Marvel's newest superteam has arrived. The Union roster has officially been unveiled by Marvel, as the United Kingdom-based heroes will team up together spinning out of the events of Empyre. But just who are these heroes?
The Union will feature both familiar and new characters on the roster. The most familiar face is the British hero Union Jack (Joseph Chapman) who first debuted back in The Invaders #7 and has since appeared across many different titles. Another key player will be Britannia. There has been a character in the comics with the same name who has the mutant abilities of super mental processing and memory, prominently known as Sage - but this doesn't appear to be the same character. The new team members also include The Choir (from Wales) Snakes (from Northern Ireland) and Kelpie (from Scotland).
The Union will be written by Paul Grist (Judge Dredd), with art by Andrea Di Vito (Annihilation) and X-Men artist R.B. Silva doing the design work on the characters. Grist said he's been waiting "40 years to write" Union Jack and expressed excitement about the team. Meanwhile, Silva said he was inspired by Medieval Themes and modeled the characters to look like warriors from the same era.
“I really like Medieval themes and when I was designing these, I thought of the series The Last Kingdom on Netflix. With Britannia and Kelpie, I wanted them to look like medieval warriors and I just simplified and modernized it from there. For Snakes, I thought of the visual for the Executioner. Someone the enemy will fear from just a look. And for the Choir, more of a light visual, something that can enable quick movements. On her knife I put three dragon's heads. I know on Wales’ flag they have a dragon with only one head but I thought, why not three? :)”
Grist teased that The Union team will be "falling apart before it's even begun," which is somewhat hilarious for a team that's set to play a role in the upcoming Empyre event. The five-issue series will feature the crew fighting alongside the Avengers and Fantastic Four. Given the cosmic craziness that's about to happen in Marvel, those main superteams can seemingly use all the help they could get - even from a team that's still finding their footing.
Check out the character designs from Silva for Britannia, Kelpie, and The Choir.
Silva also did the cover for issue #1 of The Union's five-part series. His designs are showcased on the cover. They are pretty great and fairly unique. Britannia's shield and cape combo stand out and look super badass.
The Union #1 by Paul Grist and Andrea Di Vio will come to comic shops in May.