The Marvel Universe's all-star superhero team, rebranded for the new millennium.After Avengers Disassembled, Tony Stark disbanded the Avengers. Six months later, a prison riot at the Raft proved that the world needed an Avengers team, so Captain America recruited the other heroes who helped stop the riot - Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage & Spider-Woman - to form the New Avengers. As the first few arcs went on, the team was joined by Wolverine, The Sentry & Ronin (a disguised Echo, sent by Daredevil in his place). Following Civil War through to the end of Dark Reign, the team was forced underground, but with the beginning of the Heroic Age they were free to operate openly.Following Dark Reign, the team was officially sanctioned by S.H.I.E.L.D., and was one of two public teams of Avengers active in the Marvel Universe. They were led by Luke Cage and based in Avengers Mansion.After the events of Avengers Vs X-Men, the title was relaunched as part of the Marvel NOW initiative. The new team is based on the previously established version of The Illuminati this time brought together by Black Panther along with Iron Man, Namor, Mr. Fantastic, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, Beast of the X-Men, and Captain America as additional members.In other media, the team (consisting of Spider-Man, Luke Cage, War Machine, Iron Fist, Wolverine and the Thing) appeared in a self-titled episode of The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Most of the members also are playable heroes in the Facebook game Marvel Avengers Alliance.
Tropes used in New Avengers Volumes 1 & 2 include:
A Day in the Spotlight: During Civil War, each issue focused on an individual member of the team who didn't have their own series, with Captain America & Iron Man also getting issues due to scheduling conflicts with their own series.
All Your Base Are Belong to Us: Any place they use as a headquarters typically has a hard time. Avengers Mansion has probably had it worst.
And Now for Someone Completely Different: During Secret Invasion, both this title and Mighty Avengers didn't feature the titular Avengers, but instead revealed backstory for several of the Skrull replacements. Justified, in that both teams were trapped in the Savage Land for a large portion of the story, and the story was originally going to be a Bat Family Crossover taking place in the two Avengers titles before Executive Meddling decided to make the story a Crisis Crossover limited series instead.
Back for the Finale: Wolverine, after being unavailable for the last few arcs due to events in X-Men.
Badass in Distress: The first things the second line-up do are try to retrieve Captain America's body from S.H.I.E.L.D. after learning that he may still be alive, before flying to Japan to save Echo from being forced into the Hand.
Book Ends: Vol. 2 #16 (The final Fear Itself tie-in) opened with Hawkeye questioning what makes someone "Avengers material" & several Avengers arguing that certain people don't belong on the team; the issue ends with the same Avengers pointing out that applying Alternate Character Interpretation means that same person is very much the type of person who should be an Avenger.
In a wider sense, Vol.2 started and ended with arcs heavily based around magic, possession, Doctor Strange, and the title of Sorcerer Supreme.
Iron Fist(mid-battle): Awww... is this one of those 'witty banter' teams?
Spider-Man: Yeah.
Iron Fist: I hate banter.
Luke Cage: You're doing banter.
Chekhov's Gunman: Ronin. Despite being on all of the early covers, the character didn't appear until the midway point of the original line-up's run (and then immediately went to Japan to spy on the Hand), before becoming part of the team properly after Civil War.
Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Echo, after Secret Invasion. Lampshaded by Spider-Man asking if anyone knew where she'd gone; and again with her reappearance when Luke Cage & Jessica Jones were looking for a Nanny, as she angrily asks if Cage even remembers that she used to be on the team.
Costume Copycat: Spider-Man lampshades the Dark Avengers use of costumes previously worn by actual heroes.
Deep Sleep: After witnessing Brother Voodoo repel Agamotto's invasion (with tragic results), Doctor Strange wakes up in the next issue and is told he's been asleep for fifteen hours.
Disability Superpower: Daredevil has enhanced senses, including a "radar sense" that shows him the world around him.
Double Agent: Victoria Hand, with the requisite "whose side is she really on?" questions. The period between the end of Dark Reign and Avengers vs. X-Men plays this for all it's worth.
Establishing Character Moment: The Sentry grabs Carnage and flies him out into space & tears the symbiote in two. The second arc established the Sentry's character to a fuller extent, but this established that he was not going to be a low-level hero.
