Marvel’s Preps Patriotic ‘U.S.Avengers’ to Launch in the Fall

After several high-profile failures by the intelligence agency S.H.I.E.LD., the United States government wants a superhero team it can rely on. So Roberto DeCosta a.k.a. Sunspot transforms his New Avengers into the patriotic-themed U.S.Avengers — a team that has coincidentally features a bevy of Marel’s hardest-hitting women — old and new.

Marvel has tapped British writer Al Ewing to write this all-American team. And the Brit has some thoughts on America and patriotism.

“I’m interested in America, in exploring the reasons I like your country and love your citizens.” Ewing told the Washington Post. “I don’t think patriotism should be uncritical or unthinking — we’re seeing in Britain where that leads, and it’s horrible. I’m afraid for us. But that urge to love and care for the home you’ve made, whether you were born to it or chose it or fled to it, that’s worth something. People use it as a weapon, but it’s also an engine that drives great positive change in our communities.”

The U.S.Avengers will work for the government and have an office in Washington D.C., but we will have to wait to see where their actual headquarters will be.

Let’s introduce the members of the new team:

Roberto da Costa a.k.a. Sunspot

I thought being the hot-headed jerk was my job

Former New Mutant Roberto da Costa is a billionaire who bought the villainous Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) and transformed it into an Avengers support network for his new team.

Da Costa is Brazilian, and as an immigrant and a minority twice over, he will have an unusual perspective on the American experience, but he loves his adoptive country. As Sunspot he can absorb solar radiation and transform it to raw strength, but his real power is his leadership.

Captain America (Danielle Cage)

See, my dad was an unbreakable man named Luke Cage. And my mom? Jessica Jones? She was even tougher. And I got their powers. So I don’t just throw the shield– I am the shield!

The daughter of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, Danielle Cage is Captain America in a future America. Chasing the villainous Golden Skull back through time, Danielle ends up in the present day, and enlists the newly formed U.S.Avengers to help.

It’s not clear if she remains in the present by choice or by accident, but she will be an ongoing member of the team.

Squirrel Girl

Finds some nuts
Eats some nuts
Kicks bad guys evil butts!

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl is a tough character to write when you mix her in with more “serious” characters, but she brings an unbridled sense of joy and optimism to the team.

Doreen Green has the proportional strength and agility of a squirrel, and has defeated such maot menaces as Doctor Doom, Thanos and Galactus single-handedly. She can also talk to squirrels and manages to find the good in almost anyone.

Iron Patriot

No way, da Costa! We’re working double shifts for you as it is. I don’t have time to work on Max’s weird crap.

Dr. Toni Ho is the genius daughter of Ho Yinsen, the man who helped Tony Stark build the very first Iron Man armour. After earning three doctorate degrees, Toni became a scientist working for Avengers Idea Mechanics engineering division.

In the U.S.Avengers, Ho has put her talents to work — building her own armour and becoming the new Iron Patriot, a role left empty by the death of James Rhoades during Civil War II.

Pod

User Status?
User Status: Not okay.
We are we.
We are together, but we are alone.

Aikku Jokinen was a Norwegian girl who was caught by one of the Ex Nihlo’s creations, a suit of armour designed to be a self-protection mechanism for the Earth. Jokinen bonded with the armour which cannot be removed. The armor overwrote her personality and attacked the Avengers, defeating them all.

Pod was then captured by the villanos Advanced Idea Mechanics, which conducted experiments on her. When Bobby da Costa took over A.I.M. he found Pod, and used her as a bodyguard. While running a diagnostic on Pod, Dr. Toni Ho discovered that Jokinen was still conscious inside the suit and was incredibly lonely.

Cannonball

Then Wolverine puts Steve Rogers on the phone. Captain America wants us to be Avengers!

Sam Guthrie is a mutant with the power to project an invulnerable force field around his body while propelling himself like a rocket through the air. One of the founding members of The New Mutants along with Sunspot (Roberto daCosta), Guthrie was the leader of that team at was involved with every single iteration of the team.

He eventually graduated to become an X-Man, before being personally selected to become and Avenger by Wolverine and Captain America.

Red Hulk

 I was General Thunderbolt Ross. I became the very thing I hated most in life. I am the Red Hulk. And for all I’ve done…I deserve to die..

General Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross was one of the Hulk’s earliest and most determined foes. He was the running the gamma bomb program that created the Hulk, and his daughter, Betty Ross, was romantically involved with Bruce Banner.

After years of obsessively pursuing the Hulk, Ross agreed to be experimented on by the Leader and became the anti-hero Red Hulk, an intelligent counterpart to the Green Hulk.  After a few years of conflict with the extended Hulk family, Ross discovered that his civilian identity was declared dead, and he had o choice but to remain the Red Hulk forever. He had become the monster he hunted.

Since then he has become a member of the Avengers, led the criminal hero team the Thunderbolts, and generally tried to conduct himself as a hero. He is a fierce combination of brawn and military training and strategy.

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