The King in Black is heading for Earth, and for all the destruction Marvel's heroes can expect, he'll also be responsible for creating their newest team the Union. The comic will hit stands in early December, but recently released variant covers give fans their best look yet at the new and returning characters.
The Union is made up of Union Jack, a legacy hero whose predecessor fought with Captain America in WWII; sonic hero the Choir; ancient water demon Kelpie; the sword and shield wielding Britannia; and Snakes - a mysterious character hidden under a hood who seems to be exactly what their name implies.
The Union aren't the first Brit super-team to emerge in the modern age of Marvel - Captain Britain and MI13 launched alongside the Secret Invasion event and depicted a bumpy marriage between government intelligence and British heroes. Predecessor Wisdom, released by Marvel MAX, mixed James Bond with trippy, Beatles-inspired missions, and both the classic and modern incarnations of Excalibur see Captain Britain leading a team of Marvel mutants. But what's interesting about the variant covers released so far is that they suggest the Union will be a different kind of animal. Fans can get a taste of these new characters in the following variant covers, shared by Marvel:
Paul Grist's cover in particular hints that most of these heroes have darker origins than may first be apparent. Kelpie self-identifies as a demon, the Choir shares that she was formerly a super-villain, and Britannia hints that while she used to be all that was good about Britain, that's no longer true. It makes sense then that this team would include Union Jack, aka Joseph Chapman, a working-class hero with a huge chip on his shoulder and a tendency to expose his government superiors to attention they'd rather avoid.
With the Union being born out of an alien invasion, it's possible these may not be the heroes they appear. In Marvel lore, Captain Britain is a champion chosen by Merlin to protect the country from all harm - a position generally awarded to the hero who chooses the Amulet of Right over the Sword of Might. With the title of Captain Britain having recently passed to Betsy Braddock and being utilized more in protection of the mutant nation of Krakoa than Britain itself, it's possible that Britannia is something of a spiritual second-stringer, and the foregrounding of her mighty sword and shield suggests she may not be up to the same standards as her predecessor.
With Britain still deeply mired in the clash of identities that has arisen out of Brexit and the combination of an anti-authority hero and a less than upright team, it's seeming more and more likely that The Union will be far more about the difficulties of holding disparate ideals together in one whole than it is an optimistic coming-together of heroes, and it's possible to read the book's tagline - "For Queen and Country!" - in this sense. It will certainly be interesting to see where writer Paul Grist (Judge Dredd, Jack Staff) and artist Andrea Di Vito (Annihilation) take the Union, and just how many of these new heroes are what they appear to be.
The Union will be available from December 2nd, featuring variant covers by Carlos Pacheco with inks by Rafael Fonteriz and colors by Nolan Woodard; Ema Lupacchino with colors by Dave McCaig; Mike McKone with colors by Morry Hollowell; and Paul Grist with colors by Nolan Woodard.
Source: Marvel.com