Everyone Went To School Together: Spider-Man & Jessica Jones, complete with the embarrassing revelations that she had a crush on him; and that Peter didn't even realise that Jessica Jones, superhero & former Bugle co-worker, went to the same school as him as he only knew her as "Coma Girl".
Hidden in Plain Sight: When the team were hiding out at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Doctor Strange cast a spell on the building that it made it appear as if it had been long been deserted. He even went so far as to use a codeword which also hid any inhabitants that used it. Subverted, as Iron Man suspected the team were doing this, but couldn't find a magic user (or at least, a magic user willing to work with S.H.I.E.L.D.) able to overcome Strange's spell.
It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Daredevil pulls this when Captain America first approaches him to be part of the first line-up. He tries to pull it again when Luke Cage & Jessica Jones ask him to join the team following Fear Itself, but they point out it doesn't really work, since he'd be an Avenger & they'd have his back.
Doctor Strange tries a similar argument after Daniel Drumm swears vengeance on him, which sets up one of Luke Cage's better lines. "Okay. Raise your hand if any of you [the gathered members of the New Avengers] have ever had the bad guy threaten all holy hell on you before he died, went to jail, disappeared, vanished, or just in general felt like lipping off." Every hand in the room goes up.
On the other hand, Jessica Jones walked away from the team because her daughter's life was threatened by Norman Osborn.
Legacy Character: Subverted - After the death of Steve Rogers, Luke Cage states that they are Avengers, because Captain America said they were.
Played straight, however, in Clint Barton assuming the Ronin name after Captain America's death and keeping it until the start of the Heroic Age.
Discussed by Iron Fist & Doctor Strange following Civil War, with the two of of them bearing mantles (Sorcerer Supreme & the Iron Fist) that had been previously passed down to them, and they will later pass on in their lives.
Loophole Abuse: In the initial arc, Maria Hill informs Captain America that he can't just form a new team of Avengers because he feels like it. Cap then tells her that she can check his S.H.I.E.L.D. file & verify for herself that he was previously given "Full Champion License" during Nick Fury's tenure as S.H.I.E.L.D. director; which means that he has the authority to assemble any team he sees fit to go on any mission he sees fit & they don't need S.H.I.E.L.D. permission to put the Avengers back together.
When Brother Voodoo challenges Agamotto one-on-one, he uses a spell that gathers the collective strength and fighting ability of the New Avengers into a single person.
Flashing red neon letters pointing directly at Victoria Hand. (But is it a little too obvious?)
Ultimately averted, as she follows Steve Rogers' orders now. So she'd be more of a Reverse Mole.
Never Live It Down: In-universe, The Sentry throwing the Void into the sun.
Similarily, Spider-Man reminds everyone that Victoria Hand was Norman Osborn's right hand during Dark Reign at every opportunity.
One of the Boys: Within the team dynamic, Mockingbird tends to be this. She's not part of the Romantic Three Girl Friendship between Carol and the two Jessicas, and instead whenever she's getting chummy with a teammember, its with one of the boys. She also has the most tomboyish personality, probably helped by her tomboyish name.
Playing Both Sides/Reverse Mole: Victoria Hand, formerly Norman Osborn's right hand during Dark Reign, serves as the team's S.H.I.E.L.D liasion at Steve Rogers's request, but provides info on the team to Osborn's new H.A.M.M.E.R organisation. However, this is also at Rogers's request, as she provides info on H.A.M.M.E.R to him, with the New Avengers' distrust of her providing the ideal cover.
Put on a Bus: Wolverine, for the last few arcs of the first volume, due to his being on Utopia with the rest of the X-Men. Notable, as he was still considered a member of the team during this time - Everyone else who left the title wasn't.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: By vol. 2 under Luke Cage, the team consists of anyone he has managed to recruit, yielding a mismatched bag of heroes, some of whom are on their second (or third, or fourth) chance. Wong called them a "second-rate pile of Avengers" and Kyle Richmond, aka Nighthawk, said "clearly you guys are The Defenders."
Terrible Interviewees Montage: Luke and Jessica trying to find a superpowered nanny for their daughter. Some candidates are horrible, some are offended, and some take the opportunity to get in a few zings at the team. But the last one is perfect.
Wolverine: [to Brother Voodoo] Bub, I can do what needs to be done in a way you can't.
The Thing: I think that's a compliment, by the way.
