Rick Remender and John Cassaday lead the Marvel NOW relaunch with Uncanny Avengers this October. Remender and Editor Tom Brevoort revealed their launch plan for the new team made of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and Children of the Atom in today’s Marvel.com LiveBlog.
Captain America assembles Thor, Wolverine, Scarlet Witch, Rogue and Havok against a reborn Red Skull. Why does the classic villain unite Avengers and X-Men?
“The Red Skull has an anti-mutant agenda. It’s a modern perspective on who he was back in World War II Germany. Mutants are a boogeyman he can get behind and build his power base off of. He’s gathered a group of followers all of whom have bad experiences in their background involving mutants. They’re his version of the X-Men, but preaching that humans and mutants cannot live together, that this is a race war humanity cannot win unless they line up behind The Red Skull,” explains Brevoort.
“One of the goals is making The Red Skull the threat he deserves to be. That spreads across the Marvel Universe. I’ve had talks with Kieron Gillen about Iron Man. The shared universe is a big deal,” continues Remender, “You want one guy out there who is just pure evil, and that’s The Red Skull.”
“John Cassaday’s Red Skull is particularly creepy and effective. Getting to play with that character was a big selling point of the book for him,” says Brevoort.
Cassiday and Brevoort reveal Professor Xavier and Magneto will turn up in the new series.
“Given the relationship of the characters, given the worldview of the book, it seems like it’s inevitable that, if he’s in the position to do so coming out of AvX, Magneto would show up at some point,” explains Brevoort.
“It’s fair to say that Xavier is very important to Uncanny Avengers. He’s pretty critical and you’ll definitely see him in the book,” continues Brevoort.
The teasers have said the formation of the team is a threat to Professor X’s dream.
“Charles’ relationships with these characters and his current status quo play a huge role in this book,” says Remender.
Avengers vs. X-Men had been building for years. The writer says the post-AvX lineups have been mapped out carefully.
“A lot of thought has been put into how these characters interact and the consequences of how they’ve been thrown together. That’s the fun of it beyond who they’re going to punch to save the world,” explains Remender, “One of the toughest but most rewarding things about this book has been figuring out how to make sure in every arc that A meets X.”
A reborn Red Skull is a huge threat but Remender will throw Kang and Apocalypse at the new team too.
“I’m getting the most excited about is how the villains and their plots mix and mash. Three of the biggest villains in the Marvel Universe play roles in what will culminate in a huge story over the first 20 pages,” explains the writer. Remender’s Apocalypse story from Uncanny X-Force will carry over into the new series.
Marvel revealed some of the first pages from inside the premiere issue: Cap and Thor ready for action and a bizarre operation in which a bomb appears to be planted in the brain of a victim who had visions of the Phoenix!
Freaky! Is that Scott Summers?
Uncanny Avengers #1 hits October 3rd.
By Editor