Tag: Rick Remender

Captain America Goes “Sci-Fi Indiana Jones”

 

Captain America #1 courtesy Marvel

  Marvel’s ultimate boy scout in the hands of the writer known for chronicling the bad boys and gals of Marvel. Rick Remender (Punisher, Venom, Uncanny X-Force, Secret Avengers) is launching a brand new Captain America #1 this November with legendary John Romita Jr. Remender is following Ed Brubaker’s acclaimed and extensive run. The writer tells Marvel.com his own history with the Sentinel of Liberty.

  “SECRET WARS is what brought me into comic books. That was my first contact with Cap. That led me into his ongoing series, around #294-295 when The Red Skull and his daughters were hatching their big plot against Steve. That was great stuff; a lot of interesting stuff to get pulled into. There was plenty of history there and how they were handling the Red Skull and Captain America relationship—I remember being very grabbed by that. A few issues later Captain Britain showed up and that’s when I started falling in love with that character, too.”

  What does Cap stand for?

  “Tenacity. The character, in my head, was always about [that at] his core. He never gives up, he never quits. He’s a role model. That’s a term that comes a little bit clichéd and trite I suppose, but that’s sort of the beauty of who he is. He’s a patriotic soldier directed by a personal ethical compass, belief in the American dream and faith in his fellow man. At the same time we’ve seen that he’s very clever and roguish, quick with the drill comment on occasion, but he’s also a leader at the core of it. That was something that I definitely wanted to dig into when I took on the new series and we will be quite a bit.”

 Expect a change in tone with Remender. While Ed Brubaker focused on SHIELD and spies, Remender will turn up the sci-fi factor.

  “It’s almost like “Kirby Sci-Fi Indiana Jones.” High adventure dipped in sci-fi spy fantasy with heavy focus on the man under the suit. Steve’s fabric and his relationships drive our story and the action is the byproduct. Tonally it’s very serious. You want to make sure the characters go up against things that feel like real threats and [put] them into interesting situations. It’s a lot less of the connection with S.H.I.E.L.D. and the spy work and more big high adventure super hero stuff with sci-fi that I tend to lean into. It’s obviously a big challenge following a beloved run like Ed’s. I guess that’s what was also appealing because it was a challenge; it wasn’t safe. You’re working with new people.”

Uncanny Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel

 Remender is also writing the flagship Marvel NOW! relaunch book Uncanny Avengers and says expect a crossover.

 “There will be a lot of new characters cross pollinating [between the two books]. The first 10 issues of each are going to be their own thing—you want to get that train out of the station and really solidify what the books are about and what’s going on in them. Then we’ll start to see characters from one pop up in the other and a little more cross pollination. I spent some time on the phone with Jason Aaron about how to incorporate some of his new THOR: GOD OF THUNDER ideas in UNCANNY AVENGERS as well, and I want to do the same with Jonathan Hickman and I know Kieron Gillen and I will talk, too. We’ll try and do our very best to make it cohesive and not like it’s a bold new direction where everyone is doing their own thing. We want it to feel like a bold new direction where everyone is doing their own thing and swapping toys out, trying to build something that feels cohesive because that’s such an important part of the shared universe experience.”

Remender tells IFanboy that part of the sci-fi focus will be bringing back Arnim Zola and sending Cap to Dimension Z?

  “One of the mandates I have to myself is, I don’t want to touch the World War II stuff. I think that that has been done, now, and it’s been done perfectly. To go back and to keep focusing on Cap in World War II at this point, again, would be following too closely to what Ed has already done.  What I’m doing is spending a lot of time in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the 20s and 30s, showing Steve grow up. The first arc is 10 issues, and it’s called “Dimension Z.”

  I don’t want to give away too much, but a big portion of it is Cap dealing with Arnim Zola in Dimension Z. I’m trying to take Zola and do with him, what we did with Apocalypse over in Uncanny X-Force. Where we take what’s there, re-imagine it, build a new mythology and really expand Zola, and try and build Zola into a very, very big and important character.

  The other half of it is going to be a lot of flashbacks to a young Steve Rogers growing up in Depression-era Lower East Side, and getting to know his family and his friends, and how this 98-pound weakling became such a tenacious, strong person; focus on the fiber and the integrity of who he is, and really develop that for the first time.”