Trauma Conga Line: This series has been hard on Doctor Strange. The final flare-up of dark magic which led him to give up the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme; the quest for his successor with a Dormammu-empowered Hood at his heels; and finally the abrupt invasion of Agamotto into their dimension, which the new Sorcerer Supreme, Brother Voodoo, repelled at the cost of the Eye of Agamotto and his own life — all happened in issues of New Avengers.
What Happened to the Mouse?: The first time Earth has no Sorcerer Supreme, it's an immediate crisis that must be dealt with at once. The second time, it appears that two years of real time can pass without any particular badness occurring.
Wolverine Publicity: There are three characters who have been in the book since the very first arc - Luke Cage, Spider-Man & Wolverine. Guess which one's the Creator's Pet & which two this trope applies to.
Tropes used in New Avengers Volumes 3 include:
All The Myriad Ways: The heroes really don't want to play it straight, since they're aware that, even if the other world isn't theirs, it still means murdering every single person on it.
Badass Boast: Dr. Doom gets one when the Mapmakers invade his home in Latveria
Dr. Doom: FOOLS! The very worst of men know better... Gods know better. Who is behind such folly?
Bilingual Bonus: Black Swan peppers her speech with Sumerian. Most of it is translated, but not all.
Cast from Hit Points: Most of the initial plans the Illuminati have as of issue 4 for taking out another world in a incursion event have this drawback.
Comm Links: Each of the members has a device hidden within his palm to confirm their identities and for short communications with one another in times of crisis.
Cross Through: Hickman currently writes both Avengers and New Avengers, and definitely has plans for them interacting. For example, he said that the themes for the comics is that Avengers is about life, and New Avengers, death. Also, in the first issue of Avengers, Cap has a dream based on the discussions with the Illuminati. The end of that comic's first arc seems to imply that Cap and Iron Man will eventually butt heads since Iron Man is on both teams and gave the order to mind-wipe Cap in the first place.
Despair Event Horizon: Judging by the first three issues, they'll be crossing a few.
Disaster Dominoes: One universe's early destruction sets off a chain of universes collapsing into each other, threatening to destroy the entire multiverse.
Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The first issue ends with one and two more occur before the end of the first six issues.
Enemy Mine: Namor and T'Challa. Since the events of ''Avengers Vs X-Men', they rule kingdoms that are at war with each other. As soon as he calls the team in, T'Challa takes some time out to inform Namor that when the current crisis is over, he plans to kill him.
Godzilla Threshold: The events of the first issue, being unable to save the teens with him and watching a world be destroyed cause Black Panther to assemble the Illuminati.
When the Infinity Gauntlet breaks, the Illuminati realize they must be willing to at least consider destroying entire worlds to save the rest. The lone dissenter to this is expelled.
They ultimately realize they could not condemn billions to death no matter the stakes, when confronted with an alternate Galactus that was willing to do what they had spent the entire issue planning on doing and destroy the alternate Earth that would collide with theirs to save the rest of his universe. However, they did let him have his world when it was clear there was no time left to save it.
The Heart: Captain America. His determination to stay this in the face of universal destruction is why they kick him out.
Hope Spot: Issue 3 The group reassembles the Infinity Gauntlet in order to push oncoming universe's Earths away from their own. With Cap wielding it the plan appears to work... but the Infinity Gems are destroyed, leaving the Illuminati without their greatest weapon and no way to stop future incursions.
Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: The biggest problem for the heroes is that they have no idea why the incursions are happening, or how to stop them without resorting to destroying the other earth. Luckily, Black Swan has some answers.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Illuminati bring the Infinity Gems out of hiding in the hope that the Infinity Gauntlet can resolve incursions without the need to destroy the other Earth. It works... once... and then breaks, but not before alerting Galactus, the Watcher, and Thanos to its presence.
Oh Crap: When the Infinity Gems break. Again, probably just the first of many.
The Promise: Black Panther promises to execute Namor for what he did to Wakanda once the problem they are dealing with is over.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Black Swan has incursion detectors in her eyes that cause them to glow red when "Rabum Alal" approaches.
Red Sky, Take Warning: Within the pocket zones created by the incursion events. Except when they are blue
Shoot the Dog: The Illuminati turn on Captain America and expel him from their number. From the look of things, this is only the first dog they will have to shoot.
Spell My Name with a "The": The Black Swan. Justified since it is either a title or the name of any member of the 'order' of Black Swans to which she belongs.
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