The Heroic Age is a 2010

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

ing that ran through a number of books published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

. It began in May 2010, marking a major change in the

status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

of the

Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...

after the events of the "

Siege A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...

" crossover event, similarly to how " The Initiative" and " Dark Reign" dealt with the aftermath of "

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

" and "

Secret Invasion "Secret Invasion" is a comic book crossover storyline that ran through a self-titled eight-issue limited series and several tie-in books published by Marvel Comics from April through December 2008. The story involves a subversive, long-term in ...

", respectively.

Publication history

Marvel publisher

Dan Buckley Dan Buckley is an American publishing executive, who is known for his work as Publisher, and then as President of Marvel Entertainment since January 2017. Early life Dan Buckley was raised in upstate New York and later a New York city resident. H ...

stated that the Heroic Age was intended to be more constrained in its scope than previous initiatives: The initiative began in May 2010's ''

Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes **Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes of ...

'' #1, which reunited

Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby. The charact ...

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

(both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes),

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

, and Hawkeye as teammates. The same month saw the start of a four-issue

comics anthology A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication t ...

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

called ''Age of Heroes'', with

Kurt Busiek Kurt Busiek ( ) (born September 16, 1960) is an American comic book writer. His work includes the ''Marvels'' limited series, his own series titled ''Astro City'', a four-year run on ''The Avengers (comic book), The Avengers, Thunderbolts (comics ...

writing the lead story. The idea behind the series is that, according to

Tom Brevoort Tom Brevoort () is an American comic book editor, known for his work for Marvel Comics, where he has overseen titles such as '' New Avengers'', ''Civil War'', and ''Fantastic Four''. He became Executive Editor in 2007, and in January 2011 was prom ...

, "seeing as how Heroic Age will impact on characters both large and small, we thought it might be fun to do an anthology to delve into some of these stories and to touch upon some of these characters". Busiek's story involves

J. Jonah Jameson John Jonah Jameson Jr. is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, most commonly in association with the superhero Spider-Man. The character was created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, and he ...

, whereas

Rick Remender Rick Remender (born February 6, 1973) is an American animator, comic book writer and television producer who resides in Los Angeles, California. As a comic book creator, he is best known for his work on ''Uncanny X-Force'', ''Venom'', ''Captain A ...

's stars

Doctor Voodoo Brother Voodoo (Jericho Drumm) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in ''Strange Tales'' #169 (September 1973). The character was created by publisher Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Len W ...

, and

Paul Cornell Paul Douglas Cornell (born 18 July 1967) is a British writer best known for his work in television drama as well as ''Doctor Who'' fiction, and as the creator of one of the Doctor's spin-off companions, Bernice Summerfield. As well as ''Docto ...

features

Captain Britain and MI13 ''Captain Britain and MI13'' is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics and written by Paul Cornell, with art by Leonard Kirk. The series centers on the fictional British government agency MI: 13, which is dedicated to protecting ...

and the

Young Masters The Young Masters are a comic book supervillain team created by Paul Cornell and Mark Brooks (comics), Mark Brooks. The team first appeared in ''Dark Reign: Young Avengers'' #1 (May 2009) as the analog to the Young Avengers. Publication history ' ...

. The initiative also saw the debut of a new series, ''Atlas'', featuring the

Agents of Atlas The Agents of Atlas are a fictional character, fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The first lineup was composed of characters originally appearing in unrelated stories published in the 1950s by M ...

, written by Jeff Parker. The '' Thunderbolts'' series, also written by Parker, featured a new Heroic Age line-up, led by

Luke Cage Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in ''Luke Cage, Hero for Hire'' #1 (June 1972) and was created by Archie Go ...

(who is also in the lineup of the New Avengers), Crossbones,

Juggernaut A juggernaut (), in current English usage, is a literal or metaphorical force regarded as merciless, destructive, and unstoppable. This English usage originated in the mid-nineteenth century and was adapted from the Sanskrit word Jagannath. ...

Ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

, Moonstone,

Songbird A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds (Passeriformes). Another name that is sometimes seen as the scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin ''oscen'', "songbird". The Passeriformes contains 500 ...

and

Man-Thing The Man-Thing (Dr. Theodore "Ted" Sallis) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Gerry Conway and artist Gray Morrow, the character first appeared in ''S ...

. Another series launched was ''

Secret Avengers ''Secret Avengers'' is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics featuring a fictional black ops superhero team of the same name. The series started with Ed Brubaker on writing duties, depicting a black-ops sect of Marvel's premi ...

'' by writer

Ed Brubaker Ed Brubaker (; born November 17, 1966) is an American comic book writer, cartoonist and screenwriter who works primarily in the crime fiction genre. He began his career with the semi-autobiographical series '' Lowlife'' and a number of serials i ...

