WonderCon 2012 was the perfect time for Marvel to lift the curtain on some major announcements headed our way this Summer. First the publisher announced that Ms. Marvel would become the next Captain Marvel, then they revealed plans for an all-new X-Men series and now we've learned that an already prominent series will be turned on its head this June.

According to a recent announcement, Marvel has revealed that starting with issue #175, THUNDERBOLTS would be renamed DARK AVENGERS. The book will continue to be written by writer Jeff Parker and will feature a cast of characters that will include Ragnarok and Skaar. According to Marvel, Luke Cage will continue to lead the team. We can't help but wonder if the name change of this team has anything to do with a change in their alliance...perhaps we're overthinking things. If you haven't seen the fate of the Dark Avengers under Norman Osborn's control, check out last week's issue of AVENGERS.

Jeff Parker said the following about the inevitable meeting between the Dark Avengers and the Thunderbolts:

They crash—eventually. But for now the overseers of [the] Thunderbolts don't think Luke can ever bring back the time-lost escaped team, and they have a hazardous new mission they think is perfectly suited to the Dark Avengers.

What do you think about the upcoming change? Are you looking forward to seeing what happens next? Do you think we'll see a change in the alliance of these characters or is this just another way of referring to a rag-tag group of Marvel heavyweights?

Source: Marvel

You know what I think?

SONGBIRD BETTER STILL BE IN THE BOOK!!!!

Although I'm very much interested in the roster I see this as just another chance to overuse Spider-Man, Hulk ,Thor and the Avengers

Like they are going to follow a weakling like Cage. One flick from either Ragnarok or Skaar would destroy him.

is that blur for a reason? whos that spider-man with 8 arms?

@zombietag: Ai Apaec

@Spiderslike: Typical...

It was already revealed that Skarr was a double agent for the Avengers. I'm guessing this will be like Uncanny X Force, a group who operates outside the bounds of the law.

another dark avengers team :)

New Avengers is having repercussions?!?! I wish it would stay in it's own corner of the Avengers-books like X-Factor is to the X-books, fun but not exactly relevant to the rest of the world.

Norman Osborn? Really?

I want to read the Avengers, I just don't want to read any with any Spider-man characters in it.

A heroic dark avengers? or mostly forced to do good dark avengers with a hulk to keep them in line and Jeff Parker still in the writing duties.....I'm sold. I was reading the thunderbolts during the heroic age till fear itself and i loved it, the roster filled with criminals forced to do good was awesome now we have the dark avengers to take over that roll? I'll probably drop some books from Dc to make way for this but I don't care since I'm totally sold.

Lol, all three of these clowns got wrecked by Iron Fist.

I haven't read the Dark Avengers arc in the Avengers books... I want to know what's going on!

@Cafeterialoca: This

Also I will be really pissed if they drop Ghost or Moonstone from the team. And I don't see the point in adding Ragnarok, actually scratch that. Maybe they can do something interesting with Troll now.

I love Marvel but in my opinion, too much Norman Osborn. Enough already give him a break!

Canceld.

as long as songbird is still around i am ok.

Figures...I find a team I actually care about, and then they go and get themselves all Osborned. The new Thunderbolt's motto should be "Justice, Like Cornrows!"

What the hell is wrong with Skaars hands?

Coming Soon...Dark X-Men...so many damn titles

@Cafeterialoca said:

SONGBIRD BETTER STILL BE IN THE BOOK!!!!

This.

@SavageDragon: I have been saying this for quiet some time now. It has gotten ridiculous at this point. That and to many Avengers books. Marvel has a problem w/ this, Spiderman, over exposure, X-Men, over exposure, Avengers, over exposure. They need to scale it back a bit. Not everyone needs to be an Avenger, and not every Avenger book needs to have Norman Osborn in it, or some facsimile of him.

Thunderbolts is my favourite Marvel book, but it already has so many characters. Parker said the old team would be staying, but surely they'll have to drop some if they're adding so many more. However, now that I'm saying that, I probably wouldn't care if the "underbolts" were dropped. I preferred the original (Cage) roster before they came in.

I'm in.

I'm not excited. But it will sell like hotcakes, I'm sure.

@BransonHuggins said:

@SavageDragon: I have been saying this for quiet some time now. It has gotten ridiculous at this point. That and to many Avengers books. Marvel has a problem w/ this, Spiderman, over exposure, X-Men, over exposure, Avengers, over exposure. They need to scale it back a bit. Not everyone needs to be an Avenger, and not every Avenger book needs to have Norman Osborn in it, or some facsimile of him.

Because ASM, Avengers, and X-Men are their top-selling titles, they assume that putting them into EVERYTHING will increase sales. Though they tried it with Moon Knight and it failed miserably.

@SavageDragon said:

I love Marvel but in my opinion, too much Norman Osborn. Enough already give him a break!

He already had a break. A prison break. =P

I'll check it ^_^

Stop using the Avengers name already! Why not just stay with thunderbolts? Or a Masters Of Evil series? Dark xmen, dark avengers, dark wolverine,Avengers academy, Young Avengers played out names.

Wrecking Crew or Masters Of Evil series PLEASE!!!

To many avengers stuff that is not interesting anymore to begging with. The thunderbolts are cool because they are diferent from anything else out there

This looks stupid

wow this is stupid. just get rid of ragnarok already.

Couldn't be less interested in this.

Yup this is where I quit. I have zero interest in the DA lineup Parker will have. And Honestly All my favorite Bolts will STILL be time traveling?! I really was hoping that that story would end (much as I've enjoyed it) when they battle it out with the original team in 174, 5? I know Walker will still be illustrating the Bolts issues, but I just don't care any more. With more interesting books coming out at Image/DC this little bit of news came at the perfect time. Now I know what I'll clear out for Mind The Gap or Dial H. Still wish Parker the best. Suppose it's a bit of advancement now that Marvel sees his book as important enough to drag into the Avengers family of books, though I personally find the overall line lackluster I must admit that I'm glad they're trying to boost it's sales/expose it to a larger audience.

@The Dark Huntress said:

Couldn't be less interested in this.

Indeed, lady. And I'm a man who is a HARDCORE fan of Parker's work on the book. Tbolts was ranked amongst my best monthly books and was the second only to Secret Six as far as team books go. Well, I still have Demon Knights to look forward to each month!

This was my favorite Marvel book, probably my favorite book, period. Man... at least Jeff Parker is a good enough writer to come up with a kind of plausible reason for this to happen... I guess?

This sucks. :(

@BransonHuggins: Took the words out my mouth.

Just an attempt to increase sales.

Upset. They took a struggling book in sales that was good,fun writing and replace it with a book that was good back in the day and it's another Avenger book ugh. Not fun for me. It's not gonna be the same no matter how much I love Parker Walker and Shavley. I'll enjoy the last few months of T-bolts in peace.

Jeff Parker and Skaar are awesome reasons for this book, but other than that its still just a "meh" kinda story for me.

Why are Marvel doing this?They just keep ruining their books.

Ragnarok needs to go away and never dome back.

DARK AVENGERS was something that worked for the time of the Dark Reign arc. At least this version is being led by Luke Cage. I really hope that this teaser image isn't the actual outcome of the team's appearance. It would be silly to have these characters walking around looking like dark reflections of other heroes rather than their own unique appearances.

Marvel is just turning into a series of "look what new thing we are re-making again!". They're better than that.

Yay for Ragnarok, but I'd rather see Songbird and Moonstone remain on the team, I hope this is the case.

Ragnarok will rise again!

Oh man! Thunderbolts has been my favorite book for a long time now and I hope this is just a sib until the lost team is returned. The Marvel universe needs a Thunderbolts, I need the thunderbolts. But it's a pretty cool looking crew. hope they continue to add in more of the cooler abstract/obscure villains to the mix.

Lame

Does anybody still care about Dark Avengers?
BB

@Illuminatus said:

Lol, all three of these clowns got wrecked by Iron Fist.

@saoakden said:

I'm in.

This.