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Hey, lovebirds. It's

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your girl, Punky Johnson, and I'm here with my BFF

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and co-host, Dicey, to spice up your love

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life on Love Thing, my new advice

0:09

podcast on Kevin Hart's LOL Radio. I'll

0:11

answer your wildest questions about sex,

0:14

love, and everything in between, and you're gonna learn

0:16

a lot about me and my relationship. I

0:18

think six months in a relationship is too early

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to know about erectile dysfunction. I'm hiding it. I'm

0:23

giving y'all some highly unqualified

0:24

advice, so if you want to join in on

0:27

all the fun, come and get dirty with us on

0:29

Love Thing. Listen and follow the show on

0:31

SiriusXM, Pandora, Stitcher,

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or wherever you get your podcasts to listen later.

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1:18

Hello, Marvelites. You're listening

1:20

to This Week in Marvel, episode number 614. I'm

1:23

Ryan Penagos, aka Agent M.

1:25

I'm Angelique, aka Agent

1:28

A. Can I take that one?

1:31

Yeah. Why not? Cool. I like

1:33

it. Yeah, I do,

1:34

too. This is, of course, the official Marvel

1:36

podcast where we get to talk about all the things happening

1:38

this week in Marvel that we're keen on. That's right.

1:41

We're here to talk about games, movies, comics, books, TV,

1:43

all those other stuff that we're excited about. Thanks.

1:46

This

1:46

amazing shirt you have on right now. Oh, yeah.

1:48

Nobody can see it, but this is a ridiculously

1:50

patterned Deadpool shirt that's

1:53

mostly pinks and reds. And

1:56

it's got Deadpool wearing a ship cap.

1:59

captain's hat inside

2:02

a life preserver and the life preserver says

2:04

toot toot. This week

2:06

we are talking to David

2:09

Betancourt, aka David Betancourt.

2:12

I mean, that is that is how you pronounce his

2:14

name. It's David Betancourt. He

2:18

is the author of Avengers Assembled,

2:21

the origin story of Earth's Mightiest

2:24

Heroes.

2:25

I'm so excited to hear that. I didn't get to join

2:27

you for it, but it's gonna be a good

2:29

one. We'll get to that in just a bit. I'm

2:31

gonna volunteer to get us started with this week's

2:34

news. Do it, save us. Because this week is

2:36

full of glorious purpose. Thanks

2:38

to a new trailer and poster for Marvel

2:41

Studios' Loki season two.

2:43

Now within the last week, we got

2:46

not one, but two

2:48

new posters for the

2:50

new season and a new trailer, which

2:53

is very exciting.

2:54

Do you have a favorite poster? I'm so, I'm

2:56

so... Both of them, the new ones are so

2:59

gorgeous. If you haven't seen them, dear listeners,

3:01

go to marvel.com. Please check them out.

3:03

Go to our social pages, Loki social

3:05

pages. They're really fun.

3:08

They're weird and trippy as you

3:10

want them to be for the series.

3:12

Of course, Loki season two picks up

3:14

in the aftermath of the shocking season

3:17

finale when Loki finds himself in a battle

3:19

for the soul of the Time Variance Authority.

3:22

You got Mobius, Hunter B-15,

3:24

and a bunch of new and returning characters.

3:27

And then Loki is trying to figure

3:29

out what is going on with the multiverse.

3:31

He's searching for Sylvie. He's searching for Judge Renslayer.

3:34

He's searching for Miss Minutes and the truth

3:36

of what it means to possess free will and,

3:39

as I mentioned, glorious

3:41

purpose. I gotta say, if Tara

3:44

Strong was missing, I would also go look

3:46

for Tara Strong, aka Miss Minutes. That

3:49

would be exactly what

3:51

I would be doing. Holy moly,

3:53

we are two

3:56

months away from the launch

3:59

of Loki season when it premieres October 6,

4:01

2023 on Disney Plus. Oh,

4:06

oh, oh, oh, oh. And you know what? The great

4:08

thing is that gives everyone just

4:11

enough time to go back

4:13

and rewatch season

4:16

one streaming on

4:18

Disney Plus. Go do it. Yeah,

4:21

do it, do it, do it, do it. In the meantime, you

4:24

now have more ways to watch yet another

4:26

one of my favorite things in the entire

4:29

world. That's right, Marvel Studios,

4:31

Guardians of the Galaxy, volume three,

4:33

it is now streaming.

4:35

That is right. There's more reasons to

4:38

go watch it at Disney Plus.

4:40

It is streaming right now on Disney Plus and also as

4:42

part of the release on Disney Plus. The film

4:45

will have an IMAX enhanced

4:47

version. Yeah.

4:50

And also this week, the film is now available

4:52

on 4K, Ultra HD, Blu-ray and

4:54

DVD, just for y'all who

4:57

want to have it physically in your hands.

4:59

Those releases will have exclusive bonus content,

5:02

including deleted scenes, a gag

5:04

reel, which if you've seen this movie, you

5:06

can only imagine what that gag reel is gonna look

5:08

like, an audio commentary from

5:10

the one and only James

5:12

Gunn.

5:12

So good, all right, so

5:14

you got lots of stuff to watch. How about something to

5:17

read? How about the origin

5:19

of Doctor Strange, which is coming soon in

5:21

novel form. Out

5:24

in bookstores, March 26th, Doctor Strange Dimension

5:26

War is gonna explore, of course, those original

5:29

adventures of Earthsoucer Supreme.

5:31

This will be written by New York Times bestselling author, James

5:34

Lovegrove, who did The Age of Odin

5:36

and has done more. It's gonna cover Doctor

5:38

Strange's earliest days, his origin, all that

5:40

stuff. But cool because you're gonna get to read

5:42

about

5:42

a lot of those characters that

5:45

are crucial to Doctor Strange,

5:47

the Ancient One, Wong, Clea,

5:49

and of course, some of his wonderful

5:53

enemies and different things, the dream

5:55

kingdom of Nightmare, the Dark Dimension

5:57

and beyond.

5:59

Nightmare, such a chump,

6:02

but always will be one of my favorite,

6:05

favorite villains. Like he always gets clowned

6:07

and he always comes back

6:09

and he's just such a cool design

6:12

and he's so weird and

6:13

he's got a great horse. I

6:16

love nightmares so much. You love,

6:18

I mean, I'm not surprised that

6:20

you love nightmare. I know,

6:22

I know how you roll

6:24

Ryan Panagos. You know, I

6:26

love the fact that, you know, for those who

6:28

don't know as much about Clea, that we're going

6:30

to learn a little bit more about Clea. And I love the fact

6:32

that we're going back and we're talking about characters

6:35

origins. If anybody knows anything

6:37

about me, like I love

6:40

a good origin story.

6:41

It's time for some crime, baby

6:43

crime novels. That is Marvel

6:46

Crime is a hard edged crime

6:48

fiction program for adults. And

6:51

it was announced this week featuring three original

6:53

novels, each focused on a different Marvel character.

6:56

The first title debuts in 2024 with the other two

6:58

to follow in 2025. First

7:00

up is a story inspired by Jessica Jones,

7:02

written by Lisa Jule, author of 19 novels,

7:05

including Then She Was Gone and

7:08

None of This Is True. Then

7:10

thriller writer, S.A.

7:11

Crosby, author of Razor Blade

7:13

Years and All the Centers Bleed will

7:15

tackle Luke Cage in his Marvel

7:18

crime novel. Very excited for that. And

7:20

then my

7:21

boy, one of my BFFs,

7:24

Alex Segura, who is the author

7:26

of Secret Identity and the Pete Fernandez

7:28

Miami Mystery Series will write a story

7:31

starring Daredevil. I've been hearing Alex

7:33

tell me about this for a long time. He's very, very

7:35

excited. He's going

7:37

to he's going to crush it. He

7:39

is they're all going to crush it. Very much looking

7:42

forward to Marvel crime novels coming

7:44

starting 2024.

7:46

But also the

7:48

time has come for RPG

7:50

fans. The Marvel multiverse

7:53

role playing game Core Rulebook

7:56

is out. We told you that was in pre-orders.

7:58

We told you it was coming.

7:59

and now it is out.

8:03

The playtest has been out for a while, but now the

8:05

full official core rule book

8:07

for the new Marvel Multiverse RPG is here.

8:10

Game designer Matt Forbeck and the team

8:13

making the RPG have refined a ton

8:15

of things based on user feedback

8:18

and testing and all the things that they do to

8:20

care about fans.