  Op/Ed: Brubaker’s run is beloved. The Winter Soldier is what got me buying Cap again. The writer taking on Cap probably has the biggest challenge in the Marvel NOW! relaunch. Remender is one of the most ambitious and fearless writers out there (Hello –Dark Angel Saga) so I’m excited to see where he’ll take Steve.

 For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

By Editor

Rogue The Avenger?

Uncanny Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel

  Rogue is an Avenger? Rick Remender recruited the star of X-Men Legacy to be the wild card of his upcoming Uncanny Avengers – the first book of the Marvel NOW! relaunch. The mutant once took on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes (she was under the influence of Mystique at the time) before becoming a heroic X-Man.

  Rick Remender reveals to Marvel.com why Rogue is part of this Avenger/X-Men hybrid team and why longtime Avengers will accept her.

 “There’s a chaos factor in the first arc. It’s not necessarily somebody going through a list for all of the members. That would be a perfect person. There is a story that unfolds and the team is sort of forced to come together and work together during the course of this very heinous plot that The Red Skull is hatching, and Rogue is involved in that. I don’t want to give away all of the reasoning as to why she sticks around, but it’s definitely tumultuous. Thor is not a fan of her at all. He sees her as the exact opposite kind of mutant they need on this team. Now they’ve got two women who have both been in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and if they’re trying to do something that’s going to be public and help sort of heal mutant/human relations, having two former members of something called the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is probably frowned upon by the PR people. But then again, there’s recollection and the reality is the X-Men almost disbanded when Rogue first joined. It was Xavier who said every mutant deserves a second chance. He was the one who vouched for her and put himself out there for her. In the case of this, there’s a somewhat similar situation. And it’s somebody who doesn’t have a track record like Wanda at this point. So when Thor points at her and sees the woman who was with the Brotherhood and attacked him, all she has to do is point and go “Hey, there’s Magneto’s daughter who almost wiped out reality and she’s an Avenger. You’re okay with her though, right? ‘Cause you have history.”

X-Men Legacy #262 courtesy Marvel

  “There’s so much great character grist there. Everybody’s got a very unique perspective and I wanted there to be a lot of chaos here because that also helps me define the argument between humans and mutants and what the problems are with this movement in the Marvel Universe. Each one of these characters is having this very unique history and this very unique perspective—Rogue included. Rogue doesn’t necessarily want to be an Avenger. You have to remember she was basically raised through her teens by Mystique to be a terrorist and hate the Avengers. The Avengers were, like you said, one of her very first targets. So she’s got her own issues with the fact that these golden super heroes who everybody loves didn’t do a damn thing to come to the X-Men’s aid on so many occasions. Her landing on the squad— it’s definitely a lot of drama coming up.”

  Uncanny Avengers arrives this October. It’s the first of 20 new Marvel NOW! titles. X-Legacy is going away. Remender confirmed Rogue will only appear in the new book.

  As Rogue moves on and X-Men Legacy ends I can’t help but think of Mike Carey’s long run on the title. Carey wrote Rogue better than anyone since Chris Claremont. I look forward to seeing how Remender writes one of the best X-Women.

By Editor

Uncanny Avengers: Scarlet Witch Redemption?

Uncanny Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel

  Uncanny Avengers is the first of 20 new titles in the Marvel NOW! relaunch. New books, new creators, new costumes and a new start for one of Marvel’s most controversial characters: Scarlet Witch.

  The mutant Avenger who decimated the Children of the Atom is on the path to redemption in Uncanny Avengers by Rick Remender and John Cassaday. Wanda Maximoff is back in Avengers vs X-Men but the new book will see her back on a team after a long absence. How will the woman with hex power fit in the team dynamic which includes Avengers and mutants like Havok and Rogue?

  “She’s in a unique situation. She and her brother were the first mutants that Cap ever tapped for the Avengers, and they were on the second Avengers team. So she is a long-time Avenger who caused a lot of heartbreak and death, and depowered a whole lot of mutants. Obviously the events that led to that, she was not entirely in her right mind. Doctor Doom had helped confuse her with an energy source that had driven her quite crazy. And she had lost her kids. There’s redemption potential there, but I want to make sure that I’m careful with it.

 

Avengers Children’s Crusade #7 by Jim Cheung courtesy Marvel.com

She’s a great character and she’s sort of torn between these two worlds. She’s always really been an Avenger when it comes down to it, but her community should be the mutant community. But they don’t necessarily dig her. She’s the daughter of Magneto former Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, an Avenger—she’s never really fit in with the X-Men. But at the same time, it’s kind of her people. Or should be. So she’s in a situation now where she’s reviled by most mutants for what she did, at least those who know what she did. And then you’ve got the Avengers, who she also played a big whammy on. It’s still not necessarily very easy to go “Oh, well if charged up you can alter reality—that’s a bad thing and we might maybe not want to go down that road with you.” 

