Over the weekend we heard the shocking news that the Avengers titles were coming to an end. We can now start speculating as to what will come next in The Heroic Age. My gut says we'll see a consolidation of the Avengers team (and maybe even a return of the different branches like West Coast, etc). This makes sense as I'm sure no one in the Marvel Universe is really calling the teams "New," "Dark" or "Mighty."
The other question is what will happen to the Initiative program? Marvel has revealed the solicit for the series finale (issue #35):
With all the recent events, it's no surprise that they would want to just sweep the whole program under the rug. The Initiative program came as a result of the Superhuman Registration Act. That's still a sore subject with a lot of the characters. During Secret Invasion, it was revealed that one of the top staff, Hank Pym, was secretly a Skrull and each team in the Fifty State Initiative was supposed to have a Skrull sleeper agent in its roster. With Norman Osborn's rise to power, the Initiative soon become another tool for his personal use. The program may have had good intentions but all the events just leave a bad taste in your mouth.This is it: the series finale – and the end of the Initiative as we know it! Learn the fate of your favorite heroes, villains...and those who aren't quite sure what they are, but who are going to have to decide in a hurry! Who will taste sweet victory? Who will know the agony of defeat? For some this is an end -- for others, a new beginning (which you’ll be reading about very soon)! Camp H.A.M.M.E.R. is falling...and The Heroic Age is dawning!
Last year at the Big Apple Comic Con, we heard that Christos Gage and Mike McKone would be taking over Avengers Academy. We are left wondering what the direction of the Academy will take. Is this simply going to be a continuation of the Initiative program or will it be closer to the Xavier Institute? Who will be in control and oversee the Academy? Are we going to see heroes like Iron Man and Captain America take time off from fighting supervillains to give kids lessons on becoming an Avenger? Will Jarvis become the school custodian? Is Taskmaster going to be out of a job? Is this where we'll find out about Tigra's baby?