New Avengers #16
New Avengers #16 is the first appearance of Michael Pointer — the man who would become the Collective, then Guardian, and eventually Weapon Omega — making it one of the key character-debut issues of Marvel's mid-2000s 'Decimation' era. The issue serves as the prologue to 'The Collective' arc, the direct storytelling consequence of the Scarlet Witch's depowering of nearly all mutant life in House of M, and it dramatically bridges that crossover event into the Avengers' corner of the Marvel Universe. It also marks the first appearance of Alpha Flight in years, only to use Canada's premier super-team as a measure of the Collective's catastrophic threat level — an event with lasting repercussions for those characters across subsequent titles including Omega Flight and beyond. Structurally, the issue is notable for subverting reader expectation: despite the full-team cover, the New Avengers themselves barely appear inside, with the story told almost entirely from Maria Hill's perspective as a S.H.I.E.L.D. procedural thriller.
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Written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Steve McNiven — who was then riding high on his Civil War work — New Avengers #16 was published in April 2006 (cover-dated February 2006) and edited by Tom Brevoort, with Joe Quesada as editor-in-chief. The issue functioned as the opening chapter of 'The Collective,' the arc Bendis designed to dramatize the street-level Avengers dealing with the fallout of House of M and Decimation, events that had originated in the X-Men line. McNiven handled this opening chapter before Mike Deodato Jr. took over penciling duties for the remainder of the arc, making this issue the only McNiven-drawn installment of the storyline.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Michael Pointer (the Collective), who later takes on the identities of Guardian and Weapon Omega.
- First appearance of Michael Pointer wielding displaced mutant energies, though he is not identified by name in this issue.
- The dispersed mutant energies composing the Collective were first seen in House of M #8; this issue is their first full, physical manifestation as a character.
- First appearance of Alpha Flight since All-New, All-Different Alpha Flight #12 (2004 series); the team is used as a threat barometer and is apparently massacred by the Collective in this issue — though a later retcon established that only Shaman, Vindicator, and Guardian were killed.
- Despite featuring the full New Avengers lineup on the cover (Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Ronin, Spider-Woman), the team does not appear in the interior story; only Iron Man/Tony Stark appears briefly via a video screen.
- Written by Brian Michael Bendis; pencils and cover by Steve McNiven; edited by Tom Brevoort; editor-in-chief Joe Quesada.
- Prologue to the five-issue 'Collective' arc (New Avengers #16–20), collected in New Avengers Vol. 4: The Collective (ISBN 0785119876) and in New Avengers Omnibus Vol. 1 (2012).
- The issue has been reprinted in international editions including French (Marvel Icons #20), German (Spider-Man und die neuen Rächer #8), and Spanish (Los Nuevos Vengadores #16, Editorial Televisa).
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Reprints
Reprinted in New Avengers #4 (2006), Marvel Heroes Flip Magazine #16 (2006), Marvel Icons #20 (2006), Spider-Man und die neuen Rächer #8 (2007), New Avengers #4 (2007), Los Nuevos Vengadores, the New Avengers #16 (2007), New Avengers #2 (2008), New Avengers Omnibus #1 (2012), New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection #2 (2017), X-Men: Decimation Omnibus #[nn] (2024), House of M Omnibus Companion #[nn] (2024), New Avengers Modern Era Epic Collection #2 (2024)
Key issues in New Avengers
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