‘Avengers Academy’ Writer Anthony Oliveira Ushers in the Next Generation of Heroes

In Marvel Unlimited's AVENGERS ACADEMY: MARVEL’S VOICES INFINITY COMIC (2024), Captain Marvel hopes to forge a new generation of heroes out of Aaron Fischer’s Captain America, Kid Juggernaut, Escapade, Bloodline, Red Goblin, Moon Girl, and Devil Dinosaur. Under the tutelage of heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine, these up-and-comers have fended off an attack by Swarm, disbanded a new incarnation of the Sinister Six, and grappled with Emplate—all while developing friendships with (and crushes on) one another. Now, they’re in for a new supernatural journey as young Billy and Tommy Maximoff put the school in Mephisto’s crosshairs!

Speaking to Marvel.com, AVENGERS ACADEMY: MARVEL’S VOICES INFINITY COMIC (2024) writer Anthony Oliveira unpacked Avengers Academy’s journey so far. He reflected on what it means to be a hero, particularly as a young person finding your way in the world, as well as the power of rediscovering characters like Arnie Roth. He also praised series artists Carola Borelli and Bailie Rosenlund, shared the inspiration behind characters like Kid Juggernaut and Rhinoceress, teased Tommy and Billy’s impact on Bloodline and Escapade, and so much more.

MARVEL.COM: We’re 24 issues deep into AVENGERS ACADEMY. If readers wanted to hop onto the series now, what would they need to know?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: There’s a school for heroes! Your favs are the teachers, their legacies are the students, the Savage Land is in the backyard, a vampire lives next door, and God might be in the basement!

Welcome to the AVENGERS ACADEMY—rising marvels of the next generation from every corner of the Marvel Universe, choosing for themselves what kind of hero they will be and what kind of world they will save!

Enrollment is beginning for the winter term!

MARVEL.COM: When you approached this series, what were some of the key elements from AVENGERS ACADEMY history that you knew would be most important to your story?
    
ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: It’s funny because, at first, we (myself and brilliant editors Sarah Brunstad and Lindsey Cohick) were developing the book as MARVEL ACADEMY, so it kind of incubated on its own like that. The idea was that the different corners of the Marvel Universe each chose a next-gen representative (the X-world, the supernatural world, the spider-folks, etc.). 

But even then, one of my chief inspirations was actually the Avengers Academy video game (RIP!). I loved the idea of our heroes just hanging out, becoming friends, and (because of the unique potential long-form of the Unlimited app), actually taking classes rather than needing to prioritize action set-pieces. Even the way the school is set up—new spaces absorbed and incorporated via the M’Kraan crystal into its landscape—is partly inspired by that video game sims experience of being like, “I guess there’s a spooky lighthouse now?” or “we have a Savage Land volcano sometimes” or “there’s a new greenhouse on the lawn and a weirdo lives there” (spoilers!).

When we brought the concept more in line with the AVENGERS ACADEMY, I had the immense privilege of feeling like I could open the story to thinking about the legacy of the first Academy that Christos Gage and his artists created. When I did that, I knew pretty quickly that Hazmat as Captain Marvel’s prickly protégé would be invaluable, and I wanted to bring Mettle back—his death had been so impactful, but it had had its time, and I am interested in trauma as an artist. [laughs] As Lunella says, fixing broken things.

I come from academia, and I love a deep archive, so I’m so grateful to have these rich weird legacies to play with and collaborate with. Sometimes, the stakes don’t have to be higher than “Did you know about this? Isn’t it weird?” or “Check out this cool character!” and I love that very much.

MARVEL.COM: Action! Romance! Drama! What’s your favorite part of working with teen/young adult heroes?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: That action, romance, and drama are all the same! A kiss can be as dramatic as a world-shaking fight that busts the concrete, and sometimes a character crying softly in the dark is as meaningful as beating back the demons and saving the world. The stakes have to be the same. To the reader, it doesn’t matter how good the art is if the reason characters are fighting feels false or empty. There have to be stakes. There has to be character. 

I love that these young characters are deciding what it means to them to be a hero, and I promised myself I would take that seriously—that their version of heroism was theirs to decide. They’re not learning to be cops or soldiers. There’s a moment early on when Aaron Fischer’s Captain America helps with a drug heist to aid the needy and Carol is tearing into him and he says, “This is what being a hero is to me.” And she takes a beat and realizes she has to respect that. That was when I knew this project was going to be something special.

When what is right and what is legal pry further and further apart, super heroes are born, and that’s when we need them most.

MARVEL.COM: What is one of your favorite dynamics in the series, and why?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: I really, truly love them all, but the one that has completely taken me by surprise is the instant and fast friendship between Moon Girl and Red Goblin. They have an adventure coming up that I’m really excited about, but I love just letting them chat with each other. 

There’s nothing about them together that I could have anticipated, but I think they both just… decided they loved each other instantly, them against the world no matter what—and that was wonderful.

MARVEL.COM: Which character became a surprise favorite for you as the story unfolded?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: I love them all, but occasionally something strange happens where I suddenly feel like I have to tell a story that I didn’t expect, to the point where I have to reconfigure the script order or production because this character demands it. One of these was Lizard Boy seeking the sun—a story that insisted I tell it even though I am still not quite sure why he moves me. Similarly, as soon as Mettle returned to us, I knew he demanded a one-shot to begin to process his trauma. 

