Avengers 2099 black panther hulk comics

Warning: Contains spoilers for Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #3!

Marvel Comics has introduced the new Avengers of 2099, and the team looks impressive already. The group's debut in the Spider-Man 2099: Exodus limited series is a welcome addition to Marvel's lore, one that deserves to be further explored with its own series.

The Marvel 2099 imprint was launched in 1992 and it featured stories set in a dystopian future world ruled by mega-corporations. Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara) was the first superhero to appear in this age, followed by futuristic versions of established Marvel heroes such as the Hulk, the Punisher, Doom, and Ghost Rider, but also brand new ones such as Ravage. While Avengers teams have briefly formed in this timeline before, they've never truly gotten the spotlight, with Spider-Man 2099: Exodus - Alpha #1 confirming the prior incarnation of the team were butchered by the Masters of Evil. No further details were revealed, but according to Spider-Man, the shock was so great that one of the Masters, Norman Osborn, used it to create a group called the Cabal, which rules the world unchallenged. However, the Avengers of 2099 have finally assembled again, to get rid of the Cabal once and for all.

Related: Spider-Man 2099 is Making a Huge Mistake By Centering Other Heroes

In Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #3, by Steve Orlando, Zé Carlos, Erick Arciniega, and Clayton Cowles, Khonshu, the Egyptian God of Vengeance, assembles a new team of Avengers. Their mission is to stop the Cabal from gaining possession of the Garden, a wealth of priceless substances created by the fall of a dead Celestial on Earth. The team includes Khonshu himself, who now is the Moon Knight, Spider-Man 2099, the bestial future Hulk (John Eisenhart), Captain Marvel (Rowena Stern), Aero (Zhe Li), Wave (Mackenzie Salgado), Captain America (Roberta Mendez), and Black Panther (T'Shamba). Each of these heroes has lost something important at the hands of the Masters of Evil, and they are finally able to put an end to this threat once and for all, restoring hope for the world.

marvel avengers 2099

Some of these new Avengers, such as Hulk and Captain America, are based on characters from the two different iterations of the 2099 world (Earth-928 and Earth-23291), which were fused into a new 2099 timeline by Miguel O'Hara. They all have unique backstories: Roberta Mendez, for example, did not just get Captain America's powers with the Super-Soldier Serum, she also got a Cap personality that switches with her original one. The other Avengers are brand new creations, who sadly have very little time to shine due to the number of things going on in this issue. However, the official presentation of the team at the end of the story shows even more members being added, such as a Captain Britain 2099, which could be a sign that Marvel's relaunch of the 2099 universe will feature an Avengers exclusive series.

Spider-Man 2099: Exodus has the difficult duty of introducing an entire universe full of characters and superhero teams over six short issues, which means that some things inevitably feel rushed. The Avengers of 2099 have only a few pages to prove their worth, but they have managed to capture readers' imagination. Every one of these characters has an interesting backstory that could be further explored, along with the team dynamics that make the Avengers Marvel's flagship team. Hopefully, the Avengers of 2099 will soon get their own series to fully explore their potential.

Next: Deadpool's Assassin Daughter Returns to Marvel in X-Men 2099

Spider-Man 2099: Exodus #3 is available now from Marvel Comics.