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Captain America wasn't an Avengers founder, but he's been around Earth's Mightiest Heroes for so long that it feels wrong when Steve Rogers isn't on the team. Now, after a year of Marvel's Avengers without the original Sentinel of Liberty as leader, Steve Rogers has struck out on his own and created his own Avengers team.

And who did he recruit? Night-Thrasher, one of my favorite Marvel characters of all time.

Steve, Dwayne, and a few of their closest superhero besties will assemble in an all-new Marvel Comics series titled Avengers Assemble this fall. This new team will be different than the main team - no, its not based on the West Coast, but it is for emergencies only. The team's official name in comics is 'Avengers Emergency Response Squad' or (AVENG.E.R.S.) soo... Avengers-ers. Say it out loud.

“A team of icons and new recruits alike, but heavy on the icons! And in every issue, a barnburner of an entire story packed into 20 pages!" says series writer Steve Orlando in the announcement "West Coast Avengers was the first comic book I ever bought, full stop. So, to be part of a return to form, heavy on personality, rich in action, is more than exciting--it's an honor! Starting this summer, Avengers Emergency Response Squad is always on duty!”

Orlando will be joined by a rotating cast of artists including Cory Smith (Wolverine, Ghost Rider), Scot Eaton (Cable), Marcelo Ferreira (Moon Knight: City of the Dead), and Valentina Pinti (Immortal Thor, Blade).

Avengers Assemble is spinning out of the current Blood Hunt event, in which Cap assembled a ramshackle new team of Avengers to help out as friend and foe became vampires out to suck the life out of the MCU.

Who is in Avengers Assemble?

Steve Rogers has recruited a unique mix of classic Avengers and new heroes for this squad. Here's who is announced for Avengers Assemble:

• Captain America (Steve Rogers)
• Wasp
• Hawkeye (Clint Barton)
• Hercules
• She-Hulk
• Photon
• Night-Thrasher
• Lightning
• Wonder Man
• Shang-Chi
• Lightspeed (Julie Power)

And oh yeah, I might have buried the lede - this Avengers is set up in the Avengers Mansion once more - its original headquarters going back to the '60s, currently unused with the main team set up in space.

Avengers Assemble #1 (of 5) goes on sale September 11, 2024.

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Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• With Daredevil, and spinoffs from Black Panther, What If, and more, Marvel Studios' 2025 Disney+ slate is bigger than ever, and that might be a big deal for the future
• If Kraven the Hunter flops, Sony's Spider-Man Universe could look for a Marvel-assisted reboot
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.