Writer: Sam Humphries
Art: Tom Lima and Stephen Segovia
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Price:$4.99
Reviewed by: Anonymous
Release Date: June 11th, 2025
Carnage. The Hulk. Namor. Clea. Wolverine. Five of the most dangerous loners and antiheroes in the Marvel Universe. Nothing could make them work together…but Bucky Barnes and the Black Widow are going to give it a shot. Demented duplicates of the Illuminati are threatening the world, and if they figure out how to work together, they’ll be as unstoppable as the originals. Bucky and Natasha need allies who will do anything to take the duplicates out – but wrangling a team of killers and monsters presents its own dangers. Welcome to the New Thunderbolts* – hope you survive the experience!
If you’re interested in this comic, series, related trades, or any of the others mentioned, then simply click on the title/link to snag a copy through Amazon as you read the New Avengers #1 Review.
THE DISPATCH
Move over, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes—New Avengers #1 arrives with blood under its nails and a chip on its shoulder, assembling one of the most volatile rosters in Marvel history. Sam Humphries makes a triumphant return to the Marvel Universe with a team that’s less “Avengers” and more “what if Suicide Squad had cosmic PTSD.”
Forget classic camaraderie or moral clarity. This is a mission built on necessity, not nobility. When deranged duplicates of the Illuminati emerge as a new global threat, Bucky Barnes and Natasha Romanoff—two spies who know what it’s like to be weapons—don’t go looking for heroes. They go looking for people who can survive a fight.
Enter: Carnage. The Hulk. Namor. Clea. Wolverine. Each is a walking apocalypse in their own right. Together? Barely functional. But Humphries thrives in writing fractured teams and he doesn’t waste a panel showing how combustible this setup is. Wolverine and Namor nearly kill each other by page 6. Clea regards the entire mission as beneath her. Carnage is…well, Carnage. And Hulk? He’s written here like a loaded gun on a hair trigger—sad, dangerous, and unpredictable.
The brilliance of New Avengers #1 lies in its Thunderbolts-like premise: Can bad people do good things under the right pressure? But where the classic Thunderbolts hid villainy behind hero masks, this book rips the masks off entirely. Bucky and Natasha are holding this circus together with duct tape and trauma bonding.
While the art team hasn’t been officially announced at the time of this review, early pages seen in preview show a gritty, kinetic aesthetic reminiscent of Jerome Opeña or even Gabriele Dell’Otto—shadow-heavy, cinematic, and grounded in visceral impact.
Humphries doesn’t overburden the first issue with exposition. He lets personality and power clashes tell the story. The fight scenes crackle with danger, and dialogue sings with layered character beats. The inner narration from Bucky and Natasha reveals just how high the stakes are—not just globally, but morally. They’re betting the world on a team of people who may hate themselves more than their enemies.
FINAL THOUGHTS
New Avengers #1 is gritty, chaotic, and brimming with personality—like a Molotov cocktail thrown into the superhero genre. Sam Humphries proves he understands that “Avengers” doesn’t have to mean “noble.” Sometimes it just means “necessary.” This could become the sleeper hit of Marvel’s 2025 lineup—if it doesn’t implode first.