Warning: spoilers ahead for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier!
The Dark Avengers are reuniting in The Patriot List, a new prose novel. This new novel will feature Norman Osborn leading a cast of villainous Avengers. This will be the second title in the Marvel Untold line - one of Marvel's many new novel lines.
Marvel Untold provides new stories around iconic superheroes and supervillains. The novels can tell completely new adventures or provide a closer look at a character - providing character development and backstory. The first novel in this line was The Harrowing of Doom, which released in December 2020. That novel saw Doctor Doom creating a machine to bring back his mother's soul. Now, Marvel's supervillains will attempt to be heroes.
Marvel has announced that The Patriot List is the next Marvel Untold story, featuring Norman Osborn with his alter-ego, Green Goblin. The novel, published by Marvel and Aconyte Books, will be written by David Guymer and will release October 5, 2021. Norman will be leading a new team of Avengers that have been secretly brought together- just like in their original comic debut.
Under Norman Osborn's jurisdiction, the Avengers have been secretly re-formed with the very worst of super-villain. When S.H.I.E.L.D. loyalists break into the Avengers tower and steal footage that will compromise Osborn's reign, it's only the first move in a conspiracy to undermine the Dark Avengers.
Norman Osborn and his Green Goblin alter-ego aren't going to take interference lying down, and he unleashes the worst of the worst to crush whoever is responsible.
The Dark Avengers were first introduced in 2009, within their own comic series created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Deodato. In this series, Norman Osborn is reformed and assigned to this team by the government. He is also given power over S.H.I.E.L.D., which became H.A.M.M.E.R. It is very likely that this novel will retell that story, particularly since the synopsis includes a reference to S.H.I.E.L.D. loyalists. Osborn is about to make some big changes and not everyone is going to like them. The Dark Avengers are supervillains who are given government permission to parade around as iconic Avengers. Based on the cover art, the team in this novel will include Venom, Ares, and Moonstone - all of whom were part of the first Dark Avengers. This team last appeared in 2013, so a comeback would definitely be welcome.
This could potentially support the fan theory that the Dark Avengers are coming to the MCU. After the Disney+ original series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier introduced U.S. Agent John Walker, and Contessa Fontaine, fans began to think that Marvel could be setting up for the Dark Avengers. U.S. Agent was a brief leader of the Dark Avengers team in an alternate reality - but without a full Norman Osborn in the MCU thus far, John Walker would be a great fit for the team. He never joined the Avengers and certainly enjoyed parading around as one of the best. Going forward, his aggressive tendencies would make him fit better with an unconventional team. This is a great way to start building up further interest in the team and providing familiarity with how it operates.
David Guymer has written over fifty novels for the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. His publication credits are lengthy and full of high-intensity action, which makes him a very good fit for a novel like this. Guymer has a lot of experience broadening the lore of beloved worlds, having written titles in Warhammer 40,000's The Beast Arises series, the Gotrek & Felix series, and The Horus Heresy: Primarchs series. He has also had stories included in Warhammer 40,000 anthologies. This will be his first Marvel publication. The Patriot List starring The Dark Avengers will release October 5, 2021.
Source: Marvel