Meet Marvel’s ‘New Avengers’ Villains The Killuminati On New Variant Covers
by Tony Thornley
What kind of threat does it take to assemble a team of Avengers? Marvel Comics has given us a glimpse on a new set of variant covers from June’s New Avengers.
As announced earlier this week, the series originally announced as New Thunderbolts is actually a stealth New Avengers relaunch from Sam Humphries and Ton Lima. This time, the title belongs to a darker team of Avengers lead by the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, with direct parallels to the original team that used that name. But what threat brings the team together?
Marvel didn’t reveal much about the Killuminati, outside of the fact that they’re twisted versions of the original group. That dark team featured kings, leaders and powerful figures from the Marvel Universe, doing whatever it takes to protect the universe. So what happens when twisted and evil takes on Mister Fantastic, Black Bolt, Iron Man, Professor Xavier, Black Panther and Doctor Strange invade the Marvel Universe? That’s exactly what the New Avengers are formed to stop.
“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 told IGN in an exclusive interview and first look. “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.”
Check out the first four of the Killuminati covers from Josemaria Casanovas, Rod Reis, Ivan Tao, and Salvador Larroca and watch for New Avengers #1 in June from Marvel Comics.