8:21

You know, Anjali, I was like trying,

8:24

I was looking at how they've updated

8:26

it, and it's really fascinating because the

8:28

playtest came out like a year,

8:30

a year and change ago, whatever it was, and

8:33

over time they've released updates and downloadable

8:35

things that people can check out, and I was looking at,

8:38

we have an interview with Matt on marvel.com, and

8:40

he was just like, yeah, we've changed this

8:43

one thing from 25 to like six

8:45

in order to simplify it but

8:47

make it more fun. We've done this thing

8:49

to make it clearer and quicker, like making

8:51

the, it just like,

8:53

this is something that I think is gonna benefit

8:56

people who wanna not necessarily

8:59

have to do 12 hour games. You

9:03

could probably do those, but these could be faster,

9:05

you could get in more of them, these adventures

9:07

could be quicker. I'm

9:09

very much. And it's easy to access, right? Like I love that

9:11

because it brings in folks who

9:14

are just getting into RPGs, but also,

9:17

you know, for folks who are hardcore

9:19

role-playing

9:20

game aficionados,

9:23

you know, beyond the core rule book, there actually

9:25

also are expansions on

9:28

the way. So the Cataclysm of

9:30

Kang, oh, that's so good. I

9:33

think I should give it more.

9:35

Now put a little juice on that, put some stank on it.

9:37

The Cataclysm of Kang, I think

9:40

that was the one, is coming in

9:42

November. That's a 256 page epic adventure that

9:46

features over 60 new profiles

9:49

in it, and even an overarching

9:52

story. Also, for

9:54

those of us who love the X-Men, the

9:56

X-Men expansion is slated for early 2024.

9:59

that means you only have months in which to

10:02

get your things done. It's crammed full

10:04

of all sorts of details, not just about

10:06

the X-Men, but all other

10:08

mutant teams out there. Ooh,

10:11

okay. It'll also have some new

10:13

rules in it, mostly focusing on the

10:15

thing that the X-Men

10:17

have focused on for years and sometimes

10:19

get right in, sometimes, not

10:22

so much, teamwork. And

10:24

also for those of us who love us some Spidey,

10:27

the Spidey-verse expansion

10:29

was recently announced.

10:31

There's so much. Angelique, I didn't understand

10:34

the word that you said. Sorry,

10:36

let me do it one more time for you. And the Spidey-verse

10:39

expansion was just recently

10:42

announced. Nick Lowe, you better

10:44

be proud of me, sir. I've been working on it.

10:47

Yeah, of course, get your copy

10:49

of the Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game Core

10:51

Rulebook. Wherever books are sold,

10:53

no, it's happening, it's real. Let

10:56

us know if y'all are playing it. We wanna hear. I

10:59

wanna see pictures. I wanna see breakdowns.

11:02

I need dialogue. Character sheets. I need what's

11:04

going on. Yeah, if you're making your own characters,

11:08

let us know. Very curious,

11:10

very, very cool. All right,

11:12

did you know that A is

11:14

for autumn, but A is also for alien,

11:16

and that's my dumb way of saying there's a new

11:18

alien number one comic book series

11:21

coming this autumn in November

11:23

from creators Declan Chalvy and Andrea

11:25

Brocardo. They are currently

11:27

working on the very, very good alien

11:30

series. According to the press release,

11:32

the new series will take place in two time periods with

11:35

Declan also doing art duties.

11:37

Sweet, sweet, Declan, our favorite, maybe

11:39

favorite Irishman?

11:41

I don't know. We have a lot of wonderful, wonderful

11:43

Irish creators. Anyway, let's keep going. Declan

11:46

will be drawing flashback scenes of a doomed

11:48

earlier crew in each issue. As readers

11:51

learn more about the mistakes and goals of the first mission,

11:53

they'll discover the full unsettling scope

11:55

of what the present day protagonists have

11:57

gotten themselves into.

11:59

Which is pretty cool. It's connected to

12:02

the current series. So if you're reading that, it's

12:04

going to be wonderful. But it's also going to be a great

12:06

fresh start for new readers. So

12:08

if you haven't been reading, shame on you. But

12:11

no shame. You can just jump on with this new one

12:13

in November.

12:14

There's a new subspecies of

12:17

xenomorphs that they've introduced.

12:19

And so it's like we're developing that and getting into

12:21

that. But they're also laying

12:23

the groundwork for an even greater threat. Very,

12:26

very cool. And before that new

12:28

alien number one launches, and after this

12:30

current series of alien finishes up really

12:33

soon, there's going to be a

12:35

special alien annual number

12:38

one, also written by Declan Shelby and drawn

12:40

by Danny Earls. It's a double sized issue

12:43

serving as a connective bit of tissue

12:44

between the two story arcs, between the two

12:47

series. It's going to delve into that new series,

12:49

that new type of xenomorph. Very,

12:52

very cool. Very much looking forward

12:54

to all

12:54

of that. All right. Some

12:56

of the best things in the world are 40. I'm

12:58

not going to say what those things are, but

13:02

our 40th birthday present to Marvel's

13:04

Superhero Secret Wars is a new

13:07

Battle World series. Happy

13:09

birthday to

13:11

those people who were 40. To

13:14

celebrate this landmark original

13:17

Secret War series 40th

13:19

anniversary, Marvel will return

13:21

to Battle World this November in an all

13:23

new four issue limited series.

13:26

That's right. We're going back to Battle World.

13:28

So many weird things have happened there. So

13:31

Marvel Superhero Secret Wars Battle

13:34

World is coming your way. The

13:36

series is written by industry icon.

13:39

I love this word icon. Tom

13:41

DeFalco, which he is, former

13:44

Marvel Comics Editor in Chief and the editor

13:46

of the original Secret Wars, joined

13:49

by acclaimed artist Pat O'Leaf. DeFalco

13:51

will expose never before

13:54

told secrets behind one of the most

13:56

significant

13:56

conflicts in Marvel history.

13:59

Dun, dun, dun.

13:59

Yeah, I like

14:02

this because it is going

14:04

back into that original series,

14:06

that original story, and filling in

14:08

some gaps. I mean, it was a 12-issue

14:10

series, but this is saying, OK,

14:13

here's things that we didn't see on those pages

14:15

because we also had 30

14:17

characters and a lot going

14:19

on. So much. Yeah. So

14:23

in the press release, they said, we're going to have revelations

14:25

beyond the Beyonders' true motives, appearances

14:28

by characters we didn't even know were in. In Secret

14:30

Wars and more, it's going to star Spider-Man and

14:32

Human Torch and really fit between

14:35

those pages of the original series

14:37

that were by Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck and

14:40

tell us, you know, answer some questions

14:43

we didn't even know we had. So Marvel's

14:45

superhero Secret Wars Battleworld number one

14:47

arrives on November 22nd.

14:50

Yeah. All right. Also

14:52

coming this November, we're going

14:55

to get weird for Howard the Duck's 50th anniversary.

14:57

Happy birthday to me, Howard

14:59

the Duck. Sorry,

15:02

I really love Howard the Duck, y'all. As well

15:04

you should, as well everyone should. This is going to be a wild

15:07

adventure through the multiverse. It's a big

15:09

birthday blowout for Howard. It's

15:12

the 50th anniversary. It's a one-shot, giant-size

15:15

spectacular that will reunite.

15:17

And I love this. Writer Chip Zdarsky, artist

15:20

Joe Quinones, who were behind the

15:22

amazing, amazing Howard the Duck

15:24

series that was in 2015. And if you've

15:26

never read that, go to Marvel.com, Marvel Unlimited

15:29

right now. Read all those issues. They

15:31

are fantastic. On top of that,

15:33

there's going to be a bunch of other stories in there. We've

15:36

got sweet boy Daniel Kibblesmith,

15:38

who is Emmy-nominated writer and comedian, and

15:40

I love him. An acclaimed artist,

15:42

freaking so good, Annie Wu.

15:45

The two of them teaming together to put Howard

15:48

in the Oval Office, which

15:50

makes perfect sense. It's like inspired by

15:52

a classic Steve Garber, Gene Colan

15:54

1970s run. If

15:58

you've never read those 70s Howard the Duck.

15:59

Go check those out, too. They're

16:02

so good. It's got Howard sworn

16:04

in as president in a very fun political

16:07

satire. Then we've got a

16:09

video game designer and writer, Merritt Kaye, making

16:11

her Marvel Comics debut alongside artist Will

16:14

Robson for a cosmic comedy

16:17

where Howard is gonna be the leader of the Guardians

16:19

of the Galaxy, and I'm sure nothing at all will

16:21

go wrong.

16:22

Nothing at all will go

16:24

wrong. There will be more stories on

16:27

top of that. I'm sure we'll have revelations about what's

16:29

coming. This November for Howard

16:31

the Duck number one that's coming November 29th. We'll

16:33

learn more details soon.

16:35

Oh, I love it. All right, so speaking

16:38

of comics, it is that time.

16:42

Ryan Panago. Pics, picks, picks, picks, picks.

16:44

We got picks this week. I

16:47

got to say, your number one pick, also

16:50

my number one pick,

16:51

it is a amazing

16:53

story. It just makes

16:55

me do exactly what comics should do, which

16:58

is want to read more, and

17:00

that is Star Wars Dark Droids number one

17:03

by Charles Soule, Luke

17:05

Ross, Alex Sinclair, and

17:07

VC's Travis Lanham.

17:10

So good.

17:12

Yes. This is a horror

17:14

book. This is wonderful.

