More Marvel NOW Teasers Revealed At NYCC Avengers Panel [NYCC 2013]

Marvel unveiled a bevy of All-New Marvel Now books and storylines at the Avengers panel at New York Comic-Con on Saturday afternoon. Avengers group editor Tom Brevoort was on hand to lead the panel, joined by fellow editor Lauren Sankovitch and writers Nick Spencer, Jonathan Hickman, Dennis Hopeless, Ales Kot and Al Ewing.

The first teaser unveiled was perhaps the most baffling; Mindbubble. This turns out to be the next Captain America arc from writer Rick Remender, with Pascal Alixe on art for issue #16 and Nick Klein on issue #17. The story introduces a new threat, Dr. Mindbubble, an assassin from the “Weapon Minus” program, created to “erase” Super Soldiers. “He will kill you with kindness,” said Brevoort of the new villain.

Next up; "Extinction." This is the next chapter of Sam Humphries' Avengers A.I., starting at issue #8 with art by Andre Araujo. Who or what is going extinct? Apparently it's us. “Humanity is at an end,” said Lauren Sankovitch. “Lay back, relax, the robots will take over for you.”

"Frenemies" teases a new #1 for Secret Avengers, from the creative team of Ales Kot and Michael Walsh. Kot described it as “Michael Bay meets Arrested Development.” The new team features Spider-Woman, Nick Fury Jr, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Phil Coulson, plus an unusual sixth member who wasn't identified, though the cover to #1 features a strange MODOK motif that had people in the audience speculating.

"Global" is perhaps the biggest new title announced at the panel, at least if the name is any indication. Avengers World is a new ongoing series coming out of Infinity, written by Nick Spencer based on stories by Spencer and Jonathan Hickman, and with art by Stefano Casseli.

The series explores “the changing landscape of the Marvel Earth”, said Spencer, and it features the same cast as the main Avengers title. “We definitely want to spend some time with some of the newer members of the cast," said Spencer, offering Smasher, Hyperion and Manifold as examples. In the Q&A it became clear that the book exists (at least in the short term) to allow Hickman to scale back the main Avengers title to one issue a month, at least for the time being, while he recovers from the heavy workload of Avengers, New Avengers and Infinity.

"Descent" teases the new Avengers title from Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker – and a replacement or sequel of sorts to the controversial Avengers Arena. The new book, Avengers Undercover, sees some of the survivors of Arcade's Murderworld go undercover in the Masters of Evil to try to bring it down from the inside. Hopeless notes that, after what these characters have been through, “they find they might fit in better with the villains.”

The teaser "Trust," in familiar green and gold, turns out to be a new ongoing series from Al Ewing and Lee Garbett titled Loki: Agent of Asgard. The cover shows a young adult Loki, which suggests two things. First, the version running around in Young Avengers is going to grow up. Second, Marvel perhaps finally understands that there's an audience out there that wants a Loki they can lust after.

“The first thing you need to know; page one, panel one, Loki kills Thor. He's dead,” said Ewing. “Second thing you need to know. We are always, always, always going to lie to you.”

Finally, and briefly; "Atonement" teased a new Black Widow series from Nate Edmondson and Phil Noto, with the tagline “Agent. Avenger. Assassin.” That title and the new She-Hulk title will be explored in more detail at the Women of Marvel panel on Sunday afternoon.