MARVEL.COM: The credits page breaks down the new team’s roster and gives each member a title: the Star, the Icon, the Witch, the Construct, the God, the Engineer, and the King. How do these encapsulate your view of the characters and the roles they take on the team in this story?
JED MACKAY: I like titles, and it plays into some of what I wanted to do with the Avengers—how each is a person with their problems and desires, but are at the same time mythic archetypes, each one a god that walks the Earth (figuratively for most, literally for one). It also places them in clear opposition to the Twilight Court, who we introduced in TIMELESS (2022): a team composed of the same archetypes, an artificial Avengers who I imagine we’ll see before long.
MARVEL.COM: Which character were you the most excited to work with, and which one ended up being your surprise favorite? Why?
JED MACKAY: I was pretty excited to bring Vision and Scarlet Witch back to the Avengers. Having come up on 70s comics, AVENGERS is the book that always seemed like the one that was their real home to me. They’re both great characters, and catching up with them after so long is going to be a lot of fun.
As for a surprise favorite, it would have to be T’Challa. We’re used to seeing T’Challa as a ruler, a leader, a king, and now he’s trying to figure out what makes him tick outside of all those things. He’s someone who has been badly hurt by recent events, and who has hurt others, and seeing that dynamic play out has been really interesting.