The New Avengers are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The title has been used for four American comic book series. The first two were written by Brian Michael Bendis and depicted a version of Marvel's premiere superhero team, the Avengers. The third was written by Jonathan Hickman and depicted a group of characters called the Illuminati (formerly introduced in New Avengers vol. 1 #7, July 2005). The fourth is written by Al Ewing and depicts the former scientific terrorist group A.I.M., reformed as "Avengers Idea Mechanics", whose field team has appropriated the name "New Avengers" for itself.
A version of the New Avengers debuted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Thunderbolts* (2025), and are set to return in Avengers: Doomsday (2026).
Publication history
Volume 1 (2005–2010) The New Avengers is a spin-off of the long-running Marvel Comics series The Avengers. The first issue, written by Brian Michael Bendis and penciled by David Finch, was dated January 2005 but appeared in November 2004. Finch penciled the first six issues and issues #11–13. Succeeding pencilers with multiple-issue runs include Steve McNiven, Leinil Francis Yu, Billy Tan, and Stuart Immonen. The roster at first comprises Captain America, Luke Cage, Iron Man, Spider-Man and "Spider-Woman" (Veranke). Later stretches included the mutant X-Man Wolverine, the unstable and godlike Sentry, and the deaf ninja Echo, in the guise of Ronin.
The team itself was not named the "New Avengers" within the series. A splinter group of Avengers that chose not to comply with federal superhuman registration, the team considers itself the authentic Avengers. A concurrent government-sanctioned team gathered in the sister series The Mighty Avengers. This series launched in early 2007 and was itself supplanted by a different government-sanctioned team in the series Dark Avengers, which was launched in late 2008. At this time the team welcomed Clint Barton (recently returned from the dead) as Ronin, as well as Doctor Strange and Iron Fist.
By the end of the first volume, the New Avengers team consisted of Ronin, Captain America (Bucky Barnes), Ms. Marvel, Mockingbird, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman (Drew), Wolverine, and team leader Luke Cage. Writer Brian Michael Bendis said in an interview that these characters are the authentic Avengers because Captain America said they were. This statement is repeated when the team, believing Captain America (Rogers) is alive, attempts to rescue him. Spider-Man claims that if they get Captain America back, they can call themselves Avengers again. Luke Cage contends that they are Avengers already.The New Avengers #28 (May 2007) The series ended with The New Avengers #64 (April 2010), at the conclusion of the "Siege" storyline. A one-shot titled The New Avengers: Finale was also released.
Volume 2 (2010–2012) In March 2010, Marvel announced the series would be relaunched in June as part of the company's rebranding initiative, "Heroic Age" . In the first issue of the series, the new team consisted of Luke Cage, Victoria Hand, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones, Mockingbird, Ms. Marvel, Spider-Man, The Thing, and Wolverine.The New Avengers vol. 2, #1 (August 2010) Wolverine and Spider-Man operated on the main Avengers team as well as the New Avengers, and Doctor Strange accepted an offer to join the team after their first mission while searching for the new Sorcerer Supreme after the death of Doctor Voodoo. Daredevil joined the team in issue #16 after accepting an offer from Luke Cage and Jessica Jones.The New Avengers vol. 2 #16 Jessica left the team for personal reasons and was later joined by Luke Cage, thus ending that iteration of the team.
Volume 3 (2013–2015) New Avengers was renumbered as a new volume in January 2013, written by Jonathan Hickman and originally drawn by Steve Epting. The new volume shifted its focus to the Illuminati, which included Black Panther(who was originally offered the position to join the team when it was created, but refused), Black Bolt, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Mister Fantastic, and Namor, who reassembled to confront the threat of the incursions. Black Panther and Reed Richards discovered that universal decay centered on Earth was causing universes to collide with one another, with Earth at the focal point. In issue #3, Beast was recruited to assist following the death of Professor X. In the same issue, Captain America leaves. In issue #12, after helping the Illuminati defeat Thanos's forces, Black Bolt's brother Maximus temporarily assisted the group but did not join the Illuminati. Bruce Banner joined the team in Avengers (vol. 5) after discovering the universal decay on his own.
Volume 4 (2015–2016) Volume 4 of New Avengers launched in October 2015 as a part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel relaunch, written by Al Ewing with art by Gerardo Sandoval. The comic features a different team from the past three volumes: it focuses on A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics), a former super-villain group which has been rebranded as the Avengers Idea Mechanics, and their field team which has taken the name of the New Avengers. Sunspot is the new head of A.I.M., with Songbird as the field leader; other members include Wiccan, Hulkling, Squirrel Girl, Pod, Power Man, White Tiger, and Hawkeye as an open informant for S.H.I.E.L.D. Later, there is a schism in the team: Wiccan, Hulkling and Squirrel Girl are expelled from A.I.M. and informed by Sunspot that the three of them are now what remains of the New Avengers; during the same story, Cannonball was revealed to be working for A.I.M. as well. Hawkeye, who had been fired from S.H.I.E.L.D., later rejoins the trio of remaining New Avengers to form a lineup jokingly called "Wiccan's Kooky Quartet". During "Civil War II", the New Avengers assist A.I.M. on one last mission, which Hawkeye sits out for reasons of plausible deniability. After Sunspot's funeral, Advanced Idea Mechanics is declared officially dead so the team breaks up,New Avengers v4 #18 November 30, 2016 but later reform as U.S.Avengers.
