Avengers #1 Centers Spidey as a Bold New Era Begins

ZeeNovember 4, 2026

Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Marco Checchetto
Colors: Matthew Wilson
Letters: VC’s Cory Petit
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Released: 11/04/2026
Cover: Marco Checchetto
Price: $5.99

Everyone has their Avengers lineup. With a team that has a history like this behind it, there’s so many variations. A lot of it plays on the traditional team (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Ant-Man, etc.), but there’s another variation of this that really redefined the team for a new generation. When I got big time into comics almost a decade ago (yikes), that Avengers book was my foray into the team, and thus, that lineup has forever been my Avengers.

I am of course talking about Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch’s (and many others) New Avengers, the 2005 title that brought forth a new age of Avengers. After the events of Avengers: Disassembled, which left the Avengers split apart, a breakout on the Raft (a maximum security prison that holds supervillains, if you’ve played Insomniac’s Spider-Man from 2018, that’s where the big Act 2 finale happens) forces a new team to come together. Of course, the real life reason was to have Marvel’s big A-Listers on a book together, something that had historically not happened until that point.

And so we got the likes of Spider-Man and Wolverine alongside Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, the Sentry, and later other picks like Ronin and Winter Soldier together in a book that felt more scrappy than Avengers books before it, especially after Civil War. That era too is very important to me (aside from being my first exposure to Marvel Comics), the way Bendis and his artists worked together to really have all these interconnecting events really sold me on this living, breathing universe, something that hasn’t really been attempted since… until now.

One year ago, Chip Zdarsky and Valerio Schiti launched their new run on Captain America, which set Steve Rogers’ return from the ice to happen after 9/11 and America’s invasion of the Middle East, thus introducing the Captain America who fought there, David Colton. This year, we had Marvel’s big summer event, Avengers: Armageddon, by Zdarsky, Dellio Diaz, Frank Alzipar and co., which spun out of the pages of Captain America and ended in the United Nations outlawing superpowered beings from most countries, thus making the Avengers split apart.

*Avengers* #1 / Zdarsky, Checchetto, Wilson / Marvel Comics

Now, here we are with Avengers #1 by Chip Zdarsky and Marco Checchetto, reuniting after their phenomenal run on Daredevil. It’s operating on similar setups, Armageddon had the legacy numbering of Avengers before the relaunch, Disassembled ran through the last issues of the Avengers book at the time before it relaunched, but what drew my (and from what I noticed, everyone else’s) attention was the team lineup. It’s very reminiscent of that Bendis/Finch era team, starring Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil, Captain Marvel and David Colton…as Miracleman.

Even as we judge things on its own terms, comparisons being drawn almost feel like they’re being invited to happen. It’s similar setups, they’re in similar places, and even in interviews Zdarsky has talked about his love for the Bendis era, so it only makes sense. People might be drawing the (frankly, boring) conclusions of comparing plot beats, but I’m more interested in comparing the feeling. See, New Avengers, and that whole era of Marvel, feels very bold. It’s big swing after big swing after big swing looking to shake the foundations of things.

The Marvel of today is in a similar place too, you’ve got Stephen Wacker as the new Editor-in-Chief, who has talked about how he wants to change up Marvel and make it the powerhouse that it was known for. Avengers might be a book that was formulated before he came up, but it’s a book that is under his tenure now, so it seems like the first big swing at something bold.

And, at least between Avengers: Armageddon and Avengers, it certainly feels bold. The big inciting incident is set up in the pages of Captain America, where Doom takes over Hell and thus Mephisto’s deals are rendered null and void. On the other hand, Armageddon sets up the status quo of a world that has disavowed superpowered heroes (except in the United States, because there’s just too many of them there), as well as giving David Colton the powers of Miracleman.

Of course, Mephisto’s deals being rendered null brings up a big Spider-Man shaped question into the whole picture, and the way this issue deals with that doesn’t leave me wondering why the hell Marvel didn’t even question this all along (for obvious reasons), but rather, curious about what it means between it happening, what’s going on in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man (where May has forgotten who Peter is), and next year’s One Day that was teased at this year’s New York Comic Con.

The Miracleman of it all is an interesting conundrum. On one hand, the Alan Moore of it all makes sense, considering how Watchmen has been treated by the Distinguished Competition, but Miracleman isn’t a new creation, it was a rebirth of a book that had already existed. Even then, while there’s the argument to be made that they’re gonna riff on Moore and Leach’s work, that book already had a continuation right after Moore left the book (by the alleged sex pest Neil Gaiman), so it really is just a different case. Even so, I’m still skeptical about how Miracleman’s going to be handled in the book, but I have faith.

I’m quite fond of how approachable it is. You don’t have to have read Captain America, or Armageddon, or even Amazing Spider-Man to know what’s going on. You just pick up #1 and it’s all explained, easy to pick up. I really like the pacing, there’s enough here to chew your teeth on, and also engage yourself with what these characters are doing.

Marco Checchetto is doing phenomenal work on this issue. I liked him in Ultimate Spider-Man, but working with Zdarsky feels like he’s in his element, with a lot of fun panel work. What I find the most interesting is how he brings a distinct feeling to 616 Spider-Man, if you hold up how he illustrated the character in Avengers and previously Daredevil, and Ultimate Spider-Man, the character moves differently and I find that a fascinating, subtle distinction. I like Matt Wilson’s colours well enough (with whom he worked together on Ultimate Spider-Man and later issues of Daredevil), but it doesn’t quite fit as Checchetto did with Sunny Gho earlier on in Daredevil. They just feel a little too straight cut to the scene, as opposed to Gho, whose colours set the mood more effectively in my eye, but I’m sure they’ll get it figured out eventually (maybe even by #2). Cory Petit does a good lettering job, as per usual.

I really liked Avengers #1, and I’m excited for this era of Avengers. I hope Zdarsky, Checchetto, and the rest of the team can pull it off and hit the highs they’re setting themselves up for.