17:16

It is basically like,

17:18

what if there was a consciousness that

17:21

got into the droid,

17:23

like a droid? It's a mix

17:25

of former flesh

17:29

and also former droid, and

17:31

it's a consciousness. It ties into all

17:33

the stuff that Charles had done in some

17:35

of the previous big events, Hidden Empire,

17:37

stuff like that, how it was left, and like there's a

17:39

spark eternal and all kinds of stuff. So

17:41

if you've been reading Star Wars events, this

17:44

is like the next big one. If you've not,

17:46

everything is right there. You get on

17:48

the ground floor of what's going on. It's

17:50

like a virus, a parasite that

17:53

takes over droids and it just starts multiplying.

17:56

And then-

17:56

It's haunting. That is the only

17:58

word I have for it.

17:59

whole sequence where the droid

18:02

the parasite gets aboard an Imperial ship and

18:04

just starts taking over This

18:06

is a very violent

18:08

intense Horror story

18:11

there is this haunting come

18:14

To the tone of the book. Yes,

18:16

and part of that is the amazing work by

18:18

Luke Ross who has just been absolutely But

18:21

always good but his last year

18:23

or so on Star Wars projects He's been

18:25

crushing it dark droids is a big story

18:27

crossing over all the main Star Wars books

18:30

plus a new title called D Squad this

18:32

is going now starting now

18:34

in August into December, so I Highly

18:37

suggest if you are like at all into

18:40

Star Wars or you like horror. This is

18:42

gonna be your jam And oh, yeah,

18:43

I I definitely could see someone

18:45

who may not even be like the war

18:47

of stars a Star War Still

18:51

read it. It's it is it is

18:54

Yeah, it is definitely a Spooky

18:59

speculative fiction horror suspense

19:03

Vibe that I I need to know

19:07

All my books this week are just dark So

19:09

it says something about one what

19:11

we're doing or to me because

19:13

the next one I'm doing great We

19:16

got what if dark venom number

19:18

one, which is basically

19:21

what if the thing? Bonded

19:24

with the symbiote suit and

19:26

so the the first page is never

19:29

says at all Yeah cover says it all so

19:31

good. This is written by Stephanie Phillips

19:33

art by Jeff O Morales colors by Israel

19:35

Silva and

19:37

Lettering by VCS Joseph, you know, the recap

19:39

page is so good It basically says

19:42

the war showing secret war the suit

19:44

showing the symbiote the scientist Showing

19:46

read the cage and what happens with

19:49

where the caged symbiote is it's

19:51

a really good simple way to get you

19:54

You know right ground floor and it

19:57

ruled it is an old-school.

19:59

What if story? brutal, vicious,

20:02

deaths, horrible deaths of beloved

20:04

characters, changes, some swerves,

20:07

good storytelling, I loved it. I don't wanna

20:09

give anything away, but like

20:11

if you're a fan of the thing, whew. Also

20:14

shout out to like Venom's

20:17

Fantastic Four suit. Like it's a,

20:20

I mean, yeah, I get it. The black Spidey suit,

20:22

it's great. But

20:23

I'm gonna say Fantastic Four

20:25

is a great suit. Thing,

20:31

Venom, 10 out

20:33

of 10. Yeah. All right, speaking

20:35

of violent books, I heard the pick of the week is X-Men

20:38

number 25. Yo, this is a very

20:40

violent book. I love

20:42

X-Men right now. This is written by Jerry

20:44

Duggan, art by Stefano Casselli, colors by Marte

20:47

Gracia, and lettering by VC's Clayton Cowles.

20:50

It opens up in a wonderful way.

20:52

It's like first pages, it's just character

20:55

stuff for Kate Price. She's

20:57

talking to her rabbi. She goes back

20:59

to the Xavier School to get some stuff.

21:01

It's really wonderful character stuff because

21:04

she is going through it right now. She's watched

21:06

the dream die, her friends dead.

21:09

Like everything is falling apart. It's

21:11

very confusing. And it's just like something

21:13

snaps in Kate.

21:14

And she's- I mean, that will happen.

21:17

That will happen. But also you gotta remember, we

21:19

have almost 40 years

21:21

of history of Kate. She's been trained

21:24

as a assassin ninja, like

21:27

warrior. She's

21:29

got that in her and it just like

21:32

comes back. There's

21:35

wild stuff in here. Scott Summers has his

21:37

eyes sewn shut and he's like having conversations

21:40

with stasis and wild

21:42

ways.

21:44

For Kate fans, this is gonna tell you what happened

21:47

to Kate after the gala. And it is

21:49

like John Wick. It is like John

21:51

Wick.

21:53

That's the best way I could put it, but like

21:55

more violent. It's

21:58

real good. Wow. Ryan

22:00

Penagos, once again, I'm going

22:03

to go spend all my money. Yay.

22:06

Give us your money. But not until after

22:08

you hear our chat with Davee Betancourt.

22:11

Is that right?

22:12

Yeah, you got it right. Author

22:15

of The Avengers Assembled, The Origin Story of

22:17

Earth's Mightiest Heroes. We'll be back right

22:19

after this.

22:20

Hey, lovebirds.

22:24

It's

22:28

your girl, Punky Johnson,

22:29

and I'm here with my BFF and co-host,

22:31

Dicey, to spice up your love life on

22:34

Love Thing, my new advice podcast on

22:36

Kevin Hart's LOL Radio. I'll answer

22:38

your wildest questions about sex, love,

22:40

and everything in between, and you're going to learn a lot

22:42

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22:44

think six months in a relationship is too early

22:46

to know about erectile dysfunction. I'm hiding it. I'm

22:49

giving y'all some highly unqualified

22:51

advice. So if you want to join in on

22:53

all the fun, come and get dirty with us on

22:55

Love Thing. Listen and follow the show on

22:57

SiriusXM, Pandora, Stitcher,

23:00

or wherever you get your podcasts to listen later.

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24:09

["Ajali Groce Theme Song"]

24:12

You're listening to This Week in

24:14

Marvel. I'm Ajali Groce. I'm

24:16

Ryan Panagos. Oh,

24:18

hello, Ryan Panagos. Are you excited about

24:20

our interview? Yes, I am excited

24:22

to hear it because I was not there for it. Tell us

24:24

a little bit about who you're talking to, what we're talking about.

24:28

So we are talking with journalist

24:30

and author and comic book writer,

24:33

David Betancourt. He is

24:36

the author of The Avengers Assemble, The Origin

24:38

of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, which is

24:40

an origin story in prose.

24:44

I'm really, really excited because David

24:47

is actually a two time Eisner

24:49

Award nominee who writes about all

24:52

aspects of comic book culture, TVs,

24:56

movies, games,

24:57

action figures. The

24:59

man's desk is like a museum

25:02

of gorgeous figurines, action

25:05

figures, and models. It's amazing,

25:08

including our sweet, sweet baby Bishop. And

25:12

David actually has become a really good friend of mine.

25:14

He wrote one of the first essays

25:17

for Marvel's Voices back

25:19

for Marvel's Voices number one. And it's written

25:21

another one. And now he's been in

25:23

Marvel's Voices community that is. And he's written a spider

25:25

spasher story. And so he's just doing

25:28

all these dope things, including

25:31

his work at the Washington Post comic

25:34

riffs blog. So I'll let

25:37

him tell you all about it.

25:42

David, my friend,

25:45

my colleague, I feel

25:47

like we've known each other our entire life. But we really

25:50

met

25:52

three and a half years ago. It feels

25:54

a lot longer than that. It does.

25:56

I remember the first

25:58

time that we talked. I

26:01

had Pester Evan Narciss, another

26:04

comic book writer, and I said, I have

26:06

to get in touch with this man named Deb Bettencourt.

26:08

This is mispronouncing

26:10

your name every which way. You

26:13

would be the first. My friend Sariah

26:15

McDonald says he's amazing and I've got to

26:17

get, I need to talk to him.

26:19

Sariah is, you know, Sariah

26:22

was like a rock for me at the Washington Post.

26:25

And as soon as I, as soon as you said Sariah,

26:28

I said, okay, whoever this person is

26:30

with this cool, also cool

26:32

French last name, I

26:35

need to meet them.

26:38

Little did I know that your name was 100% French

26:42

and not Americanized. But it's so

26:44

funny how small the world is.

26:46

So

26:47

Sariah had been mentioning your name

26:49

and Sariah is my best friend's

26:52

little sister, Carol

26:55

McDonald, who I had worked

26:58

with in DC and was actually working

27:00

with in DC when I said,

27:02

hey, David, what are you doing?

27:05

I love to come talk to you and you're like,

27:08

sure, come meet me at the Washington

27:10

Post. Well,

27:13

we met at the Soho connected

27:16

to the Washington Post. So we had

27:18

some good food too while we were jetting.

27:20

I got to eat. So that was what was important.