  But, conversely, you’ve got somebody who’s a friend and a long-time Avenger, and somebody who really wants to make a difference. Wanda is very motivated to never be used as a weapon again, to never be a tool, to never be a thing that somebody can grab and misuse. She wants to stand up and she wants to be the face for mutants and sort of promote peace between the people—but she can’t. That’s not really a thing she can do. So she has to sit in the sidelines and sort of earn her redemption here—if that’s even possible—but in the meantime it’s kind of a case of “You’re going to be out there and doing the good work, but we should keep your public profile to a minimum. Keep you out of people’s eyes, probably.” And that continues to drive a knife in her belly.”

Avengers Vs X-Men #6 variant courtesy Marvel

 Uncanny Avengers #1 debuts this October. If you want to follow Wanda’s fall and rebirth I recommend: Avengers: Disassembled, House of M and Avengers: The Children Crusade.

  The way Rick Remender writes Psylocke in Uncanny X-Force makes me very excited with him handling the return of Scarlet Witch. For a real Scarlet Witch flashback – check out Avengers: Nights of Wundagore in which the Witch is possessed by the Elder God Chthon in a classic tale by David Micheline and John Byrne.

By Editor

 

Uncanny Avengers: Why Havok?

Uncanny Avengers #1 courtesy Marvel

  In the aftermath of Avengers vs. X-Men a new team will be born. Uncanny Avengers is the first of 20 new titles in the Marvel NOW! relaunch kicking off in October. Rick Remender and John Cassaday craft a team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Children of the Atom. 

  Remender (Uncanny X-Force, Secret Avengers) promises a different take on the two franchises. Some surprises have been revealed: Havok (X-Factor) will be team leader. Captain America will take orders from Cyclops’ brother? Scarlet Witch is on the new team seeking redemption. The villain is a reborn Red Skull.

 The AvX war will be over? The healing begins? How is the new book tied to the end of AvX?

  “I know what they’re doing. And fortunately, as Jason was writing the final issue I got to chat him up a bit. We coordinate very well. I think we’ve done a great job in the X-Office of tying the books together subtly in ways that link but feel natural. That’s something that I benefit from having with Jason. We [talked about] how he’s ending things in the issue itself and I gave him my first script and we changed a few things to kind of meld them together. Tom’s obviously the editor of both so I’m hip to what’s going on. We’re all in communication about these things to make sure that it’s cohesive,” Remember tells Marvel.com.

 How does this new team/book show fans the post AvX world?

  “There’s something that Cyclops said to [Captain America] on Utopia that’s ringing in his head. He didn’t do enough to help. And Steve is taking that to heart. Coming out of AvX with the landscape shifted and changed as much as it is, there are events that lead Steve to recognizing that he needs to do more and there are five new things that lead to the creation of the team. The team itself really isn’t even created until halfway through the first year. It’s still chaos. I didn’t want it to just be like “And now everybody shakes hands and hugs!” There’s still a really good arc of these things kind of coalescing and cooking into a soufflé of A and X. So without being able to discuss the specific events, I’ll just say that it comes from a place of healing and it comes from a guy who has firsthand experience with the horrors of prejudice and hatred and sees that this is his potentially final opportunity to stand and do something about it and help.

 Now, that’s just where Steve’s at. I have gone to great lengths to make sure every character involved has a very specific reason for being there, a very specific reason for being put on the team, and chosen, and they all have very unique perspectives on the team’s necessity, where they’re at as people and why they think that this is a good thing to do. Wolverine’s motives come half from AvX and the other half from the end of the “Final Execution” arc in UNCANNY X-FORCE. So those two things, without giving them away, [change] him in a way that I’m really excited to be writing. I think that we’re helping to really develop and progress Wolverine as a character in these books.

X-Factor #71 courtesy Marvel.com

  A move that may have fans stratching their heads: why does Cap chose Havok?

