Synopsis
New Avengers, The (2025 series) #1 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
The issue begins with masked Bucky Barnes chatting with Earl, the owner of a gas station out in the New Mexico desert. Then Barnes pulls a gun and accuses him of informing on local resisters to Dr Doom's rule (in the One World Under Doom event). Earl's excuse is that Doom's people offered him cheaper gas. So Bucky uses a Molotov cocktail to blow the place up.
On his way out Black Widow sneaks up on him and puts a gun to his head. She chides the man called Revolution for using such a cliche weapon, but Bucky says he's dropped that name now that the revolution against Doom has taken root. He's gone back to being Winter Soldier (and he got his cybernetic arm back at the end of the last Thunderbolts series) and he's working alone now, without a team.
They retire to his current base in a disused metal water tower and specifically to his bed to resume their on/off relationship. But later Natasha Romanoff tells him she's really here because she has a mission, which means they need a new team. An abandoned site in Kamchatka, part of the Russian Federation, has been receiving large amounts of genetic material and over 200 local villagers have disappeared. She suspects they are unwilling lab rats.
In the next scene the pair are dealing with a couple of guards at the place when another recruit causes a diversion on another side of the base. We see a gun barrel being sliced in 2 and claws punching through a chest, plus a claw on a boot drawing blood from someone's neck. And we see it's Laura Kinney, the female Wolverine, slashing her way through more guards. Nat questions why Bucky didn't call on the *real* Wolverine.
We get a recent flashback to Bucky recruiting Laura in New York in Washington Square Park where she's buying an old book from a stall. Bucky 'reminisces' about the adventure they just shared (in Laura Kinney: Wolverine #4-5) and suggests she join his group for another 1. She turns him down because she's wouldn't fit in with the Avengers types he usually works with. But he assures her this is *her* kind of job.
Now Barnes and Romanoff leave Kinney to 'play' with the guards while they sneak inside a building which they find packed with terrified villagers, many with bandaged injuries. They urge them (in Russian) to escape through the hole they made in the fence. Bucky notices 1 woman with an extra eye grafted to her face, and has his own flashback to Russians grafting his cybernetic arm on.
Wolverine joins them and they break into a central modern building. They see a huge machine with lots of pipes flowing into it, and 7 numbered doors at the base. And they are welcomed by a besuited Jackal, an old foe of Spider-Man, making like Arcade who initiates the opening of the doors and claims they'll *love* what comes out. Widow suggests Winter Soldier call in more backup, and he presses a button on a handy controller - and someone slams through the side of the building.
We get another recent flashback to Canada's Bay Of Fundy where he meets with Sub-Mariner. He invokes their comradeship in the WWII Invaders to ask a favour. Namor presumes (correctly) it's some Surface World problem he needs sorting out and asks if he's recruiting for the Thunderbolts. Bucky suggests this is more of a non-team (like the Defenders Subby was in years ago) but the King Of Atlantis claims he deserves nothing less than the Avengers (who he has been a member of several times, most recently the 2018 series).
Now of course it is Sub-Mariner who has just smashed his way in to the battleground. The 7 doors open and Wolverine's acute sense of smell detects Prof Xavier. Meanwhile someone rather like Iron Man blasts them but declares that's *not* who he is. We see him with a besuited Black Panther lookalike with a sword who declares the heroes prey. Beside them is a levitating hirsute Dr Strange, someone in an X-Men outfit and a Mr Fantastic whose body is like a mass of worms. And there are 2 indistinct others in the background.
The front 5 launch an attack. Wolverine asks her foe to tell her if he's the real Black Panther before she guts him. Namor tangles with MrF and wonders how Jackal knew to create clones of this particular set of heroes. While firing his gun Winter Soldier tells them that these are not the real Illuminati. Widow fights 'Prof X'. DrS is mentally contacted by Clea from Strange's New York Sanctum. She's surprised because she knows the real Stephen Strange is in Asgard (during the OWUD event). Namor was in the Illuminati so he looks for a version of himself, and finds 1 of the previously unrevealed opponents is a purple humanoid with his ankle wings but also 6 octopus arms who calls himself Imperius Rex (which is 1 of Subby's old titles) and uses Atlantean telepathy against him. 'Iron Man' takes Wolverine into the air so she stabs him which causes a blast which shreds her arm.
Sub-Mariner now takes the fight directly to Jackal but WS, engulfed in the coils of 'Mr Fantastic', tells him not to kill the villain because they need to know what's going on. Namor agrees but then Jackal's body 'evaporates' leaving him with the head. Nat asks Bucky who the 7th member of the Illuminati was, and the last clone is revealed to be Black Bolt (with a bloated body that looks like the Not Brand Ecch Hulk). It tries to speak which causes everyone to run away because they all know what 1 word from BB can do. He finally says "Bolt" and they're all caught in the blast. And the escaping prisoners outside hear the deafening sound and see a white 'explosion'.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Wolverine (
Laura Kinney duplicate).
Enemies
Jackal (Miles Warren).