27:22

And then you let me somehow convince

27:24

you to

27:25

write one of the first Marvel's

27:28

Voices essays. And, you

27:30

know,

27:32

I feel like everything fell in place

27:34

from there. We introduce you

27:36

to folks at Marvel. You

27:38

came in and did an awesome second

27:40

essay, which I was thinking about you the other day because that

27:43

essay was about trading cards. One

27:45

of my favorite essays. Yeah. Yo,

27:47

and Kith just came out with

27:50

the collaboration

27:53

with ASICS, like the trading

27:55

cards from the 90s. And I immediately

27:57

text you like.

27:59

the foil. I know, I

28:01

know. God, those, I mean,

28:03

but those, I enjoyed writing that trading

28:06

card essay because those were really the beginning

28:08

of my Marvel Comics education. You

28:10

know, I just got, this is like early 90s, this

28:12

is like right at the time

28:14

of Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's, you

28:16

know, legendary run that,

28:18

that X-Men number one that literally sold a million

28:20

copies and no other comic has ever sold more

28:22

copies. But that, that was around

28:24

the time when those trading cards set. I'm 11, 12 years

28:27

old. I'm just, you know, I've been reading comics

28:29

for a while, but at that point I was, you know, whatever

28:31

was on the spinner rack at 7-11, I'll grab

28:34

it. You know, hopefully I have a dollar. That,

28:36

that's actually how I learned about tax in the United

28:38

States is that I would go to 7-11 with a dollar and say, give

28:40

me this comic. And they'd be like, it's a dollar, seven cents.

28:42

I'm like, but it says a dollar on the comic.

28:44

Where's the seven cents coming from? He's like, you gotta pay tax buddy.

28:46

So I'd have to go back and get a quarter from my Abuela so

28:49

I could get my comic. But at that point

28:51

I was a very casual comics

28:53

reader. But when those trading cards came out, because

28:57

as a kid, you've only got so much budget, you

28:59

know, you're, you're at the mercy of your parents and

29:01

your uncles and your aunt's disposable income,

29:03

whoever's feeling generous to take you to the comic shop. Thankfully,

29:06

when I was a kid, comics were only a dollar, but

29:08

those cards allowed me to get to

29:10

know characters that I otherwise wouldn't

29:12

have been able to learn about. And

29:15

I felt like after collecting the entire series

29:17

that I, you know, had the Marvel,

29:20

the entire Marvel universe in the palm of my hand. Well,

29:23

and I love that because you were also a

29:25

huge baseball fan. And I

29:27

love how that really coincides because you've

29:29

got the stats, right? You've got what their

29:31

power sets are, like their levels.

29:34

You know,

29:36

how did you get into comics?

29:38

Because you didn't

29:41

always live in the continental United States.

29:44

Well, I've, you know, my,

29:49

my father's family is from Puerto Rico.

29:52

My dad was born here

29:55

in the States. I was born here in the States

29:57

as well. My grandfather

29:59

was born in the Island. He

30:01

came to America DC area when he was about

30:04

eight years old. My

30:06

grandmother came to Brooklyn

30:08

from Puerto Rico when she was 15. My grandparents

30:10

met in their 20s up in New York.

30:13

But I come from a long line of comic readers. You know,

30:15

my grandfather was a big Prince Valiant

30:18

fan. That was his comic strip that he read every

30:20

Sunday. Yeah,

30:22

yeah. So I always remember ironically, you

30:24

know, him reading The Washington Post,

30:27

which is funny because he was an employee

30:29

for The Washington Times for a long time, which is the other

30:31

newspaper here. He worked in advertising for The Washington

30:34

Times for years. But he would always

30:36

read the Sunday paper, usually

30:38

for the sports section, the funnies and he always read Prince

30:40

Valiant. That kind of trickled down to my father,

30:42

who was a big Marvel Comics fan. My

30:45

dad was born in 1964. So

30:48

when he was coming up, that was like literally

30:50

around the time when Marvel was really coming into their own

30:52

as a comic book company. My

30:55

father was also very young when I was born.

30:57

My parents were 16 when I was born.

31:00

So my dad

31:02

likes to joke around that we grew up together. So

31:04

he was very much still

31:07

reading comic books when he was 20 and 21. And

31:10

in his dorm room at the University of Maryland, and I

31:12

would, you know, be hanging out with him in his dorm reading his comics.

31:15

Ironic, I now teach at the University of Maryland. So my

31:17

dad gets a big trip out of that. I teach

31:20

a course on comic book culture and

31:22

media. But I come from a long line of comic

31:24

readers. My grandfather was always reading the funnies.

31:26

My dad was a Marvel guy.

31:28

His

31:29

favorite character was the Punisher.

31:32

So we used to read Punisher comics as a kid.

31:34

There was actually a Punisher story

31:36

in the early 90s, where the

31:38

Punisher had to get plastic surgery

31:40

and he became a black man. He

31:42

was a black man for four issues. Yeah.

31:45

So like that. I know it was

31:48

a little you know, but

31:50

you know, for 12 year

31:52

old Dave, I was like, this is great. I remember I

31:54

ruined the surprise for my father. He was very upset. But

31:57

those were those were the issues. So my dad was reading Punisher

31:59

comics.

31:59

in the early 90s when

32:02

I was a kid, I was reading Chris

32:04

Claremont and Jim Lee's X-Men. And

32:06

that kind of, you know, that was where my comic

32:08

book journey began. But when you take it back to the trading cards,

32:11

that's when it really exploded

32:13

and it turned into not just me being a casual

32:15

reader, but a collector.

32:16

And I love that because you're not just a collector

32:19

of the comics, you are a collector

32:22

of the art. You

32:24

are a collector of the action

32:26

figures. You are a collector of- I love action figures. ... of

32:30

the fine art statues.

32:34

A lot of people come by my desk. It's like a tourist stop

32:37

if you're in the newsroom at the Washington Post because

32:39

it's just covered with superhero action

32:41

figures. There's a gigantic galactus

32:44

with a silver surfer in his palm that kind of hovers

32:46

over my computer. It's

32:49

quite the sight.

32:50

I love it. And I think that makes you

32:52

so unique in that you

32:56

came up with this, but it's also kind of part

32:59

of your DNA. So I'm really

33:01

excited because this new book, The Avengers

33:03

Assembled, a lot

33:05

of folks may not know, but it's an in-depth

33:08

biographical take. Now

33:10

it's prose, but it's really

33:12

going back. And I know

33:14

we've kind of talked a little bit about this.

33:17

Looking at the first hundred issues,

33:19

like maybe the first decade.

33:22

Yes. Max

33:24

of the Avengers team. And so you're

33:27

looking at those key

33:30

first members, obviously the first

33:33

first, Thor, Tony,

33:35

Janet Van Dyne, Hank Pym,

33:38

Bruce Banner, and

33:40

then how they branched out

33:43

with Hawkeye and Vision

33:45

and Black Widow. Talk

33:47

to me a little bit about the process

33:49

of doing this because you had to step

33:52

back several eras and

33:54

dig deep. It

33:57

was a daunting task because

34:00

because when DK reached out to me and

34:02

said they were interested in me

34:05

writing, they first asked if I would be interested

34:07

in, you know, somebody says, hey, would you like to write an Avengers

34:09

novel? That's not something I'm going to say no

34:11

to.

34:12

Anyone that knows me knows that I was

34:14

going to take

34:15

that opportunity. But

34:17

I remember us having a meeting myself, the

34:20

people at DK Publishing, the people at Marvel Entertainment,

34:23

and we tried to figure out what is this book going

34:25

to be. And there was a general consensus that we wanted

34:27

it to be

34:28

an origin story of the team,

34:31

because don't forget, you know, this is the Avengers. This

34:33

is 60 years of history. This is a roster

34:35

that is constantly updating, constantly evolving,

34:37

constantly changing. There's so many different

34:39

iterations, so many different eras from

34:42

every decade. Every no matter how

34:44

old you are, you have your version of the Avengers.

34:48

But when we decided we wanted it to be an origin

34:50

story to me,

34:52

that meant going back and

34:54

looking at the original formation of the team. And

34:57

so what I said I would do, I said, let me go back and

34:59

look at the first 100 issues

35:01

and let's see what we

35:03

have from issue one to

35:06

issue 100. So you go

35:08

through it and you know, they're the major moments.

35:10

There's the formation of the team.

35:12

There's the first time they go up against Loki. There's

35:15

all the conflict between them and the Hulk. You

35:18

know, is the Hulk around because they want him around

35:20

or are they just trying to keep him around

35:22

so they can figure him out? There's

35:24

the arrival of Captain America, who at that point

35:26

was thought to be long gone,

35:30

going up against Loki for the first time.

35:32

By the time I got through the

35:34

first 100 issues, I remember saying to myself,

35:36

because the book ends with the Kree-Skrull war,

35:40

looking through the first 100 issues, I

35:42

identified that as kind of like the defining

35:44

moment of the first 100 issues

35:48

of the Avengers. So it's

35:50

an origin story. We're getting

35:52

the origin of the team. We're also getting the origins

35:55

of each individual member. Like if you

35:57

look at the book, the chapters initially are broken

35:59

up.