Volume 5 (2025–2026) Following the release of the movie Thunderbolts* (2025), it was announced in May 2025 that the previously solicited New Thunderbolts* ongoing series by writer Sam Humphries and artist Ton Lima would be retitled to New Avengers (vol. 5); The first issue is scheduled for release in June 2025. The team will be led by the Winter Soldier with Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Black Widow, Carnage (Eddie Brock), Hulk, Clea Strange, and Namor on the initial roster. The team are assembled to face a new threat in the form of twisted clones of the Illuminati created by the Jackal, revealed to have been set up by a plan created by a secondary personality that the Black Widow had been brainwashed with at some past date. Hulk was only a temporary member who advised the team and offered them an "official" title as they completed their mission to hunt the "Killuminati". The plan was ultimately revealed to have been intended to clone Baron Zemo back to life after he was killed by Doctor Doom in his role as Emperor of the world, but Black Widow became aware of her secondary persona and was able to sabotage her own efforts. With the Killuminati defeated, the team officially disbanded after a meeting with Iron Man and Captain Marvel, Black Widow noting that they all knew they couldn't work together long-term.
Fictional team biography Assembling the Avengers Following a reign of destruction by an insane Scarlet Witch, the Avengers disband. Six months later, with the Fantastic Four and the X-Men unable to act, the supervillain Electro shuts down power at the Raft, a "maximum-maximum security" prison for super-powered criminals, allowing for a mass breakout. "Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman)",In actuality, as revealed in the 2008 company-wide "Secret Invasion" story arc, this was an alien shapeshifter posing as Drew. an agent for the international law-enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D., is at the Raft with attorney Matt Murdock (Daredevil) and "hero for hire" Luke Cage. They are joined by Captain America, Iron Man, and Spider-Man. They are also assisted by a mentally unbalanced Sentry, who is imprisoned at the Raft. The riot is quelled, although 42 inmates escape. Captain America declares fate has brought this group together, just as it had the original Avengers. Most of the heroes agree to join the team. Daredevil refuses the offer and Sentry flies off.
The team's first mission is to capture the remaining super-powered criminals who escaped during the riot. The unexpected emergence of an unrelated team of youthful heroes, the Young Avengers, is also a matter of concern. There is also a growing sense of unease with S.H.I.E.L.D. after the disappearance of its leader, Nick Fury. The New Avengers travel to the Savage Land to capture the reptilian mutant Sauron, encountering resistance from the Savage Land Mutates (led by Brainchild) and a rogue squadron of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents led by Yelena Belova. During this conflict, Canadian mutant Wolverine joins the team (while maintaining concurrent membership in the X-Men). The group also recruits the Sentry, a powerful hero who erased all memory of his career from the world after he was manipulated by the mutant Mastermind and The General.
House of M and The Collective With Xavier unable to repair the fractured psyche of the Scarlet Witch, the New Avengers and Cyclops' team of X-Men consider the alternatives. Fearful that the heroes are preparing to kill his sister, former Avenger Quicksilver convinces her to use her reality-altering powers to transform the planet and its history. Instantaneously, Magneto rules the planet under the banner of the "House of M", with mutants in the majority and non-powered humans as an oppressed minority. Reality is eventually restored, but the Scarlet Witch removes the superhuman abilities from over 99% of the mutants on Earth. These lost powers manifest as the Collective, the assembled energy of the depowered mutants. This energy is controlled by the intelligence known as Xorn (who once posed as Magneto) and uses the energy-wielder Michael Pointer as a host. The Avengers manage to separate the two after the Collective/Xorn attempts to re-power Magneto.
Civil War After the reckless actions of the New Warriors result in the deaths of over 600 civilians in Stamford, Connecticut, Congress passes the Superhuman Registration Act, which requires all superhumans to register with the federal government. Many superheroes comply with this law, but others oppose the law on the grounds that it violates civil liberties. This ideological split leads to a Civil War within the New Avengers and the superhuman community at large, with Iron Man leading those who comply with the law, and Captain America leading those who oppose it. By the time that open hostilities between the two factions come to a close, Spider-Man's closely guarded secret identity is exposed to the world, and Bill Foster (one of Hank Pym's successors as Giant-Man) is killed. Shortly thereafter, Captain America is seemingly assassinated.
Avengers Underground In the aftermath of the superhero civil war, the New Avengers become an unofficial group of unregistered heroes. The team moves to Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village, recruiting the resurrected Clint Barton (now using the name and costume of Ronin). They eventually relocate to an empty apartment building owned by Danny Rand's (Iron Fist) Rand Corporation, but leased in the name of Samuel Sterns (the Leader, an adversary of the Hulk).The New Avengers #27 (April 2007)The New Avengers #38 (October 2007)
Secret Invasion