Avengers: The Intiative #1 new preview pages with dialogue [SPOILERS]

[Colin Solan]

Dang I want Rage to say more there. I know Dan's gotta go along with the Company but Namorita, who's the one that screwed up, has been around forever and fought intergalactic threats alongside the Warriors and the FF and she gets the 'young inexperienced' card. Running Atlantis while your cousin's away is a kid's job.

Again, I want someone to badmouth her in the book and have Rage teach them some respect

Moreover than Namorita, Rage would get pissed at anyone bad mouthing Night Thrasher, who adopted him after his grandmother was murdered. I'm definitely interested to just where Rage and Justice's characters are going to go.

[Miss Kitty Fantastico]

I like the bits with Rage and Justice - I liked how Dan dealt with the aftermath of Stamford from the surviving Warriors' perspectives in She-Hulk #8, and it's pleasing to see more of that (honestly, it hadn't occurred to me, even after seeing that they'd be involved in A:TI).

Heck, I like all of the preview. As usual, it feels like there's a lot more than six pages' worth of story there - I've seen previews that barely get into what the issue is about, whereas this one set up a whole bunch of plot threads. Only problem is, I got to the end and wanted to keep reading right now dammit!

Nice first glimpse of the Gauntlet, I like. He reminded me ("mother-luvin'" and other things) of Sgt Zim, from Starship Troopers, delivering his opening tirade to the new recruits:
"He never once repeated himself and he never used either profanity or obscenity. (I learned later that he saved those for very special occasions, which this wasn't.) But he described out shortcomings, physical, mental, moral, and genetic, in great and insulting detail."
Even if it's just a coincidental resemblance (it's not like a few panels are enough to tell, anyway), I definitely think I'm going to like the guy. The idea of a superhero drill sergeant just rocks, and I can't really think that it's been done before, at least not in anything well-known enough that I've heard of it (though just wait, I'm sure now that I've said that, ten of them will pop up).

Re: how his arm stays attached, I assumed when Pelletier took over from Bobillo and Southpaw's gauntlet suddenly went from arm-sized to small-car-sized that it was generating its own anti-gravity and anti-inertia field so that, from her point of view, it'd be weightless. If that's it, no doubt Gauntlet's works the same way.

One thing I'm very curious about: did Dan know that

Spoilers:

Captain America was going to meet his maker

when he came up with MVP? Because that's a huge load of story possibilities right there.

Anyone think Kid Glove might be Gauntlet's daughter?

[Edward J. Cunningham]

One thing I'm very curious about: did Dan know that

Spoilers:

Captain America was going to meet his maker

when he came up with MVP? Because that's a huge load of story possibilities right there.

Anyone think Kid Glove might be Gauntlet's daughter?

As for your first question...

Spoilers:

Not necessarily. The fact that MVP is described as "Captain America, Jr." does NOT necessarily mean that Cap is necessarily dead. I would assume Slott would know since he went to that summit meeting with Bendis!, Millar, Quesada and the other Civil War writers. But this was such a big secret, I would think it would be restricted to a "need to know" basis and I don't know if Slott needed to know or if Marvel trusted him to keep his mouth shut.

For me, MVP seems too perfect. I think that either something is going to go wrong during his training or we are going to find he is not all he seems to be...

Is Kid Glove the girl who took out that giant robot?

Eddie Cunningham

[wessner]

Is Kid Glove the girl who took out that giant robot?

The character who took out Ultimo (giant robot) called herself Armory and is not Kid Glove or Southpaw. Kid Glove appeared as Southpaw's partner in a 15 year flash forward in She-Hulk #100. Dan recently confirmed that Kid Glove is indeed the Guantlet's daughter.

[Dermie]

I like the bits with Rage and Justice - I liked how Dan dealt with the aftermath of Stamford from the surviving Warriors' perspectives in She-Hulk #8, and it's pleasing to see more of that

I agree. I think it is important that someone deal with the surviving Warriors and remind readers (and the other characters in the MU) that there is a lot more to the Warriors than one incident of horrible tragedy, and that they actually have a proud history as capable heroes.

Re: how his arm stays attached, I assumed when Pelletier took over from Bobillo and Southpaw's gauntlet suddenly went from arm-sized to small-car-sized

Actually, Pelletier was the one who first drew Southpaw, not Bobillo...

One thing I'm very curious about: did Dan know that

Spoilers:

Captain America was going to meet his maker

when he came up with MVP? Because that's a huge load of story possibilities right there.

I'd guess that Dan probably knew--I think any writer working on an Avengers-related book would had to have been informed that was coming.

I'm not sure if MVP really makes a big impact on that situation though, since there are already characters like USAgent, Patriot, Josiah X and Winter Solider running around who can fill a similar role.


Anyway, the preview was fantastic, and I am eagerly looking forward to reading the rest of the issue!
I loved all the cameos of various other Marvel heroes--I look forward to seeing a lot of old favourites turn up, and hopefully get some interesting things to do.

We finally meet the Gauntlet, and he definately makes a strong first impression. As an old New Warriors fan, he did annoy me a bit with some of his comments...but I can understand why he'd do it.
I'm eager to learn more about this guy. Who is he, and how'd he get his gauntlet? What is his history in the MU that he is qualified to be an instructor here? What are his relationships to the other characters--presumably he and Justice aren't going to be particularily chummy.

And although I'm sure a lot of the character-development time is going to be spent on introducing the new characters, I do hope Dan manages to squeeze in some personal stuff for the instructors as well. What has Vance been up to since his break-up with Firestar? How is Hank Pym's therapy going? Are Hank and Firebird still together, or did the war split them up? Etc, etc.

This book can't get here fast enough!!!

[CyberCoyote]

RE: Hank
I read one of the solicits, maybe the third installment, and it said there'd be some serious developements for Pym. Doesn't look like Slott's going to miss the Avengers for the Newbies in this series

[tom daylight]

Bobillo drew a great Southpaw

Especially that scene in #7 where she uses her "hand" as a hammock. Priceless!

[Ravenwing263]

Are all the characters behind MVP established Marvel characters? I recognize Stingray and Debrii, and I think I see Scorpian, anyone else familliar?

Also are Rage, Thor Girl, and Slapstick the only established characters on the bus? Obviously, the lizard girl is Kimodo, the blonde girl is Cloud 9, and the brunette is Amory, but are the tiger-suited guy, the blonde guy, and the black-haired guy all new?

[Dermie]

Are all the characters behind MVP established Marvel characters? I recognize Stingray and Debrii, and I think I see Scorpian, anyone else familliar?

Also are Rage, Thor Girl, and Slapstick the only established characters on the bus? Obviously, the lizard girl is Kimodo, the blonde girl is Cloud 9, and the brunette is Amory, but are the tiger-suited guy, the blonde guy, and the black-haired guy all new?

The tiger-suited guy is Bengal, who was established in early issues of NEW WARRIORS vol.1. The other blonde girl is Ultra Girl, who had her own miniseries in the 90s, and turned up in CIVIL WAR and various tie-ins. I think the blond guy and black haired guy are new--they are in civilian clothes instead of costumes, which implies they don't have pre-existing superhero (or villain) identities.

As for the characters behind MPV...in addition to Stingray and Debrii, I see Red Wolf, Nighthawk, Constrictor, Network, Scorpion, Hellcat and I think Doc Samson.

[Patrick King]

Marvel recently released a guide to all of the characters on the A:TI cover, here. It's kinda hard to read because it's frakkin' huge, but you get the gist of it.