Marvel’s Other Illuminati are Officially the New Avengers’ Biggest Problem

Marvel's New Avengers are staring down the most horrifying version of the Illuminati to date, and it's all thanks to one classic Spider-Man villain.

In a new preview for The New Avengers #2 from Marvel Comics, readers are dropped right into the middle of an ongoing battle between the eponymous team of heroes and none other than the Illuminati. Or rather, a twisted version of the original Illuminati as reimagined by the malevolent Jackal. Worse still, these gruesomely mutated clones seem to have none of the degenerative issues that so many of the Jackal's other creations have suffered from, at least not to the point that they are any worse off for it while fighting the New Avengers.

The New Avengers #2

• Written by SAM HUMPHRIES
• Art by TOM LIMA
• Colors by RAIN BEREDO
• Letters by VC's JOE SABINO
• Design by CARLOS LAO
• Main cover art by STEPHEN SEGOVIA & RAIN BEREDO
• Variant covers by ANDY PARK, BEN OLIVER, ROD REIS, STEFANO CASELLI, and LUCIO PARRILLO

Marvel's original Illuminati was introduced in the pages of 2005's New Avengers #7 by Brian Michael Bendis and Steve McNiven. Formed by Iron Man in the wake of the Kree-Skrull War, the first iteration of the Illuminati consisted of Tony Stark, Namor, Reed Richards, Doctor Strange, Black Bolt, and Charles Xavier. Over the years, the Illuminati was at the heart of some of the biggest and most harrowing Marvel Comics storylines, while their numbers have grown to include the likes of Black Panther, Yellowjacket, Blue Marvel, and Emma Frost across the group's numerous iterations.

Professor Miles Warren, better known as the Jackal, made his Marvel Comics debut as a seemingly ordinary scientist back in 1965's Amazing Spider-Man #31 by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. After studying under the High Evolutionary and delving deep into his cloning experiments, Warren went to work at Empire State University, where he developed a profoundly disturbing obsession with one of his students - Gwen Stacy. Less than a decade after his original debut, Warren was reintroduced as the Jackal in the pages of 1973's Amazing Spider-Man #129 by Gerry Conway and Ross Andru.

In the years since taking on the mantle of the Jackal, Warren has gone on to become one of the most dangerous villains in Spider-Man's entire rogues gallery. Not only is the Jackal himself a capable threat, but his seemingly endless army of clones has led to dozens of mind-bending confrontations between Spider-Man and what would seem to be the people he loves the most. The Jackal has also inadvertently given rise to some of the Marvel Universe's greatest heroes thanks to creating the likes of Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker, both of whom have come into their own as much more than mere clones over the course of their respective comic book careers.

The New Avengers #2 goes on sale July 16 from Marvel Comics.

Source: Marvel Comics