Here's the premise: Avengers: Disassembled has just ended. You're in charge of putting together a new team to star in the rebooted "New Avengers". The requirements are: no less than 5 and no more than 8 members, the characters must be alive as of Avengers: Finale, at least one former Avenger must be included, and at least one member must be new. Who would you choose as your Avengers line-up, and why?

Captain America
Falcon
Luke Cage
Daredevil
Black Bolt
Iron Fist
Madrox
Cable

I Would add a girl but 8 is the max

Captain America - it's not the Avengers without him
Beta Ray Bill - takes Thor's place on the team, and gets him exposure after his excellent mini series. Which really seemed to end on a note like he was going to be taking over Thor's place on the Avengers.
Iron Man - Iron Man, nuff said
Spiderman - he was a good choice, it was time he 'graduated' up to the big leagues
Blazing Skull - he and Spidey would be a riot together, plus I loved him in New Invaders
Colossus - I like the Russkie, and it gets a mutant who will be a team player on the team (instead of Wolverine)
Dr. Strange - I could see him having felt responsible for a decent part of House of M/Dissassembled. Bring him on as the mystic defense
Shadowcat - token female, and another mutant. She seems a less die hard Xman, and I do think a few of them should try and move on from that.

In many ways, the Xmen seem like a crutch. All about human/mutant relations, but none of them ever seem to get beyond it, and side with 'flat scans' on 'flat scan' teams. They always cry about not getting along well enough, but don't include 'flat scans' on their team, and won't leave the Xmen to join a 'flat scan' team. This gets a few out and about, and actively trying to do something about that.

Beta Ray is everything Thor was, with a slightly different personality. He looks a little odd, but is a great character. He could recapture a little of that 'aloofness' Thor had, and overtime build up a full trust of his comrades.

Blazing Skull and Spidey provide comic relief to the mag, plus Blazing Skull has a history with Cap. The others will look at these two with cocked eyebrows a bit (other then Cap that is), but will prove their worth as time rolls on.

Strange is there to make ammends for his short commings in Dissassembled/House of M.

Not sure if they all fit in with the rules but oh well

Captain America
Beast (although I'd hate to see him dropped from Astonishing X-Men)
Beta Ray Bill (keeping Thor for his own title)
Doc Samson
Wasp
Hawkeye (the Young Avengers one)
War Machine

Rick Jones (with Marlo) back at the mansion/headquarters

Captain America (Nuff Said)
War Machine (No one needs Stark bossing you around, just the power of the suit)
Machcine Man (Go read his short lived title where he merges with a scrapes of sentenel, takes over for vision)
Spider-Man (Needs to move up the list)
Iron Fist + Cage (street cred and follows the former)
Beta Rey Bill (Standard strong role)
Ms. Marvel (Female and soon to be big gun)

Captain America
Iron Man
Vision
Hawkeye
Thor
Wasp
Giant-Man

Great question!

My new avengers line up:

Captain America (It would not be the avengers without him - plus I really like the character).

Iron Man (Someone needs to fund the team)

Karnak (a tactician and "martial artist" for the team - I always though he was a interesting character with a fascinating power. Could be some kind of emissary from the Inhumans after House of M, also he could replace the Vision as the "Spock" of the group).

She-Hulk (I just love Shulkie, her current series is great and I believe she was approached and asked to join by Cap and SpiderWoman).

Shaman (also a great character and a magic-user with a interesting power that could be used to create unique and surprising story lines, a American Indian and a Canadian, thus creating a link to AF).

Psylocke (with her shield background she would be perfect, also the team gets a mutant and another female).

Songbird (I also enjoyed her in Forever, and it seems she has all the right qualities to become a Avenger, also it would be the ultimate redemption for her actions in the "under siege" storyline).

Thats my picks (i think... so many possibilities)

Rune

1. Black Panther- the planner, and the brains of the group. Though not necessarily looked to as the leader.
2. Quasar- I've always liked him. He's a good conscience for the group.
3. Ms. Marvel(Danvers)-the govt. liaison
4. Nova(Rider)- the greenie. Gives someone for Nightcrawler to joke around with.
5. Captain Marvel(Rambaux)-the team leader, though reluctantly at first.
6. Nightcrawler-the mutant and jester. Also someone for Monica to look to for leadership advise.
7. Power Princess-the powerhouse. She'd probably battle Monica for leadership.
8. Moondragon- the mentalist/wildcard.

