NEW YORK COMIC CON: MARVEL NOW! - THE AVENGERS

With huge momentum from The Avengers movie, Marvel Comics unveiled its Marvel Now! plans for the line at a panel at New York Comic-Con on Saturday.

The penelists included Avengers/New Avengers writer Jonathan Hickman, Young Avengers/Iron Man writer Kieron Gillen, Avengers Arena writer Dennis Hopeless, Uncanny Avengers/Captain America writer Rick Remender and editor Tom Brevoort.

Following are highlights:

* Hickman said he hopes to top the movie by providing a scale Hollywood could never pay for in The Avengers and New Avengers.

* Hickman's Avengers will be like his stint on Fantastic Four and FF, Brevoort said, with Hickman already plotting 3-4 years in advance, lending to a possible twice-monthly schedule.

* New Avengers will focus on the Illumnati characters and will eventually cross "in a big way" with Avengers. "This is a companion book to Avengers," Hickman said. "This is probably the thing I'm most excited to write since I've been at Marvel."

* Avengers Arena, by Hopeless and Kev Walker, launches in Decmber. Hopeless said the story is about Marvel's teenage heroes waking up on an island and told by Arcade that only one gets to leave the island alive.

* Secret Avengers is by Nick Spencer and Luke Ross and will feature Hawkeye, Black Widow, Mockingbird, Hulk, Taskmaster and Winter Soldier in what amounts to a S.H.I.E.L.D./Avengers book. Brevoort said even the team members can't know what the missions are about after they are done.

* Gillen talked about Young Avengers, which will feature Wiccan, Kate Bishop Hawkeye, Kid Loki, Hulking, Noh-Varr and Miss America for at least the first five issues. He said the book's focus will be about trying to be a hero at 18 and that the cast will change in size as the series progresses.

* Brevoort said Avengers Assemble will feature short, character-based stories than Avengers or New Avengers. Kelly Sue DeConnick's second arc will be "The Widow's Ledger," and will feature Black Widow, Hawekey and Spider-Woman. Art is by Pete Woods.