  “I think that the bottom line is that he sees the value in people seeing Captain America and Havok descend down to save the day when things go gnarly. There needs to be a face in the Avengers that could be the Captain America for [mutants]. And going through his list, Havok is the very best choice for that. You’ve got somebody who’s trained by Xavier, he’s a beloved X-Man, he’s well-educated, he’s formerly a government agent—with X-Factorbeing what it was in the nineties he was part of a government-sanctioned unit—so he’s got a shiny veneer that you can present to the public and hopefully help people see mutants as something different. There’s other reasons as well—two, three huge ones coming out of AvX—that will lead to that decision, but that’s how Havok becomes the guy that Cap sees as “You’re going to lead this squad, you’ve got a ton of experience leading, and this is your time to stand up and be the big public face of the Avengers.” And of course Alex, having had such a chaotic past for the last, you know, forever, this is going to be a very difficult situation, and not one that he’s necessarily going to just grab the reins on.”

 

X-Factor #243 courtesy Marvel

  Why did Remember choose Havok?

   “I always saw him as the black sheep of the Summers family. He was always one of my favorite characters reading the X-Men growing up. He’s conflicted, and I love the idea that the older brother—who is the star football player, basically—Cyclops is the beloved son, leader of the X-Men and the first guy who they turn to and he’s basically the star pupil in terms of the Xavier School. I like the idea that his younger brother has not hostility toward him necessarily, but he’s always walked a very different path. And I like him as a character because he’s a little rock and roll. I mean, going back to that [HAVOK & WOLVERINE: MELTDOWN limited series]—which was one of the things that really solidified him as a favorite of mine—where he’s James Dean. He’s sunglasses and a pint of scotch and a convertible on the weekends and I think I’d like that rock and roll attitude that he’s got. He’s got a dry, sarcastic wit. He’s somebody who’s never been in the forefront in a big, huge public way of anything, not like his brother has, and he’s okay with that. I’ve never seen Alex as somebody who’s seeking that out. That’s all the more reason that it’s exciting to take him and put him in the most chaotic point in mutant history and the most chaotic point in the Marvel Universe, to have Captain America come tap him and say “You’re going to lead the Avengers,” that, to me, is drama. There’s just so much meat there for character that—it all just seemed perfect, I couldn’t think of anybody who I more wanted to put in that situation beyond just having an affinity for the character from youth.” 

  Remender confirmed Havok, Scarlet Witch and Rogue will be solely be in the new book. That means Havok is leaving X-Factor and Rogue is out of X-Men Legacy. For his entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

By Editor

 

Remender on the Future of Secret Avengers, Uncanny X-Force

Secret Avengers #29 courtesy Marvel.com

 Rick Remender is leading the charge into Marvel NOW! with Uncanny Avengers. The new book will feature a hybrid team of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Children of the Atom. Remender has won acclaim for his work on undercover teams for both franchises (Uncanny X-Force, Secret Avengers) and for making eclectic team rosters work.

 Before AvX tie-in issues Remender created an ominous new threat in Secret Avengers. The Masters of Evil are back with a new leader and an entire nation under their control. The Descendants are a new race evolved from the most famous and infamous robots in Marvel history. Remender tells Marvel.com about what’s next for Hawkeye’s covert team.

  “I kind of look at [AvX] as an interlude [with the temporary team]. So, coming back into the regular fold, we open up with Hawkeye discovering that things are amiss in Bagalia, the red light nation, where we saw [him] and Captain America take a visit back in SECRET AVENGERS #21.1. And this is the arc where I am wrapping up all of Ed [Brubaker] and Warren Ellis’ Shadow Council stuff, taking all those threads and moving them toward one big story that ties in with the Master of Evil, Bagalia, Ibis [and] the Shadow Council. We drop in a squad of Secret Avengers who expect something is amiss but they don’t have any idea of quite the magnitude of what they’re about to deal with. You always want that escalation.

 So Hank Pym and Captain Britain are out dealing with Descendants investigations, trying to figure out what’s going on. We keep that Beast story percolating in the background, and the team here is Hawkeye, Venom, Ant-Man, and Valkyrie being sent down to Bagalia to investigate what’s going on, and that leads us to a four-issue story which I’m just calling “Masters of Evil right” now. The new Masters of Evil and how they all came together has a nice twist that [will] get revealed around issue #30.”

Uncanny X-Force #32 courtesy Marvel.com

  Remender revealed that Uncanny X-Force is getting a new member.