35:59

They begin with a chapter on each member,

36:02

and then it's them assembling

36:05

for the first time against Loki.

36:07

And then there's

36:09

Captain America's arrival and what

36:11

happens when the roster changes. And here comes Hawkeye,

36:14

and here comes the twins, Scarlet

36:16

Witch and Quicksilver. But the

36:18

end point for me was

36:21

the Kree-Skrull War. So at that point,

36:23

it became, okay,

36:24

we know we're going to begin it with the origins

36:27

of each member. We know we're going to end

36:29

it, a big exclamation point, with the Kree-Skrull

36:31

War, which

36:32

the best way to describe the Kree-Skrull War

36:35

is that's when the Avengers went – they

36:38

kind of graduated from being the protectors of Earth

36:41

to the protectors of the universe.

36:43

That's when they kind of figured out that the

36:45

universe was a lot bigger than just

36:47

the nine planets within their solar system, or

36:49

eight planets now, but I guess back then it was nine planets.

36:54

But it was very much

36:58

identifying the Kree-Skrull War as the end

37:00

point and then trying to

37:02

pick

37:04

what I thought were the most defining

37:07

moments of what happened between the formation

37:09

of the team

37:10

and the Kree-Skrull War. So

37:12

for you, because I know

37:14

you've read a lot about

37:17

each one of these characters, and you've done

37:19

a lot of research both in your work as

37:21

a journalist but also as a fan. How

37:23

does this differ from previous takes

37:26

on Avengers origins,

37:29

both in structure but also the point

37:31

of view? It

37:34

was a challenge

37:37

because you say

37:39

it's going to be an origin story, so

37:41

you want to write the story in a modern

37:43

way. You don't want the story

37:46

to feel as dated as those issues, but

37:48

you're also leaning on source material that is

37:51

going all the way back to the 60s. So

37:53

it was a very unique

37:56

opportunity to, one, see

37:58

if I could actually pull this off.

37:59

And two, because it was a learning

38:03

process

38:03

along the way, I'm like,

38:06

okay, let's

38:07

send this off to my editor in London and

38:09

see what he thinks. And thankfully, my buddy,

38:12

Alistair Dougal, my editor in London,

38:15

who was great through this whole process, thought everything was okay.

38:17

But it was a unique experience because

38:20

there

38:21

is dialogue in this book. The dialogue

38:23

that you see in this book is directly pulled

38:26

from those initial 100 issues. So

38:29

it was a matter of building pros

38:31

around those conversations

38:33

that were being had, because I wasn't

38:36

just picking what I thought

38:38

were the top 25 or so moments

38:40

between the first 100 issues to fit into a book. I

38:43

also had to look at what was being said and

38:45

what were the most important statements that

38:47

were being uttered by these characters in

38:50

their beginnings and in their origins.

38:52

So it was a very, it was a unique

38:55

experience. Most people, they're writing books. Usually

38:57

the author is

38:59

coming up with what is going to be said.

39:01

In this case, what's being said has already

39:03

been said, and I have to figure out what's

39:06

best

39:07

to use for the book. It wasn't

39:10

easy, but it was fun. Anytime

39:13

I can dive in the comics, for me,

39:15

it never feels like work.

39:17

Comics are not easy

39:19

to make. We all know that. Everyone here has been

39:21

a part of that process. But it's such a rewarding

39:24

process because

39:26

all of us are in this because we love this

39:29

medium, because we love this forum. We

39:32

love where these comics take

39:34

us when we read them.

39:35

So it was just another way to

39:38

utilize my love of comics, but apply it in a different

39:41

way in terms of how the story was told.

39:43

And I love that because what it

39:45

also kind of takes into account

39:48

is this idea that

39:50

even the writers of the comics back in

39:52

the 60s couldn't have known

39:55

the impact of some of the

39:57

moments or the dialogue. They didn't

39:59

know what was going on. was going to end up being

40:02

the top selling

40:05

book or the most impactful

40:07

that was going to influence or inspire a writer 20,

40:09

30 years later. You

40:12

know, for you, what was your biggest goal

40:14

as an author,

40:17

like in telling this story? For

40:21

me, my biggest goal was

40:23

to come out of this,

40:26

not being an Avengers expert,

40:29

per se, because it was really

40:31

funny because had DK publishing

40:33

come to me and said, we want you to write an X-Men book,

40:35

or we want you to write a Spider-Man book,

40:37

or we want you to write even a Dark Hawk

40:39

book to really go back. You know, because Dark Hawk

40:42

was my boy back in the day with

40:45

the amulet and the armor and all that stuff and the raptors.

40:50

I was not the biggest Avengers reader as a kid.

40:52

I dabbled in some West Coast Avengers,

40:55

wherever Hawkeye was hanging out. I thought that was cool.

40:57

I was really happy that Hawkeye was going to be a part of the book, but

41:00

I was not the most avid.

41:04

It was almost like I was an avid reader of pretty much

41:06

everything else but the Avengers. I knew

41:08

what the Avengers were. I was always keeping

41:10

track of the rosters. I remember when Spider-Man joined

41:12

and Rage and all those characters,

41:16

but I didn't really become a serious Avengers comic

41:18

book reader until the first movie came out. And

41:21

we had the run

41:23

that kind of led to the most

41:25

recent Secret Wars. That's really

41:27

when I jumped on.

41:31

So it was really almost like

41:34

I was finally diving into that world

41:36

that I always knew was there, but had

41:38

never really submerged myself into

41:40

like I did with the X-Men and with Spider-Man. So

41:44

I really took it as a chance to... The

41:47

most fun thing for me was, I know these were the comics

41:49

my dad was reading when he was a kid. My dad

41:51

was a big Avengers guy. He's very excited about this book. I'm

41:53

actually mailing him his first copy this

41:56

week. So

41:59

it was really... fun to kind of dive

42:02

into an era that I'm

42:05

because we all have our eras, you know, I read

42:08

comics growing up from the 80s and 90s. I

42:10

read all the modern stuff. Now,

42:12

we all had those errors that we kind of know were there,

42:14

but don't really dive in too much. And for me, that was the 60s.

42:17

You know, from a historical standpoint, I know all

42:19

that stuff. But I had never really done

42:22

a deep dive into it. And this required a deep

42:24

dive to get to know the

42:26

team to get to know the major players to get to know the villains.

42:29

And it was challenging, but rewarding

42:31

at the same time.

42:33

Did you have a favorite chapter to work on?

42:35

Like, and you know, I'm like holding back

42:37

like all my love because you know, my era

42:40

was the 80s when it comes to the Avengers. But,

42:42

you know, was there like,

42:45

and whether it was because you you figured out

42:47

the the the puzzle pieces

42:49

because again, this like this feels like a huge jigsaw

42:52

that you're talking about right now.

42:56

You know, what was your favorite part? Like,

42:58

did you have a favorite chapter and why? Wow,

43:02

I feel like this is kind of like when people say

43:04

you're asking me to pick between my children kind of thing.

43:07

But favorite chapter, I

43:09

really enjoyed. Let me

43:13

see. I actually really enjoyed there's a chapter

43:15

on the Red Guardian, believe it or not.

43:18

Because when I was writing this

43:21

book, I was also

43:23

as a reporter

43:24

covering the Black Widow movie. And

43:28

I actually just interviewed David

43:31

Harbor

43:32

about his role as the

43:34

Red Guardian and the Black Widow. Now

43:38

I any any type

43:40

of alternate version of Captain, I don't know what

43:42

it is about this.

43:44

But ever since like one of my favorite characters ever

43:46

in a character that I hope I can get my hands

43:48

on as I hopefully continue to write more for Marvel

43:51

is US agent. I love US agent.

43:54

Just is the

43:56

look,

43:57

the kind of like, dark road

43:59

captain. I'm

43:59

I'm like really into that. I'm really into like dark

44:02

rogue versions.

44:03

I have so many feelings

44:05

and most of it is because I've been writing

44:07

about Battlestar and I'm just gonna keep

44:09

my mouth shut. Just keep going. I

44:12

say that to say your feelings aside

44:15

that I would always take into consideration

44:17

because you know, you and I go way back. I

44:20

don't know if you remember Jeff Loeb's

44:23

Hulk run.

44:25

Rulk, Red Hulk, whatever you

44:27

wanna call it. And

44:29

that's the fact when Ed McGinnis was doing the art and

44:31

Ed McGinnis drew a really, really cool

44:34

Red Guardian. And that was kind of, not

44:36

my introduction, but I had kind of forgotten that the

44:38

Red Guardian existed.

44:40

So I was like, man, this guy's like an

44:42

evil Captain America. He's got the shield.

44:48

It just, it worked for me as a character.

44:50

Like I'm very much into the, part of the reason I love

44:52

comics is for the visuals. And I also love art.

