James Robinson: In terms of the characters, their attitude is that they’ve all lost their own worlds and they’ve got to save this world no matter what. So at times that will put them often at odds with the Avengers. They aren’t always going to [do] the thing that you think is the right thing. And that quite frankly as the series goes on will lead to some of them questioning if they’re doing things the right way and others steadfastly believing that they are and that will lead to inner conflicts and everything else. The only ‘A’ in the title is in the word ‘squad’ but it’s an Avengers book that doesn’t have the Avengers as prominently in it so as a result I’m definitely making a point of making this a vital book that fits within the Avengers family and the Marvel Universe so I think that people might be surprised by that—that it isn’t one of those off the sideline ancillary books but it’s definitely a book in the heart of the Avengers universe.
Oh, and another note in terms of characters: Blur will feel this sort of great guilt because he’s lost his world, he mourns his world, but one of the things that you’ll remember about the New Universe was that it’s “the world next door,” the world most like ours. There were superpowers but there weren't skin tight costumes. There weren’t all the gaudy, larger-than-life elements that make the Marvel Universe so fantastic. So he’s looking around and he’s looking at alien worlds that live here. The fact that there there’s a Captain America and Thor and Iron Man and he’s kind of a bit blown away by it all. There’s an inner conflict with him. I think by them all having their own worlds that they’ve lost in different ways, that’s the other thing. Doctor Spectrum’s world was literally snatched from her before her eyes, whereas Blur’s world was lost but not quite as dramatic. Nighthawk lost his world but he [has] much more of an analytical mind about dealing with that and the way that he deals with it—but is he suppressing some kind of survivor's guilt or anger that we’re not aware of or that we’ll see manifest later on?
So on that level, it’s a book that will surprise people. I think some of the events that happen in the first issue will definitely surprise people and that’s all I’ll say about that.