characters.
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, Avengers: Doomsday is slated to release May 1st, 2026, followed by Avengers: Secret Wars on May 7th, 2027.
Avengers Assemble could hint at the new Avengers lineup in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Read More