44:54

I used to draw when I was a kid. So

44:56

that's

44:57

always been a really cool character. So that

44:59

was a character that popped up

45:02

in the first 100 issues. So I'm like, we

45:04

absolutely have to have a chapter

45:06

on the Red Guardian. So if

45:09

I had a favorite,

45:10

because they're

45:13

Captain America and the Red Guardian are going back and forth to lap that

45:15

chapter, battling it out. So

45:18

I'll say that one for now.

45:20

I adore that you're like,

45:23

oh, he's not great, but I love him. That's

45:26

when you know that someone just truly

45:28

loves writing and someone truly loves characters.

45:31

I don't dislike US agent. It was just like,

45:33

that's the one, that's who we're choosing.

45:36

Okay. You couldn't tell me that was

45:38

a cool, cool suit. 10 year old

45:40

Dave Betancourt,

45:42

that suit, me drawing in my pad as

45:44

a kid, I saw that US agent

45:46

suit and I was like, that's really cool. So

45:48

the Red Guardian is kind of in that same neighborhood,

45:52

if you will, of being like an alternate,

45:55

maybe not all the way good version. Cause

45:58

the Red Guardian in that chapter. because it's based directly

46:01

on his first appearance, the individual's comics.

46:03

He's a very conflicted character who has a history with

46:05

the Black Widow and has a very,

46:07

you know, his story is tragic. And in this

46:09

particular chapter, which of course everything is based

46:12

on the comics. That's one thing we have

46:14

to establish right away. It's like the

46:16

movies, not the live action entertainment had no influence

46:18

on this. The influence was all

46:20

those initial first 100 issues of the comics.

46:23

Which I love and it's such a nuanced place

46:25

to be because it's not just that it's based on

46:27

the comics. It's based on the comics within

46:30

the era

46:30

that you're working

46:32

on, which just gives such

46:35

a rich history of the evolution

46:38

of a character

46:39

by having that foundation. Knowing

46:41

that though, and knowing that these characters have come a really

46:44

long way. Some of them longer

46:46

than others. I like Hawkeye

46:48

now. The 80s Hawkeye, I

46:51

don't know.

46:52

I love to hate him. Love

46:55

to hate him. I love the costume as a kid though. The

46:58

costume was. But that purple

47:00

was dope. Of

47:03

course, when I think Hawkeye now,

47:05

I think of the Eisner

47:08

winning run

47:10

drawn by David Aha and

47:13

written by, why is it a statement? Matt Fraction?

47:15

Yes, my guy. Those comics

47:18

are so. Oh yeah, so good. Yeah,

47:20

because that's the Hawkeye I love. But also

47:22

he had his role. And I think that's what

47:25

I love about talking to you and

47:27

having kind of this perspective.

47:29

And I'm so excited about this book is because

47:32

every character has their role,

47:34

right? Every character plays

47:37

a part on the team. The personalities

47:39

fit where they need to fit.

47:41

Hawkeye's very cocky in this book. Yeah.

47:44

These are based off the 60s books, but he's

47:46

a problem in here because he doesn't

47:48

respect authority too much. He's got a very rough

47:51

upbringing. Growing up in the circus with his

47:53

brother that we get into. And

47:56

he feels like he's the one who should be leading the

47:58

Avengers. So there's. you

48:00

know Hawkeyes. He felt like that for several

48:02

decades. Yes, yes that's never went away. And still

48:06

no. But I say that to say

48:08

like there's always like these surprising things

48:10

like you probably just surprised someone who may

48:13

not have read this like The Circus. You

48:16

know what if anything surprised

48:18

you the most while researching

48:21

this book? It's

48:24

very interesting you know they're there's

48:26

just certain there are a few characters. I

48:29

mean I'm a big Thor guy. Jason

48:31

Aaron's run on Thor was just so

48:34

fantastic and I dabble in Thor as a kid

48:36

as well. But I

48:39

felt like I had a chance to reconnect

48:41

with some characters that I had not

48:44

taken deep dives with in a long time and

48:46

to be able to do that from their origin

48:48

standpoint

48:49

and going back because

48:52

I know all of these characters. I'm familiar with every

48:54

single character that appears in this book. I knew who each character

48:56

was before I dived into writing

48:58

this book but I had not necessarily taken

49:00

deep dives into their original

49:03

appearances in the original comics. It was

49:05

almost like taking a class. It was very it

49:07

was very fun. It was very rewarding and

49:10

it was important because I wanted

49:12

I

49:13

wanted to capture the essence of what it was like

49:15

when they were first making their appearances and make sure that

49:17

got into the book. Yeah

49:20

well and I think this is the interesting thing.

49:22

So for folks who are reading the

49:24

book, yes it's

49:26

the first hundred issues but as

49:28

we know the Avengers are an ever-revolving

49:31

door. Like one of my favorite

49:34

favorite favorite scenes is like there's

49:37

one where like every single Avenger

49:40

and their cousin are sitting in Avengers

49:42

mansion and they're deciding. Um

49:45

this is the one where they're like yeah

49:47

go ask Falcon. Um

49:50

sorry

49:54

it is just like one of the most gorgeous

49:56

scenes because like people have got their legs up on computer

49:59

consoles and

49:59

people are leaning against the wall. And

50:02

it just makes

50:04

you recall how big the Avengers

50:09

will become through the 80s and

50:11

90s. You

50:14

cover the first 100 issues and for those who'll

50:16

be reading the book, you jump to

50:19

more present day to kind of give a little

50:21

bit of a forward look in

50:24

the last chapter.

50:26

But for you, do you feel like there was anyone

50:29

you weren't able to cover that you really

50:31

wanted to, one, because you

50:33

already wrote 25 chapters and 300 pages,

50:38

that you didn't get to cover because they didn't

50:40

appear in the first 100 issues or they're not

50:42

on the current team? It

50:45

was challenging because I'd say 90% of the book

50:49

is dealing with the

50:52

original team and the initial

50:54

roster change. So this book is primarily

50:56

the original roster.

50:58

Then you've got the arrival of Captain America and

51:00

then you've got, there's a brief

51:02

period where

51:04

some of the power players in the team

51:07

have gone Hulk, Thor, Giant

51:09

Man, they're all out of there.

51:10

And you talk about some of the core people because you talk

51:12

about Black Widow, you talk about

51:14

Hawkeye, you talk about again, Scarlet

51:17

Witch,

51:19

you talk about Quicksilver, you

51:21

have a space where obviously

51:24

when Cap bows out and Black

51:26

Panther comes in on this beautiful

51:28

wreck, hey, by the way, this dude's coming,

51:32

he's from this place called Wakanda, I vouch

51:34

for him. Okay,

51:37

thanks, Cap. It

51:40

was so fun rediscovering that too. It was

51:42

like, oh, Cap just made a call and here comes the King

51:44

of Wakanda. It just shows

51:47

up immediately into a fight, but just some

51:49

details. Look, it

51:51

was fun. Most of this book, again,

51:55

it's the original roster and the initial

51:57

changes that took place within those first 100 years.

51:59

issues, that being the arrival of the twins,

52:02

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, the arrival

52:04

of Black Panther,

52:05

Hawkeye, such and

52:08

such. But for the most part, that

52:10

initial core within the first 100 issues

52:12

is the majority of the book. But

52:15

we, when I say we, I mean myself, DK

52:18

Publishing and Marvel, we did want

52:20

there to be a little bit of a flavor of one of the more recent

52:23

and more up-to-date rosters. So there is one

52:25

chapter dedicated to

52:27

one of my favorite rosters, which has

52:30

Sam Wilson as Captain America, Miles

52:32

Morales, Nova, Kamala Khan,

52:35

Vision, and Iron Man

52:37

that's getting back on his feet. So

52:40

one of the final chapters is getting to know that team.

52:43

To show, and what was really

52:45

important about that team is

52:47

there are a couple of original members in there. Iron

52:50

Man's in there, the vision's in there. So

52:52

the point of throwing that specific team in

52:54

there was to show how

52:57

the idea of the Avengers has evolved,

52:59

but it's still very much a thing and still very much

53:01

means something to the world.

53:04

Yeah, I mean, and I love that because

53:06

I think the Avengers, you

53:09

know, obviously we've got your teams, right? The

53:11

Fantastic Four, the Avengers,

53:14

the X-Men, they all shifted

53:16

and changed and new members and you've

53:18

got the mighty Avengers. And just like you've

53:20

got X-Men Blue, X-Men Ren, X-Men

53:22

Gold, like you have your West

53:25

Coast Avengers, you've got the Young Avengers,

53:27

but like this really truly focuses

53:31

on this core foundation

53:33

and

53:34

that set us

53:37

apart, right? So

53:39

for you, if you were to recommend

53:41

to anybody, you know, after

53:44

they read your book, you know,

53:46

what's another team that you feel is

53:48

like, yo, you've got to go learn more

53:50

about this team

53:53

and their origin story.

53:56

One thing, obviously, you know,

53:58

there's only so much you can fit in one book.