It’s always (understandably) difficult and important to justify creating a new character, and it can be a huge gamble, but Kid Juggernaut felt so necessary and alive to me in conception. I’m so glad we took that risk and people seem to love him as much as I do. Similarly, creating Mysteriant—an HIV+ romantic character who could be dynamic, interesting, and have his own mind—was so important to me.

Escapade is another character I asked for because I feel like she has grown into such a unexpected protagonist. She’s so quintessentially Claremontian in her qualities (I think Charlie Jane Anders really got the X-DNA of her right) and such an inheritor to the Kate Pryde tradition that I feel like she just pops. I love when I can bring her to centre stage, and I love bouncing her quirky energy off Bloodline’s anxious, gothic world and sensibilities (which are closer to my own)—a bright yellow jumpsuit in a fog-and-candles vampire world. 

The true surprise personally was Rhinoceress, who began life as a gag. I told my partner while we were on a road trip I wanted a big rhino lady to swell out our Sinister Six and he casually whispered “…Rhinoceress…” and the rest is history. Now, I would fully die for Cindy Shears, the rambunctious Rhinoceress. 

MARVEL.COM: Tell me about working with Carola Borelli and Bailie Rosenlund. What have they brought to the series?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: Oh gosh, we’ve been so blessed in our artistic talent, with both regulars like Borelli and Rosenlund (and now Pablo Collar!) as well as guests like Lorenzo Susi, Alba Glez, and Karen Darboe. Their art is so kinetic, charming, and fresh—comics on the shelves just don’t look like this. They’re the future of the industry. 

Their design work, too, has been revolutionary. Our output of new characters, new looks, new environments and sets, has been breakneck. Now, 20+ issues in, the school has a look, a uniform, and a cast that are so distinct and unique because of their hard work.

One thing I’m increasingly aware of too is that, because we’ve been gifted this long form production, we are increasingly pushing the boundaries of the form of the infinite scroll comic, working out a visual language that isn’t bound by the strictures of the page, that thinks about the gutters and margins as spaces of play and meaning-making. Our artists are really flexing their muscles; they’re turning in images that are making me gasp. At some point during AVENGERS ACADEMY, the public conversation went from, “I hope they put this in print someday!” to “Gosh, how could they ever print this?!?” (which is a fun problem to have!). 

I’m fascinated by what happens when (some of) the form imposed by older systems unbuckle a little. What happens when you don’t have to worry about the page turn, or don’t need every issue to be a punch-’em-up? Can you follow a weird little lizard boy around? Or plunge through a screaming gothic miasma? Or just do a makeover, full of real costume sketches, for an issue? Our artists like Bailie and Carola are only going further in the new term. 

In terms of storytelling, too, there used to be a maxim that every comic is someone’s first, but what happens when the only fact you know about the reader is that, because they’re on the app, the last issue is only a click away? That they can be trusted as a collaborator of knowing, a perhaps curious mutual appreciator of the vast archive of texts at their disposal? How can we go deeper—“higher, further, faster,” as one of my heroes is fond of saying?

MARVEL.COM: In “A Hero,” you dive deep into Captain America’s history to explore his friendship with Arnie Roth, a lesser-known character from his past. What makes his character so special for readers?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: Arnie Roth feels like an impossible miracle: a queer character created at the absolute height of the AIDS crisis, beating at the heart of Marvel Comics itself in the origin of Steve Rogers. To make a gay man Captain America’s closest and dearest friend, a scrappy brawler who knew him before the serum, and who loved him so fiercely before the hero even arose—that, to me, is such an audacious, brave thing for J.M. DeMatteis and his creative team to have done. I think the courage of that still echoes with us. 

In DeMatteis’ story, Steve Rogers kisses a gay man goodbye on his deathbed in an era when gay men were shunned and abandoned, left in hospital beds by their loved ones to die alone, their bodies hastily dumped in garbage bags out of fear of the disease they carried. The gesture is astonishing, both from Steve and, frankly, from the Marvel of that era. 

I feel called every day to be at least as brave as that, and to ask us all to be as brave as that. Arnie Roth taught Steve Rogers to be brave, and he teaches us as queer creators and readers to be brave too. 

MARVEL.COM: We have a story featuring young Billy and Tommy Maximoff that just kicked off in AVENGERS ACADEMY #24. How will the twins’ arrival impact Avengers Academy?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: There’s no secret that I love these two boys very much. Still, I promised myself I’d only bring in guest stars who had something truly important to teach our kids, and this was no different. I realized Tommy and Billy each had something vital to teach Escapade and Bloodline respectively—and important seeds to sow for their futures. 

And their arrival will directly contribute to a major upset in our school’s student body!

MARVEL.COM: What are you most excited for readers to see?

ANTHONY OLIVEIRA: When Mephisto strikes, the Avengers Academy will never be the same… freshman fall is over, and the winter term is going to be diabolical!

See the Maximoff twins' arrival at Avengers Academy in AVENGERS ACADEMY: MARVEL'S VOICES INFINITY COMIMC (2024) #24, now available on Marvel Unlimited!

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