http://www.comicbookresources.com/a...w-avengers-prepares-for-battle-in-secret-wars
Hickman Ends the "Avengers" & "New Avengers," Prepares for Battle in "Secret Wars"
CBR News: In the "Time Runs Out" storyline you've been dealing with the older Steve Rogers and the unworthy Thor. Did you know you would be dealing with the changes those characters had undergone way back when you first laid out your outline for the Avengers books?
Jonathan Hickman: No, the stuff with Steve getting older came from Rick [Remender] later on. We figured out pretty quickly when he was pitching that stuff that all of it would hit during the "Eight Months later" gap. So it would reinforce what they were doing in the "Captain America" book if readers saw that eight months later Steve Rogers is still old. That's just part of working in the larger room and figuring all that stuff out.
In regards to Thor, he's still the Thor Odinson that we always loved. It isn't like he's not that character. This is just an awful thing that happened to him in the time gap. So when we see him later he's a broken guy.
That ending you saw in "New Avengers" #32 with all of those guys that faced off against the Beyonders was always going to happen. So the fact that we had something to grind against that made it maybe a little more poignant, which was great.
With regards to him having the evil Thor hammer and all that other stuff as soon as I started hearing the story that Jason wanted to do I thought, "That will not only fit there, but it will make that even better."
So sometimes things works out. You just have to be open to what everybody is doing, respect the work, and do your best.
How much fun did you have writing Thor and Hyperion's final stand against the Beyonders in "New Avengers" #32?
I like both of those guys a lot. I think it's clear I've liked Thor a lot since I was writing "The Ultimates." I get that character, and Hyperion is easy.
[Laughs] I have to say that generally I don't write stuff that I don't enjoy. If there are some characters that I'm not interested in writing I'll just move them out of the way. I don't know if that's fair and unfair, but I'd rather have fun than not.
Another character you appear to be having a lot of fun with is former New Mutant Sunspot. He's really come into his own as the leader of and the guy who launched this third faction of the Avengers. What do you enjoy most about the arc that you've given Sunspot?
I have a fondness for all of the New Mutants characters. Those guys were supposed to be the next generation and never got to be it. It's one of the real drags of eternal continuity and the soap opera nature of what we're doing; nothing ever really changes. There are just illusions of change.
but looking at some of the previews, it does look like we'll get some big questions answered.
