Thunderbolts Series: Marvel's New Avengers Unveiled

With the Thunderbolts movie now gracing theaters, Marvel Comics is gearing up to end one era of the franchise and launch a new chapter for this iconic super-team. However, there's an unexpected 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 must rise to the challenge of embodying the legacy of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Do they have what it takes?

It's going to be an uphill battle for these characters to form a cohesive and functional Avengers team. This was the key insight from our recent conversation with writer Sam Humphries. Dive deeper to discover more about the Thunderbolts/New Avengers transformation, how Humphries curated this diverse yet powerful roster, and what formidable threat necessitates such a team of heavy-hitters.

The New Avengers #1: Exclusive Preview Gallery

View 19 ImagesWho Are the New Avengers?

Given Marvel Studios' reputation for secrecy around upcoming projects, we were eager to learn when Sam Humphries was informed about the title change during the development of his Thunderbolts pitch. Was the New Avengers comic always part of the plan, or was it a recent pivot? Fortunately, Humphries reveals that this wasn't a last-minute surprise but was part of the initial plan.

"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 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."

"Jed's 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 the lineup, Humphries reveals that he had significant freedom in selecting the Thunderbolts/New Avengers. The aim was to represent the various major superhuman factions 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 hints, the New Avengers aren't necessarily paragons of virtue and superheroic decency. This team comprises hardened killers, monsters, and one irritable underwater monarch. Much like the original New Avengers from 2004, this team is united by fate and circumstance, and they won't immediately gel.

"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 echoing the MCU's title change, the actual New Avengers roster differs significantly from the MCU version. The one constant is Bucky Barnes, who remains after the current Thunderbolts team takes its final bow in Thunderbolts: Doomstrike. It will be up to the former Winter Soldier to manage this group of big personalities and even 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 require the combined might of Wolverine, Namor, Carnage, Clea, and Hulk? Just as the New Avengers draw inspiration from the classic Illuminati lineup, their adversaries in the series are a direct offshoot of the Illuminati. Humphries dubs them the "Killuminati."

Art by Josemaria Casnanovas. (Image Credit: Marvel)"Someone tried to make duplicates of the Illuminati, and someone f***ed up," Humphries teases. "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."

The New Avengers pairs Humphries with artist Ton Lima, who previously worked on books like New Thunderbolts and West Coast Avengers. Humphries reveals that the art in this series is heavily inspired not by the MCU, but by a certain other wildly popular action movie franchise.

"Ton is a BEAST," Humphries says. "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 will be released on June 11, 2025.

For more on the MCU's latest switcheroo, find out why Thunderbolts was renamed The New Avengers, and learn why the MCU has a big problem with Sebastian Stan's Bucky.