 “Well it’s something that we saw Grant Morrison touch upon in his last arc, with the evolution of E.V.A. becoming her own person, and I would put a big Spoiler Warning over this: If you’ve read UNCANNY X-FORCE #27, then you know that Fantomex takes the hit. It was something that Grant had set up as happening in his future story and I thought that it would be nice to respect that and actually show it happen. Beyond that, I also wanted Fantomex to take the hit because this is going to be a very Wolverine-centric arc. All the characters have had a lot of spotlight time in this, but Wolverine has not had a lot of personal stuff to deal with. And here he is now where the methodology of X-Force and what they’ve done with Evan, and then Fantomex cloning and growing a new Evan, have left Wolverine in a bit of a spot where he’s got this student of his who’s Apocalypse. And this is because of Fantomex, and now Fantomex is not there. Fantomex is off the picture so he’s dumped this in Wolverine’s lap to deal with.”

For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

AVX: Daredevil Against Psylocke!

AvX: Vs. #4 courtesy Marvel.com

  The Man Without Fear against the X-Men’s psychic ninja! Daredevil and Psylocke’s fight goes into overtime in AvX: Vs #4. Marvel.com revealed the cover and Brandon Peterson’s interior art.

AvX: Vs. #4 courtesy Marvel.com

  Rick Remender writes the latest “all fights” issue. If you’ve read his Uncanny X-Force you know Remender really knows how to write Betsy Braddock. The character really evolved during The Dark Angel Saga. Betsy has a darker, harder edge. If Psylocke can gut her one-time lover expect Matt to feel the pain. I’m excited to see how this billy club to psychic knife fight will play out.

 

AvX: Vs. #4 courtesy Marvel.com

  Seeing Brandon Peterson’s work takes me back to the 90’s when he was teamed with Fabian Nicieza on the X-Men book. Peterson drew Psylocke and her “twin” Revanche.

AvX: Vs. #4 courtesy Marvel.com

  AvX: Vs #4 features not one but two fights. The other match picks up from Remender’s Secret Avengers AvX tie-in story with Thor against the Phoenix Force with art by Kaare Andrews.

By Editor

Marvel’s Gambit Teaser

 

courtesy Marvel.com
  Looks like Remy LeBeau will star in his own solo series again. Marvel revealed this teaser simply saying Gambit August 2012 with the promise of an announcement Sunday, April 15th at the Next Big Thing panel at C2E2.This comes on the heels of the teaser for a Matt Fraction/David Aja reunion project also to be announced at C2E2.The Cajun X-Man is part of X-Men Legacy. Rogue spurned him for Magneto even though he and Rogue joined Wolverine’s Jean Grey School. Christos Gage has been writing a slow burning attraction between Remy and Frenzy – I really hope that continues. Gambit is also on Marjorie Liu’s Astonishing X-Men title. Who know what will happen post AvX.

This Geek’s Take: I’d like to see Rick Remender take on Gambit. The writer of Uncanny X-Force and Secret Avengers knows how to write anti-heroes in the Marvel underworld. I really love what Remender is doing with Fantomex. I’d almost enjoy seeing Gambit kicked out of the X-Men and go solo and return to his old ways as a thief and con man.

Update: I had a great suggestion of a team by a Twitter follower: Skottie Young & Clay Mann of Magneto, Not a Hero.

By Editor

Uncanny X-Force Face the Omega Clan

 

Uncanny X-Force #25 preview art courtesy Marvel.com

Uncanny X-Force #25 kicks off a new adventure for Wolverine’s covert team. In Final Execution the mutants will once again face the consequences of their actions. Veteran artist Mike McKone joins Rick Remender for the arc. Marvel.com shared preview art and a new interview revealing the new enemies for Logan’s crew.

 

Uncanny X-Force #25 preview art courtesy Marvel.com

McKone draws the Omega Clan based on Omega Red and makes Remender’s new concept come alive on the page. 

Uncanny X-Force #25 courtesy Marvel.com

  “The main location in the issue is a really fun idea of Rick’s,” he says. “It’s a huge, floating mall, hidden in a cloud, where assassins can be bought and traded. It’s a great example, I think, of why this series has struck such a chord with readers: huge playful ideas, writ on a giant canvas with truly wonderful characterization. I hope I can do it again.”

 For the entire interview here’s the Marvel.com link.

Omega Red was created by Jim Lee and John Byrne in 1992. The mutant has super strength, healing factor and a power to unleash pheromones that could kill. Red had surgically implanted metal tentacles and was allegedly the KGB’s attempt to create a Russian super soldier like Captain America. The villain became a major Wolverine foe through the 90’s.