List of A-Next Members - Fictional Team Biography

Fictional Team Biography

The new team comes together after an attack by Asgardian trolls on Avengers Museum, formerly Avengers Mansion, commanded by Loki, prompts the museum's caretaker, former butler Edwin Jarvis to send out a distress signal.

The summons is responded to by several heroes including Thunderstrike (Kevin Masterson, son of the original Thunderstrike, who was visiting the mansion at the time of the attack); Stinger (Scott Lang's daughter Cassie Lang, now an entomologist, who was testing Ant-Man's old uniform); Mainframe (a mysterious armored individual); J2 (Zane Yama, high school student and teenage son of the Juggernaut) and the adult Speedball, Jubilee and Jolt.

The heroes are transported to Asgard by Loki, who wants to retrieve the Thunderstrike mace's powers for himself, but Kevin disrupts the spell, absorbing the mace into himself and transforming into a new Thunderstrike in the process. Loki and the trolls are then defeated by the heroes, with assistance from Thor, now the King of Asgard. Thunderstrike, Stinger, J2 and Mainframe decide to stay together as the new Avengers. The adult heroes decline to stay with the reformed team.

A downed Kree spaceship leads to the transformation of Bill Foster's son John into Earth Sentry, an analog of Captain Marvel. Doc Magus, the new Sorcerer Supreme, then recruits the Avengers into fighting the reformed Defenders.

Four new members are then inducted into the Avengers by Mainframe and Jarvis. The new members: American Dream, (a female analogue of Captain America); Freebooter (who modeled himself on Hawkeye and the Swordsman); Crimson Curse (an analogue to the Scarlet Witch) and Bluestreak (an analogue to Quicksilver); known collectively as the Dream Team, save N'kano, the Wakandan ambassador, from the racist Soldiers of the Serpent (an amalgam of the Sons of the Serpent and elements from the Egyptian god Set), with the assistance of the Coal Tiger, the son of the Black Panther.

Afterwards, the team investigates the apparent return of Doctor Doom, who is revealed to be Kristoff Vernard in disguise. The team is then attacked by Argo, who claims to be Hercules' son, followed by an encounter with the villainous Ion Man, prompting Mainframe to reveal he is a sentient computer program based on Tony Stark's personality.

The new Avengers then discover the Scarlet Witch in suspended animation in the mansion's subterranean levels, powering a gate to an alternate Earth. After defeating the Soldiers of the Serpent again, with the help of Blacklight (the daughter of Monica Rambeau), the Avengers travel to the alternate dimension, which had been conquered by Red Skull after World War II, and was now ruled by the Skull's adopted son, Dr. Doom, who had murdered the Skull. During the battle, they discover Captain America is alive and leading the resistance, and the Avengers help them defeat the Nazi forces, including the Thunder Guard, an alternate version of the Avengers.

Thunderstrike elects to stay on the alternate Earth, and the remaining Avengers return to Earth, receiving a reprimand from Tony Stark and Clint Barton. Immediately afterwards, they're attacked by a team of villains known as the Revengers, led by Red Queen and Big Man, the children of Hank and Janet Pym, out for revenge. The Avengers, alongside their reserve members Earth Sentry, Coal Tiger, Argo and Blacklight, defeat the Revengers.

The team was occasionally seen aiding Spider-Girl, and also appeared during Last Hero Standing and Last Planet Standing. The team also made a cameo within Fantastic Five (vol. 2) #4, in which they were fighting one of the cosmic-powered Doombots.