Earlier this week, Marvel Comics announced that its upcoming New Thunderbolts* series is really titled New Avengers, a fun bit of corporate synergy following the release of the Thunderbolts*/*The New Avengers movie.
Now, new details on the villain this team will assemble to face have been revealed. Some threats that arise in the Marvel Universe are so great, they ignite all-new eras of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. This June, the Killuminati, mysterious doubles of the Illuminati, threaten the world, assembling not just the mightiest, but the world’s deadliest heroes in New Avengers by writer Sam Humphries and artist Ton Lima.
Today, we have a closer look at the Killuminati in all their twisted glory in the new Killuminati variant covers that will be featured on the first five issues of this highly anticipated ongoing series.
New Avengers stars Bucky Barnes, Black Widow, Hulk, Namor, Wolverine (Laura Kinney), Clea, and Carnage (Eddie Brock), a radical Avengers roster in the spirit of Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch's decade-defining New Avengers. It’s a dangerous mix of loners, anti-heroes, killers and monsters, and that’s exactly what’s required to take down the Killuminati.
The Killuminati are as unstoppable and ambitious as their original counterparts—only with their worst traits magnified and their hubris unchecked—and if the New Avengers don’t learn how to work together, these demented doubles will quickly have the world in their grasp.
"My basic concept was -- the Illuminati were seven kings and heroes from seven different corners of the Marvel Universe, so what if we did the same with some of the biggest badasses representing mutants, the mystical world, the Spider family, the gamma family, and so on?" Humphries said. "I have immense gratitude for our amazing editor Alanna Smith who supported this idea from the jump, even though she had to liaise with pretty much every Marvel editorial office to make it happen."
Humphries said of the title change, "Initially, there were some logistical details to be worked out behind the scenes, so I had to be prepared to pivot on a dime. But the whole plan was locked in by the time I started the first issue. You can see it in the lineup -- the New Avengers and the Killuminati both have echoes of [Brian] Bendis' and [Jonathan] Hickman's New Avengers teams."
"Jed's [MacKay] got a killer lineup of do-gooders in the Avengers book, and I wanted our book to distinguish itself with a bunch of bastards."
You can check out the first four Killuminati variant covers by Josemaria Casanovas, Rod Reis, Ivan Tao, and Salvador Larroca below.
NEW AVENGERS #1
Written by SAM HUMPHRIES
Art by TON LIMA
Cover by STEPHEN SEGOVIA
Killuminati Variant Cover by JOSEMARIA CASANOVAS
On Sale 6/11