Preview: Hickman's Avengers

[kevinroc]

Jonathan Hickman posted this image on his twitter, revealing his initial Avengers roster.



The roster, at least initially, is Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman, Falcon, Shang-Chi, Sunspot, Cannonball, Manifold (Eden Fesi of Secret Warriors fame), Smasher (looks like she's new), Captain Universe (I'm really curious how that is going to work) and Hyperion.

Comments

[xakko]

so we get the Superman analogue without the personality issues?

nice promotion for Sam and Roberto, tho'

[icon_uk]

Sam has long deserved a high profile position like this (though it sort of flies in the face of him leaving the New Mutants because he didn't want to be a hero any more and going to the Jean Grey School where he's done basically sod all that I'm aware of). I just hope they don't play him as a starstruck hick, the way they did when he joined the X-Men (despite having lead both the New Mutants and X-Force)

Roberto is an odder choice, his powers aren't particularly great or novel (He's strong, and can shoot terribly generic energy beams from time to time, but is dependent on solar energy to do anything), he's never shown much interest in upgrading even to the X-Men, and his ego is usually much larger than his actual skills. Might be interesting, but still an odd choice.

[chieflewal]

I've always thought Sam should die. On account of he shoots fire out of his rear end.

[skjam]

Okay, Hyperion is a Titan name, if I recall correctly...

[donnblake]

Yes, Hyperion was one of the Titans. He's also the Superman analogue of the Squadron Supreme in it's various incarnations.

[skjam]

What I mean is given the arc name, it will revolve around him in some way.

[darkknightjrk]

I kinda got the feeling that may have been a joke title, considering what they put in for artists...

[spacebetween]

The question is which Hyperion will they use. As there have been a few over the years, then again they could always make a new one. Wouldn't surprise me if they are pushing for a 616 Squardon Supreme at some point.

[bruinsfan]

If it's the original Hyperion, there's also the question of who's mind-controlling him this month.

[darkknightjrk]

Okay...is it just me, or does anyone get any Legion Mission Board vibes from his roster page?

[bewareofgeek]

Hickman loves this sort of graphic design. He used it in Secret Warriors a few times. Rarely impacts the plot, though.

[whoha]

He seems to be a big legion fan on twitter. So it wouldn't b a surprise if it has a influence on his Avengers run.

[silicondream]

First thing I thought of was the Sphere Grid from Final Fantasy X.

[bewareofgeek]

Smasher is one of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard, their Ultra Boy analogue. We've already seen a female version in some early preview art.

[spacebetween]

It will be interesting to see how they handle Captain Universe now and down the road. Ashame that Beta Ray Bill isn't there, it would be fun to see him and Thor on an Avengers team.

[q99]

I do wonder which CU it is. Is it going to be just one?

[silverhammerman]

I`m not sure I like the idea of Smasher. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great idea to introduce a new female character, but I'm irked by the fact that she's using a previous male hero's name. Why not give her her own name and let her completely stand on her own? I mean sure, I had literally never heard of the original Smasher until I googled him, but I'm still annoyed that when creating a new female character she still has to have some element that's borrowed from a dude.
And Smasher is a lame name, seriously.

I do like that Hickman seems to be striking a balance between the JLA-style lineup with all the big names being put on one team, which has become popular in recent years, and the proud Avenger's tradition of highlighting more offbeat and minor characters who wouldn't get stories otherwise.

[sir_mikael]

Smasher is basically a position in the Shiar Imperial guard though, what with there always having been a new one taking over when an old one dies. She doesn't appear to be a stand alone concept as she seems to still serve, or at least have connections to the Imperial Guard.

Smasher is a riff on Ultra-Boy from the Legion of Superheroes, as most of the Imperial Guard are based on those guys.

[silverhammerman]

I guess that makes it a little better then. Still, it's just like: Why not just give her a new name? It's not like it would upset fans.
I guess I'm just annoyed by the fact that so many female characters seem to be derivative.

[stolisomancer]

Yeah, off the top of my head, this one's at least the third. There was the original, then the guy in the slightly different suit from Morrison's run, and now her.

[darkknightjrk]

but I'm irked by the fact that she's using a previous male hero's name. Why not give her her own name and let her completely stand on her own?/

I take it you're not a fan of the new Captain Marvel, then?

