Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Wolverine and Captain America.
They’re the new Avengers line-up, as this cover for Bendis and JRJR's first issue (released to IGN today) will evidence.
Fret not if you’re anxious about the exclusion of Spider-Woman and Hawkeye here. Beguiling Brian Bendis confirmed that the line-up isn’t limited to the five pictured abvoe.
Looks like they’re solidly going for a “Big Guns” style line-up. I remember that, for years, the Avengers typically differed from the JLA in that their line-up had (mostly) second stringers while the Justice League’s was all DC heavy hitters. Kurt Busiek broke the difference down with a baseball metaphor during his run -- the Avengers were like a baseball team that’d have the best catcher, the best short stop, the best right fielder and so on, while the JLA had only the best batters. For a long time, it was thus considered “impossible” for Wolverine or Spider-Man to be on the line-up. Well, since the success of NEW AVENGERS, I think that impossibility will be gradually forgotten.
Something - - call it a hunch - - tells me Marvel still has more rabbits to pull out of the hat, here. We still don’t know who the Secret Avengers are, after all. What do you think, Comic Vine community? Does this line-up work? Will there be more announcements?
-- Tom Pinchuk is the writer of UNIMAGINABLE for Arcana Comics and HYBRID BASTARDS! for Archaia Comics. Watch out for the HYBRID BASTARDS! hardcover collection this March - - available for pre-order now on Amazon.com.