Warning: minor spoilers for The Union #3!
For Marvel's newest team, the Union, things started off bad, and they're only getting worse as an unpredictable black-ops hero is added to their number. With Marvel's King in Black having killed off team leader Britannia and shattered the team's faith, Joey Chapman, aka Union Jack, is being forced to continue the project despite his own misgivings and those of his remaining teammates - and that was before his new protege broke into his home and attacked him.
Made up of Union Jack, Snakes, Kelpie, and the Choir, the Union was intended as a Brexit superteam, bringing the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom together to replace the protection lost as Britain withdraws from the Super Hero European Directive. But while its sponsors try to exaggerate the team's supposed patriotism, the series - from writer Paul Grist, artists Andrea Di Vito, Le Beau Underwood, Nolan Woodard, and letterer Travis Lanham - has revealed that the hard-luck heroes were actually persuaded to assemble due to their faith in team leader Britannia. With her gone, they don't want to continue, and Union Jack is only willing to take her place because the government are threatening reprisals if he doesn't.
Now, in The Union #3, the English hero Bulldog is joining the team. Short in stature and incredibly tenacious, Bulldog was judged too volatile for the original team. Used for shadowy missions the public never saw, Bulldog has now been promoted to the front-line team, attacking Joey at home in what he apparently sees as his audition to join the team. As shown in a Marvel Comics preview of the issue, not only does Union Jack have to somehow lead a team who don't trust him or value his leadership, but he has to do it with an unproven loose cannon trying to get him in a chokehold.
So far, The Union has been a biting critique of the back-room politics and fake PR of a post-Brexit Britain. Though a shining beacon of co-operation from the outside, most of the team is made up of reformed monsters and super-villains, initially only assembled for easy photo-op training missions. As a working class hero who has a history of exposing the corruption of his political masters, Joey Chapman is about as cynical as they come, and tutoring the next generation of heroes would be unlike him even if they weren't rejecting his leadership at every turn.
But as King in Black proved, Britain does need protectors, and as Joey's government liaison admits, the Union might not be perfect, but even when it comes to Bulldog, the country could do a lot worse for heroes. Carrying on the legacy of a hero who fought alongside Captain America in World War II means making sacrifices for the good of the country - or at least the people who live in it - and while Union Jack has always chafed at authority, he's a sucker for responsibility. That means getting the Union back together and - in one way or another - persuading them not just to give him another chance as leader, but to accept the over-eager new hero Bulldog into their ranks. The comic will be available in stores and online from 24 February.