Avengers #1 by Chip Zdarsky, drawn by Marco Checchetto, comes out on November 4, 2026. Its roster has been public since August 20, 2026: Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain Marvel, Daredevil, Luke Cage and Miracleman, the latter embodied by David Colton, a character introduced in Zdarsky's Captain America, launched on July 2, 2025. To arrive prepared, two reads are enough: that 2025 Captain America, which sets up Colton, and the miniseries Avengers: Armageddon (five issues), where Colton's shift into Miracleman happens in #4 of September 16, 2026 and whose last issue comes out on October 21, 2026. Optional extras: Zdarsky and Checchetto's Daredevil, which shows the creative team at work, and the 2004 New Avengers, whose lineup is an obvious precedent.
A new Avengers series rarely starts cold. The November 2026 one is no exception: its roster was built upstream, in two series that not everyone has read, and one of its six members is a character most Marvel readers know poorly. Arriving at issue 1 with no context risks missing what the creative team has been setting up for over a year.
This guide does not speculate: the speculation phase on the roster has been closed since August, and the article on the race for the sixth member covered it. It answers a more useful question a month before release: what should you read, in what order, and what can you leave aside?
The roster, member by member
The team was made public on August 20, 2026. It has six members, and there is no hidden member left to reveal. Here is what each brings, and where each comes from for a reader meeting them again without having followed them recently.
Spider-Man. The best known of the six, and one of the most irregular members in Avengers history. His presence immediately recalls another lineup, the 2004 New Avengers, which we will come back to. His main series has just passed issue 1000.
Wolverine. Another member long kept away from the Avengers, then a regular from 2004. His presence signals a rougher team than the classic lineup around Thor, Iron Man and Captain America.
Captain Marvel. Carol Danvers is the team's only classic "power" figure, the one who can stand up to a cosmic threat. Her role is often that of pivot or field leader.
Daredevil. The most telling choice regarding the creative team. Zdarsky and Checchetto worked together at length on Daredevil from 2019: finding Matt Murdock in their Avengers team is therefore very much a continuity of creators. Our Daredevil reading guide places that run in the character's history.
Luke Cage. Street-level hero, longtime member of the New Avengers, and often the social conscience of the teams he joins. With Daredevil, he anchors the team in New York, at ground level.
Miracleman, embodied by David Colton. The member who needs the most context, and the main reason for this guide.
The Miracleman case: why you need to read Captain America
Miracleman is a character with a complicated publishing history, born in Britain in the 1950s under another name, reread by Alan Moore in the 1980s, then by Neil Gaiman, before Marvel acquired the rights. Our article on Alan Moore covers his foundational reinterpretation. But the Miracleman of November's Avengers is not Michael Moran, the historic hero: it is David Colton.
Colton is a character introduced by Zdarsky in his Captain America series, launched on July 2, 2025. He appears there as a Captain America, around whom the series gradually builds its plot. Colton's transformation into Miracleman takes place in Avengers: Armageddon #4, out on September 16, 2026. In other words, this team member has more than a year of history behind him, entirely written by the writer taking over the Avengers. Without these reads, his arrival in the team will seem arbitrary; with them, it becomes the culmination of a project.
That is why Zdarsky's Captain America series is the priority read. You do not need to have read all of Steve Rogers' history to approach it: our Captain America reading guide gives the essential landmarks if you want to go back further.
What to read before November 4, in order
Captain America by Chip Zdarsky (since July 2025)
The series that introduces David Colton and prepares the ground. Read at minimum the issues where Colton appears, and ideally the run from its first issue of July 2, 2025. It is the indispensable read: without it, the team's sixth member remains a riddle.
Avengers: Armageddon #1 to #5 (2026)
The miniseries that serves as a bridge to the new series. It has five issues; #4, out on September 16, 2026, contains Colton's shift into Miracleman, and #5, the last issue, comes out on October 21, 2026. Read it in full, preferably right before issue 1, to have the ending fresh in memory.
Daredevil by Zdarsky and Checchetto (optional)
Not for the plot, but for the creative team. This long run, begun in 2019, shows how Zdarsky writes Matt Murdock and how Checchetto draws action and New York. It is the best preview of what their Avengers could be.
2004 New Avengers (optional)
The most obvious precedent. The lineup launched by Brian Michael Bendis already brought together Spider-Man, Wolverine and Luke Cage around Captain America and Iron Man, with Spider-Woman and Sentry. The parallel with the 2026 roster is striking, and reading the first issues helps measure what Zdarsky keeps and what he changes.
What you can leave aside
The temptation before a relaunch is to catch up on everything. It is neither necessary nor very useful. The Avengers series of recent years, with their own rosters and their own threats, are not essential to approach Zdarsky's series, which restarts on new foundations. The solo series of each member are no more so: a reader who knows Spider-Man, Wolverine or Captain Marvel in broad strokes does not need their latest arcs.
Even the historic Miracleman, for all its richness, is not a prerequisite. The stories by Alan Moore and Neil Gaiman are gripping, but they tell of Michael Moran, not David Colton. Keep them for later, if the series makes you want to know the history of the name.
The calendar to remember
Captain America #1 (Zdarsky)
The first issue of Zdarsky's Captain America run. This is where the story begins that will lead to the Avengers' sixth member, more than a year before the team launches.
Avengers: Armageddon #4
The issue where the character takes on the identity that will be his in the Avengers. It is the pivotal moment of the preparation, and the issue collectors of the new Miracleman will look at first.
Avengers: Armageddon #5
Last issue of the miniseries, two weeks before the new series. It makes the transition to November's issue 1.
Avengers #1 (Zdarsky, Checchetto)
The first issue of the new team. The six members are known; what remains to be discovered is the threat they face and how Zdarsky makes them work together.
The collector's view
No price is put forward here: the series has not come out, and any estimate would be an invention. What can be said comes down to the structure of things. An Avengers issue 1 is always printed at large scale, with many variants. Its long-term value depends less on its issue 1 status than on what it introduces and how long the series lasts. The most interesting issue in this whole sequence, for an attentive collector, is probably the one where a character changes identity: Avengers: Armageddon #4, rather than November's #1.
For reading, the best strategy remains the simplest: reserve issue 1 and the last issue of Armageddon at your shop, and catch up on Captain America in collected form if the single issues are missing. For an overview of the team's history, our Avengers reading guide and our selection of Avengers key issues give the historical landmarks, and the Avengers hub gathers the other pages devoted to the team.
One last calendar note: New York Comic Con takes place October 8 to 11, 2026. Details on the series are possible there, but nothing has been said yet as of this guide's date. If new information is published, it will complement this guide without changing its principle: read Captain America, then Armageddon, then issue 1.