Goodbye, Avengers Titles...

Yes, you read right - we're saying goodbye to ALL the main and current Avengers titles, and I wasn't aware of this piece of news until later this evening, but if you're reading this now, I'm quite as shocked as many of you who care are.

Apparently, Marvel is going to pull the plug on all four current Avengers titles this coming April - namely "New Avengers", "Mighty Avengers", "Dark Avengers", and "Avengers: The Initiative", as reported in an article at Newsarama. This comes just around the time their major crossover, Siege, finishes and wraps up the whole Norman Osborn vs Asgard deal.

I for one am surprised by this move, considering that writer Brian Michael Bendis was responsible for dismantling the flagship Avengers title during 2004's "Avengers: Disassembled" and ushering in the new age of Avengers titles in the following years to come. After disassembling the original team, he introduced "The New Avengers", a new team of heroes led by mainstays Captain America and Iron Man that comprised of heavy Marvel hero hitters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, and Spider-Woman to name a few. It was literally a dream team to say the least, and the roster would remain united until the 2006-2007 Marvel Event called "Civil War", where the hero community literally split right down the middle, bringing about the start of divisions and separate teams of Avengers, fighting for different causes and beliefs in the age of the Superhero Registration Act. It wasn't until the "Secret Invasion" of the Skrull empire that all these teams briefly united to fight the common threat.

That alliance, however, also proved to be temporary, as things went from bad to worse when Norman Osborn took over, forcing most of the heroes into hiding and creating his own twisted version of the avengers known as the "Dark Avengers". Donning the identity of the "Iron Patriot", he leads his ragtag team of crazies and criminals, with some clothed in familiar costumes of famous heroes.

Now that the "Siege" has begun, we can only wait and see what events transpire that will lead to the finale and closure of these major flagship titles and books. With the Heroic Age in the horizon, I foresee a brighter future for Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Avengers Assemble!