The Avengers
By Thomas Deja

What You Should Know: The Wasp reorganized the Avengers to reflect its status as an international organization, taking in representatives from Alpha Flight, The Knights of Pendragon and The Winter Guard as members. But the new line-up barely had time to get settled before Abraxas made itself known. Now our Avengers are fighting alongside members from several other alternative realities to repel Abraxas--but their only real hope may lie in their old enemy, Michael Korvac.

What's Gonna Happen: Issue #5 features the final showdown between the Avengers, with Korvac on their side, and Abraxas. If you're one of the many fans of the original character Shango, you won't want to miss this issue, as the Lord of the Storms really cuts loose in combat! And issue #6 begins "Here There Be Dragons," a story where Zodiac re-emerges and unleashes an army of Dragon Men that has been lying dormant since AVENGERS volume 1 #42!

Down The Road: After "Here There Be Dragons," the events of which will lead into a new AVENGERS spin-off title, the Avengers will have to deal with an island full of zombified citizens with the help of Brother Voodoo (yes, I said Brother Voodoo). Expect to see the group become involved in the resolution of the major storyline going on in CYCLOPS and then become a not-quite-willing participant in the much-anticipated Avengers/X-Corps War!

Avengers Noir
By Thomas Deja

Down The Road:AVENGERS NOIR is the new spin-off title that will grow out of events in the "Here There Be Dragons" arc. It will feature a team led by the Black Widow and Anthony Ludgate, and featuring the two characters who gained the most votes in our recent Avengers Membership Poll. This team will be working undercover to discharge developing super-powered situations before they become 'Avengers-Level' situations. Expect a darker tone and less emphasis on 'World Beating Wide Screen' action. Details are still being cobbled together as far as storylines. Expect it to debut in the fall

Cyclops
By Thomas Deja

What You Should Know: Scott Summers woke up in the middle of the Mojave Desert in issue #1 with six months of his memories excised from his skull. With the aid of the Mad Thinker, who is helping Scott for reasons of his own, he tracked down the people that set him up, Hellpyre and Grimstone, and obtained a name for the man who did this: Curio.

What's Gonna Happen: Scott's memory gap causes him "Girl Trouble" in issue #3-4, as he is hunted down by Arclight and new villian Circe the Huntress. Arclight is after Scott for something that happened during the gap, and Scott is desperate to remember. Circe is working for a villian familiar to fans of X-CORPS...who in turn may have plans for Scott of a different nature. Expect one or three of the X-Corps women to pop up before this is all over....

Down The Road: Scott's search for his memories will bring him up against a quartet of masterminds who aren't usually thought of as X-villians--and their reason for wanting Scott's memories will surprise him. Before this extended story line is over, Scott will need to call on the Avengers and X-Corps to help him corrall an octet of some of the most powerful creatures in the Marvel Universe...

The Fence
By Michael Franzoni

What You Should Know: The miniseries began as the enigmatic Ms. Wylder approached reformed supervillain "Forget-Me-Not" about returning to a life of crime and pulling off the heist to end all heists -- stealing from Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of crime! Aiming to keep a low profile, he is forced to recruit from the lower ranks of the supervillain world and put together a team who is capable of pulling off the task. However, with a creature that believes himself to be El Chupacabra, their plans may be complicated!

What's Gonna Happen: The preparations get underway for the team to begin their infiltration of Fisk's warehouse, but getting the information and equipment to do so is half the battle. And that doesn't count that the team is only half-recruited! With time running out, Forget-Me-Not must cobble his pieces together and try not to get killed in the process.

Down The Road: Getting the loot is one thing. Getting out is another. And then, there's the fact that they still have to get away with it. Does the weight of loyalty extend to supervillains or will it be every man for themselves when it comes down to it?

X-Corps
By Thomas Deja

What You Should Know: Sean Cassidy has discovered that he had been mentally manipulated by Martinique Wyngarde into forming X-Corps and embezzling funds from Moira MacTaggart's estate. He snapped out of it just in time to prevent the Kree Starforce from capturing the X-Corps to use as slave labor--something he did by striking a bargain that may haunt him in the future.

What's Gonna Happen: In issue #6's "Cowboy BeBop," Sean considers his situation while on a day trip to Branson, Missouri with Wolverine. And in issue #7, Paulie Provenzano is promoted to the Advance Team to take the Blob's place and is promptly thrown into action defending Dr. Cecelia Reyes from the attacking Neo, a tie-in to what's going on in UNCANNY X-MEN.

Down The Road: The next big storyline, "Wisdom's War," sees the Corps at odds with Pete Wisdom's X-Force over the contents of an abandoned Black Air project. And after that is the much-promised Avengers/X-Corps War, as the legacy of Sean's bargain in the first story arc comes back to haunt him....