[silverhammerman]

Well I do like the character, and I like that they finally promoted her, but her origin will always be tied to the original Captain Marvel, and to me that sort of takes away from her ability to stand as a solitary character.
Also I'm not sure I could ever forgive Carol for possibly being the reason DC's Captain Marvel is called Shazam now, because Shazam is a garbage name for a superhero.

[darkknightjrk]

I think that's one of those things that are completely subjective and, frankly, arbitrary. I honestly don't see how "Shazam" is any more of a goofy name than "Superman."

[silverhammerman]

I suppose. I just think Captain Marvel is a really solid name, and Shazam just doesn't work for the character. It throws off the naming conventions for his whole franchise, are we gonna call Mary Marvel Mary Shazam now?
I probably just dislike it for being different though, in all honesty.

[icon_uk]

All superhero names are inherently goofy, but Superman is two words with sppecific meanings, combined to form one portmanteau word which also has a specific meaning. It's descriptive if nothing else.

Shazam is not a word with a meaning to the layman, it's a "sound" as much as anything.

[the_blue_padre]

I'm just old enough to hear the word "Shazam" said with the voice of Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle, which permanently damages it in my view.

[mrstatham]

See, that was the thing that always confused me when it came to people complaining about Bendis' time on the Avengers. I mean, yes, he put Spider-Man and Wolverine on the team, but at the same time he added characters like Luke Cage, Spider-Woman and the Sentry, none of whom, arguably, were incredibly popular before Bendis began using them.

In fact, I think part of the reason people started railing on Bendis' run - occasional tweaks of bad writing aside, although ANY writer has bad spots - is more that the Avengers became genuinely popular under his tenure. And that maybe has less to do with Bendis and more to do with the fact that during his tenure, Marvel started their heavy promotion of books with more advertising and more events.

[darkknightjrk]

Yeah, his run has had it's ups and downs, but the fact that he took a character like Luke Cage, made him an Avenger, and made it so people (like me) were genuinely sad to see him leave and think him as a true Avenger is a pretty big accomplishment.

Mod Note

[icon_uk]

Please don't use the term "lame" in the perjorative sense on scans_daily, it's an ableist term and we have plenty of other more suitable words available.

Re: Mod Note

[silverhammerman]

Agh, sorry, I wasn't thinking. Won't happen again.

Re: Mod Note

[icon_uk]

Cheers! (It can be an easy one to let slip by without realising, as I know from personal experience)

[protogarrett]

The Sentry Arc: Part 2 - Hyperion."
Tagline: Yes, we're doing it again.

[darkknightjrk]

I don't think I read anything with Hyperion, but I'm certain that we'll at least get 75% less of "hero insults superman-analogue and superman-analogue flies away crying" shenanigans that Sentry pulled off.

[alexanderlucard]

Hyperion? Seriously?

Man, I hope it's KING Hyperion from Exiles. That would be hilarious and awesome all at once. Especially with having Captain Universe on the same team. Hyperion and Capt U on the same team is like saying "Let's have two Thanos level guys on a team."

Who are Smasher and Manifold?

[kevinroc]

This is a new Smasher, a female that we know pretty much nothing about.

Manifold is Eden Fesi from Hickman's Secret Warriors. Think of him as Gateway Jr. (Technically, this would make him one of Hickman's pet characters. But I quite liked Secret Warriors and the Avengers could use another non-white member.)

[alexanderlucard]

Like Claremont's Native Australian Gateway. I always liked him.

[drmcninja]

Ugh, Hyperion. I'm sure he'll last long on the team, no matter which version it is. I just wish we were getting Iron Fist instead of Shang Chi.

[icon_uk]

Depends what they want to go for I suppose, Shang Chi is a badass normal (and every team should have one), Iron Fist has an actual superpower.

[glprime]

Well, that list was pretty obvious for the first seven names ("Everybody with a franchise on deck for the flagship title!!!"), but having TWO Asians on the team at once? There's a first. Does seem a bit overpowered with some of those, but we'll see what characterization Hickman spins for all these together.

[long_silence]

Wait two? The only Asian character I recognize is Shang-Chi, unless the new Smasher or Captain Universe are Asian.

[glprime]

Whoops. I'm confusing this line-up's Sunspot with Uncanny Avenger's Sunfire.

[darkknightjrk]

That's definitely intentional, I think. Hickman's gone on record to say that he wanted his Avengers roster to have at least half be either women or non-white, to make it feel more like a modern group of individuals.

[long_silence]

That still makes half the group white men, it's an improvement sure.

But the group is still mainly white and it's still mainly male.