Marvel skips Captain America, Thor, Avengers, more in May

Cover of Excalibur #20
(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Marvel has a lot planned for May 2021 from the looks of it, but there are also several conspicuous absences from the publisher's just released May 2021 solicitations.

Several key ongoing, monthly titles including Captain America, Thor, Excalibur, Captain Marvel, Iron Man, Savage Avengers, and Avengers have no issues planned for the month of May.

While the absence of a May Avengers issue might be presumed given the 'Heroes Reborn' event (which spins out of the Avengers ongoing series), the simultaneous absence of the other titles raises questions - especially when other titles overlapping with 'Heroes Reborn' such as Amazing Spider-Man are continuing in May unabated.

That said, Iron Man writer Christopher Cantwell states on Twitter that the reason for the Avengers titles' absences, including Iron Man, are indeed due to the advent of Heroes Reborn, which may mean the titles could also be absent in June, as Heroes Reborn 2021 continues.

And of course, that doesn't account for Excalibur's absence from the schedule, as it is not an Avengers title.

(Image credit: Marvel Comics)

Newsarama reached out to Marvel about the missing titles and will update our readers when a response comes in.

This could all come down to individual 'skip months' for each title that just so happens to be occurring simultaneously, with plans for the titles to resume in June - however, Marvel has not announced that is the case.

Eternals #3 is scheduled for March 10, with #4 on April 21.

Thor #13 goes on sale March 17, with #14 following on April 7. A collection of Thor #7-14 is scheduled for a June 16 release.

Avengers #43 is scheduled for March 3, with #44 on April 21. A collection of Avengers #39-45 is due out June 16.

Excalibur #19 goes on sale March 24, with the next issue scheduled for April 7. Excalibur #11 and 12 are included in May 26's Dawn of X vol. 16 collection.

Captain America #28 goes on sale March 24, with #29 scheduled for April 14.

Captain Marvel #27 is due out March 17, with #28 due out April 21.

Iron Man #7 is due out March 17, with #8 scheduled to follow on April 14.

Savage Avengers #19 is due out March 24, followed by #20 on April 28.

2020 marked big disruptions in the comic book industry, with these Marvel titles scheduled for 2020 still missing.

Chris Arrant

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)