We already know that big changes are coming to the Marvel Universe this summer. The publisher just announced one of its biggest: an all-female team of heroes called A-Force that looks like it will be taking the place of the Avengers.
Two philosophically opposed teams of Avengers have been battling each other as part of the build-up to the upcoming Secret Wars event. Today’s news seems to further speculation that those teams won’t exist in the near future, to be replaced by a new squad with She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa and others. A-Force will be co-written by Margeurite Bennett and G. Willow Wilson, the latter of whom has been doing great work on Ms. Marvel, one of Kotaku‘s favourite ongoing comics. Here’s Wilson’s quote from today’s release:
“She-Hulk, Dazzler, Medusa, Nico Minoru and other fan favourites, will take charge. We’ve purposefully assembled a team composed of different characters from disparate parts of the Marvel U, with very different power sets, identities and ideologies.”
The promo image sports almost every major heroine from the Marvel Universe and the central placement of She-Hulk seems to hint that Jennifer Walters might be the one in charge. But other proven leaders — like Inhumans queen Medusa and one-time X-Men boss Storm — could also be the one calling the shots.
Marvel’s had other female-only teams before, with an all-woman X-Men most recent amongst them. But there’s never been a team like this with the Avengers mantle, which places them right at the forefront of the evolution of whatever Marvel’s doing next. The first issue of A-Force will hit this May.
Comments
10 responses to “Marvel Announces The First Women-Only Team Of Avengers”
This really harshes my euphoria.
Does this announcement kind of spoil the current Hulk storyline? I mean, it’s about him chasing down gamma-powered people and mostly de-powering them, and last issue addressed that he might be coming after Shulk…
Given this is a Secret Wars series, it’s likely that some – or all – of these characters are alternate reality versions.
Seeing Jean Grey in her old green Phoenix costume, Dazzler in her 80s costume, Rogue in her 90s costume, Spider-Woman in her original costume (she’s about to get a new one in the comics), and Jubilee throwing fireworks (which she hasn’t been able to do for years now) lends more credence to that.
Yeah, completely missed that when I posted the other day.
Somehow I missed seeing Jean on my first viewing. They’re never going to let her stay dead, are they?
Who the hell is inside that horribly feminine Iron Man suit?
That’s the Rescue armor Tony made for Pepper Potts. It’s purely a defensive suit.
Lots of major female character exclusions from that image. Invisible Woman for one, though that’s likely due to the kerfuffle between Marvel and Fox.
The new Ms Marvel is a curious omission, given that one of the A-Force writers – G. Willow Wilson – writes Ms M’s solo series!
The new female Thor is missing as well, as are Angela, Emma Frost and Magik.
I know it’d be virtually impossible to fit all Marvel’s female characters on a single cover, but that’s still some big name omissions.
Invisible Woman is totally there! You just can’t see her… Ok I’ll stop
can we say tokenism? and riding the current zeitgeist? first ghostbusters and now this. do they actually *want* to be taken seriously?