Last week, one of the most talked about comics of 2013 came to an end as Dennis Hopeless and Kev Walker’s teen hero death match series, ‘Avengers Arena’, arrived at it’s final issue. With their time on Murder World over, the survivors certainly have a lot on their minds, including the terrible things that Arcade brought out in themselves. While issue #18 left us guessing about what comes next, we’ll be getting a more concrete answer as we revisit some of these characters in ‘Avengers Undercover’, a new series from Hopeless and Walker that will continue the story.

Previously, at this year’s New York Comic Con, we learned that ‘Avengers Undercover would be a book that finds this rag-tag group of young heroes joining the Masters of Evil in an attempt to bring them down from the inside. However, to some of these confused and traumatized individuals, the dark side looks much more appealing to them. Now, in an interview with Comic Book Resources, Hopeless opens up about his new series and where his protagonists go from here.

After discussing the story from the final pages of ‘Avengers Arena’ #18 about how this wasn’t initially the story that he wanted to tell (but was glad that he did), he went into the villains of the book like Apex and Arcade, who ended up winning in the end, despite some heroes staying alive:

“In my mind, Arcade had to win. The whole point of the series was putting these characters against an unwinnable scenario and showing how it changed them. This was never a story about perfect heroes who win out despite the odds. It’s a story about a worst-case scenario and what it takes to survive. At the same time, we didn’t want Arcade to succeed in killing all of these characters. There are a lot of stories left to tell with them, especially now that the world knows what they’ve just been through.”

Hopeless goes on to set the scene of ‘Avengers Undercover’. The writer starts by saying that Arcade is “basking in the afterglow of his greatest victory, while the survivors are dealing with the consequences of defeat”. From there, he confirms that Darkhawk won’t be among those involved in the new book since he technically wasn’t supposed to be on Murder World anyway, but aside from those that appear on the cover of issue one, Cammi is most definitely involved and the two members of The Runaways, Chase and Nico, might drop by as well. Then, he describes what happens to the teens in between the two books:

“A few months have passed. The kids have become Internet celebrities and whether they like it or not, everyone has an opinion about how Murder World played out. That celebrity is one of the things that sends the survivors on their new path. They no longer fit into their old lives and they’re desperate to change the world’s perception of them. They want to be known as something other than victims.”

Finally, if you’re wondering what is it that puts the events of the series into action, Hopeless teases us with why his heroes end up undercover in Bagalia in the first place:

“It all starts with Cullen. He’s fallen into the deep end since leaving Murder World and the other survivors get pulled into his crazy. Where the Masters of Evil fit into all of this — well, you’ll see. “

What do you think about ‘Avengers Undercover’? How do you think these teen heroes have survived after their experiences in ‘Avengers Arena’? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Also, if you’re too overcome with excitement to wait until the first issue comes out, here’s some exclusive ‘Avengers Undercover’ artwork from Kev Walker: