Marvel revives the Defenders for a "cosmos-colliding journey" from Al Ewing & Javier Rodríguez

(Image credit: Javier Rodríguez (Marvel Comics))

The big tease at the end of 2019's Marvel Comics #1000 finally has an answer - the return of Marvel Comics' Defenders.

Writer Al Ewing and artist Javier Rodríguez are reviving the Defenders team for a five-issue series debuting this August. From the looks of the cover, this series' line-up appears to be Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, Red She-Hulk, the Masked Raider, and Cloud.

"Defenders is something I've been turning over in my head since Marvel Comics #1000. Now it's finally here - and Javier Rodriguez is joining me, with all the power at his command and all the artistic freedom I can give him!" Ewing tells Newsarama. "When you ride with the Defenders - you're on the trip of a lifetime!"

Álvaro López is inking a portion of Defenders #1, but otherwise all five issues of Defenders will be penciled, inked, and colored all by Javier Rodríguez. Wil Moss and Sarah Brunstad are editing Defenders, with veteran Marvel letterer Joe Caramagna expected to round out the team.

"When existence itself faces extraordinary threats, it needs an extraordinary defense! That's when you call...the Defenders!" reads Marvel's description of Defenders #1. "Doctor Strange and the Masked Raider take a non-team of Marvel's weirdest, wildest heroes on a mission that will uncover the hidden architecture of reality itself!

"This cosmos was not the first to exist...but if the Defenders can't track Marvel's oldest villain through the deepest trenches of time — it might be the last!"

Ewing wrote some of the 'Defenders: The Best Defense' mini-event back in 2018, and Rodríguez previously drew Strange in the underrated Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme. The two of them worked together on the Marvel cosmic series Royals.

Defenders #1 (of 5) goes on sale on August 11. Look for Marvel's full August 2021 schedule later this week on Newsarama.

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Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)