. The New Avengers series was relaunched in June 2010, written by

Brian Michael Bendis Brian Michael Bendis (; born August 18, 1967) is an American comic book writer and artist. He has won five Eisner Awards for both his creator-owned work and his work on various Marvel Comics books.Bendis, Brian Michael and Oeming, Michael Avon, ' ...

and drawn by

Stuart Immonen Stuart Immonen () is a Canadians, Canadian comics artist. He is best known for his work on ''Nextwave'', ''Ultimate X-Men'', ''The New Avengers (comics), The New Avengers'', ''The Amazing Spider-Man'', and ''Ultimate Spider-Man''. Penciler, His pe ...

. A new series called ''

Avengers Academy ''Avengers Academy'' is a Marvel Comics comic book series that debuted in June 2010 as part of the " Heroic Age", and concluded after thirty-nine issues in November 2012. The series was written by Christos Gage, with artwork by Mike McKone and te ...

'' by

Christos Gage Christos N. Gage is an American screenwriter and comic book writer. He is known for his work on the TV series '' Daredevil'', ''Hawaii Five-0'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', ''Numbers'' and the films '' The Breed'' and '' Teenage Cavema ...

and

Mike McKone Michael McKone is a British comic book artist. Career McKone's first published works for the major companies included ''Justice League of America'' and ''Justice League International'' for DC Comics and ''The Punisher War Zone'' for Marvel Com ...

debuted in June 2010, as well as a new ''

Young Allies Young Allies, in comics, may refer to one of the following superhero teams: * Young Allies (DC Comics), a team made up of young heroes from the Allies and featured in a story arc in ''Young All-Stars'' published by DC Comics. * Young Allies (Marvel ...

'' series written by

Sean McKeever Sean Kelley McKeever (born 1972) is an American comic book writer. Born in Appleton, Wisconsin he grew up in Eagle River. Career Since the end of his creator-owned teen drama series ''The Waiting Place'', which was published from 1997 to 2002, ...

and

David Baldeon David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

Series

Cancelled series

* ''

Dark Avengers ''Dark Avengers'' is a 2009–2013 American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. It is part of a series of titles that features various iterations of the superhero team the Avengers, with this version of the team - unbeknownst to the pub ...

'' * '' New Avengers'' Vol. 1 * ''

Mighty Avengers ''The Mighty Avengers'' is a comic book series that was published by Marvel Comics. Originally written by Brian Michael Bendis, also the writer of '' New Avengers'', the title first featured an officially sanctioned Avengers team of registered ...

'' * '' Avengers: The Initiative'' * ''

Incredible Hercules ''The Incredible Hercules'' was an ongoing series, ongoing comic book series written by Greg Pak and Fred Van Lente and published by Marvel Comics. The series starred the mythological superhero Hercules (Marvel Comics), Hercules, his sidekick Amad ...

'' * ''

New series

* '' The Avengers'' Vol. 4 #1–6 * '' New Avengers'' Vol. 2 #1–6 * ''

'' #1–5 * ''

'' #1–2 * '' Hawkeye & Mockingbird'' #1 * ''

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

'' #1 * '' Black Widow'' Vol. 4 #2 * ''

'' #1 * ''

Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 ( cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first ...

'' Vol. 1 #579-582 * '' Thunderbolts'' Vol. 1 #144-146 * ''

Secret Warriors Secret Warriors may refer to: * ''Secret Warriors'' (comic book) ** Secret Warriors (Team White) Secret Warriors is an alias for the fictional group Team White created by Nick Fury, a team of superpowered agents appearing in American comic boo ...

'' Vol. 1 #17-19 * ''

'' Vol. 1 #606-610 * ''

Uncanny X-Men ''Uncanny X-Men'', originally published as ''The X-Men'', is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics since 1963, and is the longest-running series in the X-Men comics franchise. It features a team of superheroes called the X ...

'' Vol. 1 #526 * ''

New Mutants The New Mutants are a group of fictional mutant superheroes A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically us ...

'' Vol. 3 #15 * '' X-Men: Legacy'' #238 * '' Invincible Iron Man'' Vol. 2 #25-27 * ''

Deadpool Deadpool is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in ''New Mutants'' #98 (cover-dated Feb. 1991). Initially, Deadp ...

'' Vol. 4 #23 * ''Vengeance of the Moon Knight'' #8-10

Limited series

* ''Avengers Prime'' #1 * '' Avengers: The Children's Crusade'' #1–9 * ''Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier'' #1–4 * '' Astonishing Spider-Man & Wolverine'' #1-6 * '' Heroic Age: Prince of Power'' #1–4 * ''Astonishing X-Men Xenogenesis'' #1–5 * ''Age of Heroes'' #1–4 * ''Heroic Age: One Month to Live'' #1–5 * ''I Am an Avenger'' #1–5

One-shots

* ''Enter the Heroic Age'' #1 * ''Uncanny X-Men: The Heroic Age'' #1 * ''Death of Dracula'' #1 * ''Heroic Age Heroes'' #1 * ''Heroic Age X-Men'' #1 * ''Heroic Age Villains'' #1 * ''Avengers Spotlight'' Vol. 2 #1 * ''Heroic Age Previews'' #1 * ''FDNY Custom Comic'' #1

References

{{New Avengers