I didn't want the big 3, because I felt they should've taken more of a break after disassembled, and one of them was presumed "dead". Kind of a mix between street-level heroes and cosmic ones which I feel the Avengers should be, but thats just me.

This team is my favorite so far. It's the only one where I can't picture how they would interact. Very interesting. Good job Dax!

1. Captain America (nuff said)

2. Nova (after Anniliation he may end up with the Quantum Bands too)

3. Ms. Marvel (The former Binary is heading down that path again it seems)

4. Pulsar (Monica just needs to be on the Avengers IMO)

5. Gilgamesh (He's an Eternal, he can't "die" and he fills the strong man role nicely)

6. Iron Fist (just love this guy and where Luke goes Danny should follow)

7. Luke Cage (see above)

8. Shaman (of Alpha Flight, covers the magic thing and I just like Shaman)

Have you read Nova: Annihilation?

Well, I'm going to begin by assuming a few things:

1) I am not Brian Michael Bendis, and therefore feel no need to use a bunch of his favorite characters,
2) There is still a need for a mix of continuity and shaking up,
3) The last few Avengers arcs have been just horrible,
4) New Thunderbolts has not yet started,
5) Much of the rest of Marvel events (House of M, Planet Hulk, Civil War) are slotted to occur much as they have, and
6) This team is going to need to be together for a couple years at least.

I pick Captain America and Iron Man to start with. These two and Thor are the trinity that holds the Avengers together, and with Thor unavailable these two are it. Beyond that, I'm going with next to no old-school Avengers. The last thing Avengers needs right now is more Hank and Jan Pym nonsense.

As far as assembling the team, I imagine it would go much like New Avengers actually went, with Cap choosing and recruiting most, if not all, of the new members.

Songbird and Genis-Vell are reservists along the lines of Justice and Firestar a decade ago. Melissa has already been asked to join the team (at the end of Avengers/Thunderbolts, when she turned them down), and an impassioned plea from Captain America causes her to reverse course and join up. Genis may not immediately be invited to join, but he ends up on the team within a year, thus validating Avengers Forever.

Tigra has been out of circulation for quite some time, and I for one would like to see her back. Her schizophrenic overcompensation made for great reading in the early years of West Coast Avengers.

The surprise member: Kitty Pryde, unable to tolerate Emma Frost, leaves the X-Men in a public and messy divorce. Asked to become an Avenger, she takes advantage of the opportunity to use their resources and muscle to prepare for the inevitable Emma betrayal.

Which leaves the team without a Thor-like heavy hitter. I thought about Sandman and the Juggernaut, b####!, but couldn't justify either of them. I loved the promise of the Sentry two years ago, but absolutely nothing has justified his inclusion yet, and I'm wishing at this point that his story had ended with Jenkins' original miniseries. I'd love to have the Vision, one of Marvel's most underrated and essential characters, but he's, you know, dead at this point. Without another big strong guy to complement Iron Man, we're looking at too much of a "finesse" Avengers team.

So I'm going dark-horse here and picking another ex-Thunderbolt: Atlas. Asked to join the team, Songbird makes the inclusion of Erik Josten a condition of her involvement. She knows how much he is influenced by his surroundings, and that he, of all people, cannot be left to be recruited once again by Baron Zemo.

(This leaves Abe Jenkins with the following lineup for New Thunderbolts: Mach-IV, Speed Demon, Radioactive Man, and Joystick. That's rough. To fill out the team and provide continuity with the past, I'm giving him back: Charcoal, who has taken years to reassemble himself after being crushed and scattered by Graviton, Jolt, who has returned from Counter-Earth, and USAgent, who is assigned as their government liaison, not unlike his tenure with the West Coast Avengers. Eventually, he also gainst a mysteriously re-powered Moonstone, as well.)

So Andrew Hamm's New Avengers are:
Captain America
Iron Man
Songbird
Genis-Vell
Atlas
Tigra
Kitty Pryde.