Warning: SPOILERS ahead for Uncanny Avengers #1
Summary
- The newest iteration of the Uncanny Avengers, which includes characters like Deadpool and Captain America, is actively targeting anti-mutant foes as they strategize against the forces of Orchis.
- Unlike previous versions of the team, this group of Uncanny Avengers is focused on avenging fallen X-Men members and fighting against Orchis directly instead of acting as a unifying symbol.
- This more militant version of the team requires a new name that reflects their aggressive outlook, as suggested by Deadpool.
With the Fall of X reassembling the Uncanny Avengers, members like Deadpool and Captain America are taking the chance to make it clear they’re allied with the mutants through these tough times. This isn’t the first Unity Squad to be assembled, but it is the first group of Uncanny Avengers to go after the enemies of mutantkind so aggressively. And Deadpool has the perfect new name to describe their new outlook.
Uncanny Avengers #1 by Gerry Duggan, Javier Garrón, Morry Hollowell, and Travis Lanham finds the newest iteration of the team joining the surviving X-Men to strategize against the forces of Orchis. Cutting the meeting short, Captain America tells the Unity Squad to form up on him, only for Deadpool to respond, “I still think ‘Avenging X-Men’ sounds better than ‘Unity Squad,’ and if we’re not gonna use it, somebody should.”
Deadpool is then whisked away by his teammate Quicksilver. Wade Wilson has a well-known habit of running his mouth, but in this instance, he’s actually making a lot of sense.
These Uncanny Avengers Assembled Under Different Circumstances
The Unity Squad name fit the previous iterations of the Uncanny Avengers, as those groups were symbolic unions that essentially acted as pro-mutant public relations campaigns. They were formed with the intention of easing tensions rather than targeting specific anti-mutant foes, and while they did help save the world, they arguably failed in making things easier for the mutant population. With the current bleak status quo for mutantkind, the name Avenging X-Men applies much more naturally to this current roster of Avengers.
Aside from Captain America, the majority of this team is made up of X-Men or X-Men-related characters like Deadpool and Quicksilver. Unlike the Uncanny Avengers predecessors, Cap himself notes this team is actively “avenging” the fallen members of the X-Men and Krakoa itself as opposed to just acting as a unifying symbol. These Uncanny Avengers are an elite team of fighters taking the war directly to Orchis instead of worrying about press conferences and public optics — and, as Deadpool suggests, they need a name that reflects that new M.O.
Ultimately, this version of the Avengers’ Unity Squad will be different from its predecessors simply due to the situation that made the team necessary in the first place. Captain America and his teammates are no longer heroes in this fight — they’re soldiers. Deadpool is right to say that this more militant version of the Uncanny Avengers team needs a name that fits their outlook.
Uncanny Avengers #1 is available now from Marvel Comics.
