Brian Bendis Talks New...New Avengers!
In an interview with IGN, the comic book writer reveals the new direction the title will take in the Heroic Age and hints at what else is to come in June...
After the recent news that Marvel intend to cancel all four titles in the Avengers franchise, many wondered what would come next. Since then, we've had the news that Brian Bendis and John Romita Jr. will be on The Avengers and Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato will team up for Secret Avengers.
As well as these titles it was recently announced that Bendis will be retaining New Avengers with current artist Stuart Immonen. IGN Comics were able to catch up with the writer to find out more. Here are the main highlights of the interview but for the whole thing just click the link below!
Can you describe how New Avengers is positioned versus Dark Avengers and Avengers? How does New Avengers stand apart thematically?
The New Avengers are a revamped line-up of what was the New Avengers. But now they're not in the conspiracy mode, they're in the Heroic Age mode. I'm trying to figure out what to say...I don't want to ruin it, but I want people to buy the book! They've worked really, really hard to come out of this age, and now they're really Avengers – now what?
Do they have a different mission statement from the other Avenger teams or are there just different squads?
No. They're in a different place, a different physical location, they are in a different situation politically than the other Avengers. They're not at odds though the past Avengers titles have been. These two teams are co-habitating of their own free will. The New Avengers were at first together because Cap wanted them together, and then they were together out of necessity, because they couldn't let each other out of their sights. Now it's not out of necessity or out of a battle like Civil War. They've earned this.
Spider-Man and Wolverine are on the cover of Avengers #1. Are they on two Avengers teams now? And what is Ben Grimm doing on an Avengers team?
It's a fluid situation. But what's going to happen, which is funny, is the fluidity is going to become an issue. There's going to be one place where everyone is hanging out, and another place they're supposed to be.
This isn't Luke's team, but it's pretty close. In the latest arc, Luke Cage is in trouble and all of his friends come to help him. I had to dig through some of the older Luke Cage stories to find who had been his friends, and I think people forget about Ben Grimm being one of those friends. There's a lot of history with the characters. And I thought that was pretty cool. So the tone of Ben in the book is fantastic. He's so good. People might come for Spider-Man, they'll stay for the Thing.