53:59

book, we clearly picked which era

54:02

we wanted to focus on with the origin of the team. Um,

54:05

but obviously you're right. That leads a lot on the table

54:07

in terms of the history of the Avengers and teams that have

54:09

come after. Um, I was always fascinated

54:12

with the teams, Avengers teams that

54:14

had Hank McCoy, the beast,

54:16

because, uh, one thing we kind

54:18

of get into with the arrival of the twins

54:21

is the fact that they were mutants and

54:24

what that meant in terms of their place in the world and

54:26

what the world thought of them.

54:27

And I was always fascinated with

54:30

beast

54:31

kind of being a bridge between the Avengers and

54:33

the X-Men. He's somebody who was both and

54:36

someone who believes in the mantra of the Avengers,

54:38

but also has been

54:40

on the other side of how the world

54:42

views the X-Men. So he's someone who, you

54:45

know, is protecting the world in his

54:47

Avenger, even though as an X-Men, you know, he's

54:50

looked upon

54:51

differently. So, uh,

54:54

those, those teams with him on there were always

54:56

fascinating to me because I always thought it was really

54:58

cool that he was not

55:00

just a bridge between the two teams, but

55:02

that he still thought it was worth trying

55:05

to be an Avenger. Like

55:06

if I was an X-Men,

55:08

the last thing I probably want to do is go save the world that hates

55:10

me.

55:11

But, uh, I was always fascinated specifically

55:13

with him and

55:15

the fact that he could float between two

55:17

teams.

55:18

Yeah. And I think it's also interesting

55:20

and I kind of want to point this out for folks who are,

55:23

who are reading the book, because it's something that

55:26

we kind of attacked in My Superheroes

55:28

Black is that the reminder again, is

55:30

that this is talking about the origin story

55:33

from the POV of when the

55:35

characters were originally introduced,

55:37

right? So like, for instance, Scarlet

55:40

Witch and Quicksilver aren't mutants currently.

55:42

Right. So, you know, that's

55:45

something that, that, you know, just

55:47

to take into the understanding that this

55:50

is

55:50

really written from the space

55:53

and time of that initial

55:55

introduction in the sixties, which I think

55:58

is, is really cool because you also. get

56:00

to see that evolution. It was

56:02

fun to take them back to that and you're absolutely right, they're

56:04

not mutants now. And that was a question that

56:07

came up because when

56:09

I was going through planning for the book,

56:13

knowing it was going to be an origin story, I absolutely knew

56:15

there had to be a chapter on

56:17

the twins. I absolutely knew I

56:19

wanted to delve into

56:21

the fact that Quicksilver looks exactly

56:24

like Magneto, like, you

56:26

know, Magneto's not denying that baby. So

56:30

I had to go to them and be like, you know, what

56:32

are we going to do here? Because, you know, in the current

56:34

state of Marvel Comics, the

56:37

twins have a different, there's a different approach

56:39

to them and they're not mutants anymore. But

56:41

it was decided that because we were basing

56:44

the book on those original comics

56:46

from the 60s, that we could include that

56:48

time period where they were classified

56:50

as mutants, which was fun for

56:51

me. I love it. I love it. I

56:53

love it. I love it. I love it. Okay. So for

56:55

folks who want to check out

56:58

the book, who want more information about

57:00

you and like all the stuff that you're doing,

57:03

give us the deets.

57:04

All right. So the book, The

57:06

Avengers Assembled, comes out August

57:08

29th. It's available

57:10

wherever books are sold. You can also get it on Amazon,

57:13

your bookstores

57:16

online. You can

57:18

follow me on X,

57:21

as it's called now,

57:22

formerly Twitter, ADC

57:24

Fanboy is my handle. You can also follow me

57:26

on Instagram, David Betancourt writes.

57:29

And just to be clear, that's because he's from

57:31

the District of Columbia. Yes, it

57:33

is not. It is not about

57:36

Brand X. It's

57:39

not. No, no, no, no.

57:41

He's a fanboy from the District of

57:44

Columbia. I got that so much like, oh, a

57:46

DC fanboy. So you only like DC Comics.

57:49

I couldn't fit a Washington fanboy into

57:51

the handle. So DC was a lot.

57:54

DC is where I'm from. DC

57:56

is a part of who I am. So

57:58

for me, it's always meant two things. It's meant

57:59

a comic book company and the city where I'm from.

58:02

So apologies for the confusion, but

58:04

no,

58:05

there's no tricks here.

58:07

It just means District of Columbia.

58:09

We still love you, David. Thank you. Machismo Gracia.

58:12

Thank you. That

58:17

was David Betancourt and The Avengers

58:19

Assemble, the origin story of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

58:22

It's available August 29, 2023. Pre-order

58:25

it wherever you get your books. Enjoy

58:27

it. Love it.

58:29

Go do it. I also love the fact

58:31

that he stuck

58:34

to the original dialogue.

58:37

So I think for folks who really want to learn

58:39

about who the Avengers

58:42

were when they first began, this is going to be a

58:44

good book for them.

58:45

So now it is time for community,

58:48

aka This Week in Messages. But

58:50

before we get to that, here is our

58:52

question of the week. I had a chance

58:54

to get, you know, we talked to David about

58:57

the original core members and

58:59

some of the newer ones that came

59:01

in, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Black

59:04

Panther, like so on and so

59:06

forth. But there's been a lot of superheroes on

59:08

The Avengers, right? And then there's also been the Mighty Avengers

59:10

and there's been regionals and the West

59:12

Coast Avengers and the Young Avengers. I

59:14

got to know, Ryan, I

59:17

think we should ask, which

59:20

three or so, based

59:22

on your recommendation, because you definitely typed this while

59:24

I was talking, which three or so

59:26

could be more heroes

59:29

would be on your ideal Avengers

59:31

squad? Oh, man. That's

59:35

so tough. It's hard because you

59:37

got to think about the powers. You got to think about who

59:39

balances who. You got to think about who's

59:41

short range, who's long range. You

59:43

know, you got

59:44

brain versus brawn. Like it's

59:47

it's it's a lot. Like

59:50

I could go quirky and be like, I

59:52

got to have D-Man. I got to have

59:54

Namor and give me.

59:58

Stingray.

1:00:02

Like you got two water-based dudes

1:00:04

who are always at each other's throats and

1:00:06

like

1:00:07

that could bring a really interesting dynamic

1:00:09

because Stingray is probably gonna get beat

1:00:11

up by Namor all the time. And

1:00:14

then D-Man is just like

1:00:16

the heart and soul. Of course you gotta have

1:00:19

your big hitters but like you know I would

1:00:21

build a team around conflict.

1:00:23

That's one of the things you want to do. You want to find

1:00:26

what characters could have conflict. But

1:00:28

also you could put in like put

1:00:31

in a jerk like Star Fox and

1:00:33

then She-Hulk and have them in

1:00:35

there together. And

1:00:38

then find a character like I would

1:00:40

bring in maybe someone even different like

1:00:42

a rogue. You know? Bring a rogue. She's

1:00:44

been on the Unity Squad. She

1:00:46

counts. Fully counts. Bring

1:00:48

in that. And she would not have

1:00:51

any of Star Fox's nonsense. No

1:00:53

one would. And so you bring in a lot of conflict. I was gonna say

1:00:55

rogue wouldn't have anybody's nonsense. Yeah.

1:00:58

But truly it would be Modoc,

1:01:01

Hulk, and

1:01:05

D-Man. Did you? You

1:01:07

can't. Secret Avengers. Modoc

1:01:11

was within the confines

1:01:13

of an Avengers Squad during a run of Secret Avengers.

1:01:15

I'm gonna say it counts. Boom. Wow. Wow.

1:01:19

What

1:01:21

about you Angelique? After

1:01:24

that I'm not busy.

1:01:27

Alright let's see. I would

1:01:30

have to go Monica Rambo

1:01:32

because everybody knew that was gonna happen. Do

1:01:35

we get to pull in what ifs?

1:01:37

Ooh if we're pulling in what ifs then like that

1:01:39

opens up the multiverse. That's what I was saying. I

1:01:41

was gonna call just like Peggy Carter. Actually

1:01:43

take that back. Danielle Cage. Danielle

1:01:46

Cage Captain America. Hell yeah.

1:01:48

Monica Rambo.

1:01:51

And Amadeus Cho.

1:01:53

Ooh. Amadeus Cho that's good.

1:01:56

But we want to hear from you. Let

1:01:58

us know. Three you could go.

1:01:59

05, 06, whatever you got out there, tweet

1:02:02

your answers using hashtag thisweekinmarvel.

1:02:04

You can put them on threads. You can put them on Instagram.

1:02:07

But you got to, like, tag us so we see

1:02:09

them, please. Send those answers.

1:02:11

Use the hashtag thisweekinmarvel. Email them to

1:02:14

twimpodcast at marvel.com. Send a message

1:02:16

to our Facebook page at facebook.com slash

1:02:18

thisweekinmarvel. Please make sure to tell us it's OK

1:02:21

to read Twim on the show. We've

1:02:23

got stuff from emails and Facebook this week.

1:02:25

So it all works however it works

1:02:28

for you. Because we're going

1:02:29

to talk about last week's question of the week. What other characters

1:02:32

should have the Rogers the musical treatment?

