THE NEW, NEW AVENGERS...?
(OR THE NEW DEFENDERS)

by Michael McDaniel

     When the first issue of the New Avengers first hit the stands I greeted it with skepticism yet I was intrigued mostly due to the initial line-up of the team. Brian Michael Bendis was coming off of the ‘Avengers Disassembled’ storyline and he decided to add more than a few heroes that have never before been actual Avengers. I mean, when you call a team of Superheroes the ‘Avengers,’ they better, by God, have actual Avengers in the book! The original cast included Iron Man and Captain America - one founding member of the Avengers and the first addition to the team respectively. The other roster slots were filled by Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Sentry, and Wolverine (like he needed to be on yet another team!)  In addition, the team sort of had an 8th member named Ronin who was rumored to be Daredevil at one point but actually turned out to be Echo. (ARRGH!!!!)

The cover of New Avengers #1 Director's Cut...just which Director, I don't know!

     The team dynamics in the book were extremely fresh and quickly made the book a smash hit. Spiderman had never been a part of a team before and, although Wolverine has been a part of teams in the past, these were mainly X-Teams. As for Cage, Spiderwoman, and Sentry, they were also in mostly uncharted territory. Dialogue has always been a strong suit of Bendis and this book was no exception. The banter between the principles of the book have been some of the most memorable in Marvel-if not all of comics- in recent memory. The word bubbles of Spider-Man alone are worth the price tag of the book.
     My reservations about the book were soon silenced when the book turned out to be a quality publication and set the groundwork for what was to be the backbone of Marvel storylines to come. After all, the concept of “something rotten in Denmark” with Shield first came to light in these pages. My only complaint with the book was that Sentry didn’t kill more lame 90s super villains like he did with Carnage during the first story arc. Sales on the book were very steady and the series quickly became one of Marvel’s top sellers.
As the series stretched towards its 25th issue, the wheels began to spin and lose traction as the events of the Civil War began to play out in its pages. Of course, this wasn’t helped by the fact that Marvel couldn’t put the massive mini-series out on time. It also seemed as if Bendis wasn’t sure of what to do with the title. In his defense, direction might be problematic if two members of the team find themselves in separate camps like Cap and Iron Man did.
    Following the Civil War, the New Avengers have now lost two of the only throwback Avengers and have headed into the post-Civil War/ Registration Era with an even more eclectic group of heroes.  To further confuse readers and blur the lines of what is what, Shield Director Tony Stark has even formed his own team of Avengers (the Mighty Avengers). This brings into question just who are the New Avengers? Aren’t the NEW Avengers the Mighty Avengers after all? Or are they the old ones? Confused? Me, too!

(SHAMELESS ADVERT ALERT!!!: MIGHTY AVENGERS #1 STILL ON SALE)

     As I have stated, The New Avengers currently have no links to the Avenger teams of the past. The team is led by Luke Cage and its roster is Spiderman, Wolverine, Doctor Strange, Iron Fist, and Spiderwoman. This team is what is left of the anti-registration forces that were once the loyal troops of the now dead Captain America. The current storyline involves the team trying to rescue Ronin/Echo from the clutches of the Hand that is now led by Electra. (Jeez, does Matt Murdock need to choke a &*@#?) The recently resurrected Hawkeye has showed up but decided to become Ronin. I presume that he has chosen to do this to further perplex me and make you guys more confused…but I digress.
     This team and this book have no right to call themselves the Avengers because that is something they simply are not. The new lineup has no recognizable members of any Avengers team of any era on its roster. My apologies to Mr. Barton but, unless he puts on his Hawkeye costume (or his Giant Man suit if he must), he doesn’t count. An Avengers team without actual Avengers is like a Reese’s Cup without the peanut butter. I understand they might want to avenge the murder of Captain America and in that sense you might be able to make an argument that they are “literal” avengers. If they want to do this, they should track down the people responsible for Cap’s death and expose the killers to the world. Instead of having the team honor the memory of their fallen leader, Bendis has chosen to have the team go off on another adventure in Japan - ignoring the fact that they never really solved who paid Electro to cause the prison break that brought them together in the first place. (Come on, tie up loose ends already! This isn’t Lost.)

CHECK IT OUT...A HERO IN HIS REAL COSTUME AND NOT TRYING TO BE A #$%& NINJA!!!

     There is one scene in the latest issue (#30) that is particularly poignant and makes my job critiquing the New, New Avengers a little easier. As the group contemplates their next move they are interrupted by a familiar face. Clint Barton tracks the team to where they are hiding out, in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange. The master of the mystic arts has disguised his HQ to look like the home of a future Starbucks. While the banter between the former Avenger Hawkeye and the current New Avengers plays out, Barton makes two very true statements:

1. He tells Spiderman that “Saw you on TV $%#@ing up your whole life, Peter.” See my comments on that here!
2. He asks Cage and his Spider-friends “So, what are you guys? The New Defenders?”

     This might just be a Freudian slip on the part of Bendis. Despite the fact that Bendis has a great feel for Spiderman and he obviously loves the concept of Luke Cage…despite the fact that I’m glad to see Iron Fist in a group book alongside Luke and that Spiderwoman is a really cool character…and despite the fact that Doctor Strange needs to be a bigger part of the Marvel Universe lest another House of M crisis happens…these diverse, awesome heroes are not the Avengers. And they never will be.