1:02:35

Ooh, so we got some tweets. Herbie

1:02:37

Dorotio at Herbie underscore

1:02:40

Excelsior. My

1:02:43

favorite character should have the

1:02:45

Rogers the musical treatment. And

1:02:47

it is Kamala Khan, a.k.a. Ms.

1:02:49

Marvel in her own musical, The

1:02:51

Magnificent Musical Adventures of Ms.

1:02:53

Marvel.

1:02:54

I would say that Ms. Marvel's, I think,

1:02:56

going to come up a couple of times. But like, can you

1:02:58

imagine a big showstopper? And

1:03:00

begin. You know, like a big.

1:03:02

Oh yeah, that's the song. That is actually the

1:03:04

one that gets the Tony. Next

1:03:07

up from Billy K at Sly Sonic, who

1:03:09

said, Howard the Duck, if it ain't

1:03:11

funk, he don't feel it.

1:03:13

Come on, an entire rock

1:03:15

band and a guitar solo. Yeah.

1:03:19

We already have the blueprint.

1:03:22

I know.

1:03:23

Karis Pollard at

1:03:25

A.Karis Pollard. For a musical,

1:03:28

I think there are a few key criteria.

1:03:30

OK, all right, all right. Powers

1:03:32

that are easy to show practically. A story

1:03:35

arc that fits your classic three act, even

1:03:37

if it's only part of their story. And

1:03:40

they wouldn't be wildly

1:03:42

weird singing. I don't know about that

1:03:44

one, but I'm going to go with it. That

1:03:47

last one ruled out Bucky as

1:03:49

emo. Growling is not

1:03:51

really the vibe for a stage musical.

1:03:53

I don't know. Spring

1:03:55

Awakening was really great. The

1:03:57

powers rule out Ms. Marvel and Ms.

1:03:59

Mr. Fantastic and a bunch of others

1:04:02

too. I think Emma Frost has a shot

1:04:05

if only for the costumes. Fair.

1:04:08

But I'm going to go with Nadia Van

1:04:10

Dyne, escaping the Red Room, getting

1:04:13

to America, the truth about her father,

1:04:15

embracing her stepmother. It's a proper

1:04:18

emotional story. Showing shrinking is

1:04:20

tougher, but I can see ways to make

1:04:22

it work with backdrops and she's totally

1:04:24

a singer. Okay, she went

1:04:26

with the dramatic,

1:04:30

coming of age musical

1:04:32

vibe. And I was

1:04:34

just like, can we have a funny

1:04:37

thing happen on the way to

1:04:38

the plot? But that's

1:04:41

the beauty of the Marvel universe. We

1:04:43

can have all these kinds of stories.

1:04:46

All of it. Up next, not

1:04:48

a scroll at Red Legs, Robbie, who said,

1:04:50

vision, please, musical notes. I

1:04:53

request elaboration.

1:04:56

Music notes. Wow.

1:05:00

Yeah, a vision musical. Well

1:05:02

done on the fiddle on the roof, by the way. Thanks.

1:05:05

You could also do a very upsetting play if

1:05:09

you take the vision story, that

1:05:12

comic book series, and just bring that

1:05:14

to the stage.

1:05:15

Everybody gets sad. Not fun

1:05:18

home. All

1:05:20

right. Cameron Leverton

1:05:23

at Leverton Cameron. I think

1:05:25

the next Marvel musical should be Deadpool

1:05:28

the Musical. It's already been written.

1:05:30

We just need vicinity

1:05:32

Reynolds.

1:05:33

Oh, Ryan, to bring it to stage.

1:05:36

I don't disagree.

1:05:39

I would be all about a Deadpool musical, teams.

1:05:43

Seems like a slam dunk. As

1:05:45

long as there is an entire song

1:05:47

about tacos and

1:05:50

enchiladas. Anything is possible.

1:05:53

Enchiladas. I'm telling

1:05:55

you, it's rights itself. And

1:05:58

that's cheese. Time for our. email's

1:06:00

first up from Mallory Vance who said this week's question

1:06:03

excited me because I produce shows with an independent

1:06:05

nonprofit theater company called

1:06:07

Phoenix Tears Productions in my everyday life

1:06:10

so I'm always thinking about characters and

1:06:12

stories becoming shows. I think

1:06:14

if I was gonna create a musical it would be really fun to do

1:06:16

a jukebox style musical for Gwenpool.

1:06:18

She could be aware the entire time

1:06:21

she is a character in a musical and reworking

1:06:23

her comic altering powers to allow her to

1:06:25

alter things in the show could be really really

1:06:28

fun. I think the show's plot would have to be

1:06:29

about her being transported into the musical and

1:06:32

trying to find a way back out. It'd be really funny

1:06:34

and self-aware and could have a bunch of other characters for

1:06:36

almost no reason just because we want

1:06:38

them there. That is so fun Mallory

1:06:40

I love that.

1:06:42

That's kind of perfect. From

1:06:44

James Marsh I want to see

1:06:46

Imbiggen the Kamala Khan story.

1:06:49

See you said it Brian. Kamala's

1:06:52

I want... Kamala's

1:06:55

I want song could feature herself

1:06:57

insert fanfic ideas of joining

1:06:59

the superheroes. She idolizes

1:07:02

particularly

1:07:03

one Carol Danvers a budding

1:07:06

will they won't they love duet with Bruno?

1:07:08

Amen. Buddy song with Nakia.

1:07:11

You can switch between big Bollywood

1:07:13

numbers with Kamala's family and more

1:07:16

contemporary music with Kamala's doing

1:07:18

her super heroics leading

1:07:21

a beautiful conclusion where she blends

1:07:23

them and creates her own unique musical

1:07:25

style representing finding

1:07:28

balance in her life. Well done

1:07:30

Jim. Yeah. Well done.

1:07:31

Truly.

1:07:32

We got one from Heather G.

1:07:35

Hello Ryan and Angelique Heather says hello

1:07:37

y'all love the fam. We had another great dinner

1:07:40

table conversation about who we'd like to see as

1:07:42

a musical. Fiona wants to see Bucky

1:07:44

the musical to see him sing as the Winter Soldier.

1:07:47

It's giving Nick Fury singing vibes. Nolan

1:07:50

wants to see Stan Lee the musical. Histories

1:07:52

a la Hamilton are his favorite stage genre.

1:07:55

Mom would like to see a musical about Wanda and the

1:07:57

style of Wicked going through her darker times

1:07:59

only to...

1:07:59

rise again. Dad wants

1:08:02

to throw cats in the trash or plays it with

1:08:04

Marvel Meow the musical. Yes.

1:08:07

Yes. One, I would

1:08:10

love a Marvel Meow the musical but two never

1:08:12

throw cats in the trash. I love cats so

1:08:15

much.

1:08:16

From Facebook, Bryn Anderson,

1:08:18

well done. This Week in Messages

1:08:21

give me Dazzler the musical.

1:08:25

I mean, yeah, it's it's it's

1:08:27

a disco musical waiting to happen. So

1:08:29

now in the last question, are we going original

1:08:32

Dazzler? Is this going to be a disco musical?

1:08:35

Or is it going to be a rock musical? Like, Alison

1:08:39

has had her eras.

1:08:40

She went from disco. She went

1:08:43

to 80s with like swoopy hair and

1:08:45

like, yes, you know, she did her Pat Benatar

1:08:47

look. She's had the more like

1:08:50

updated modern stuff. She's like phone

1:08:52

and poppy. She's everything she's

1:08:54

Dazzler. We could have everything in that. One

1:08:56

more from Facebook. This is Carly

1:08:59

saying an answer to this coming week's question.

1:09:01

And if Ryan can have a musical involving

1:09:03

his favorite modoc, then there could be one

1:09:05

for a certain fur boy. You know who I'm talking about

1:09:07

since you call me his champion. Yes, a rocket

1:09:10

musical starting from him being a sweet, cute

1:09:13

little thing. And we're having the comic version of

1:09:15

the high evolutionary and the opening

1:09:17

number is when he finds low rocket in

1:09:19

the snow on half world, then

1:09:21

helping him. Plus, there could be a scene where

1:09:24

he meets Lila. I think

1:09:27

you're just also setting us all up to

1:09:29

be

1:09:30

sobbing sobbing

1:09:32

in the theater. Why is everyone trying

1:09:34

to rip my heart out today? Because it's fun.

1:09:37

That's what we do.

1:09:40

Rude. All

1:09:43

right, that is it for us this week. This episode of This

1:09:45

Week in Marvel is produced by Jasmine Estrada, Kara

1:09:47

McGurk, Alison Isabel Robertson, Ryan Penagos

1:09:49

and Anjali Groshe. Our senior

1:09:52

manager audio production and development is

1:09:54

Brad Barton. Jill Duboff is our director

1:09:56

of audio. I'm Ryan. I'm

1:09:58

Anjali. This is Mar.

1:09:59

your universe.

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