Here are some marvel first appearance comics that involves teams outside of the USA. This is a speculation that MCU is starting to move beyond one country. If that is indeed the case, some of these international teams might be due for some comic speculation love.

Evidence that MCU is moving international

• Black Panther: This movie represents the first big foray into non USA soils. The reaction to the film was very positive as other cultures are explored and represented. I think that sends a very strong signal to Marvel to continue such explorations.

• Black Widow: We will be seeing the Russian side of MCU in this movie. Red Guardian is already scheduled to appear and may be the first of many Russian superheroes.

• Shang Chi: This movie is expected to showcase many characters from the Asian continent, which again is pushing the MCU to different corners of the Earth.

China’s International Team

There has been a wide iteration of the superhero team from China. The following is a listing of the different teams and their first appearances.

• China Force – Alpha Flight #64: The design of the characters are based off the Chinese horoscope and are pretty lousy.

• People Defense Force -Mighty Avengers Vol 1, #27: The most well known member of this team the Radioactive Man Chen Lu, who first appeared in Journey Into Mystery #93 (Silver age!). He was involved in the one iteration of the Thunderbolts team and also have feelings for Melissa Gold aka Songbird.

• The Dynasty – Invincible Iron Man #513: All 5 members of the Dynasty made their first appearances here. Compared to previous efforts, the character designs were much better and distinct.

• The Ascendents – Avengers World #7: This is the current iteration and contain mostly members from the Dynasty after the latter was disbanded. It also introduces a popular Chinese character, Sun WuKong, who first appeared in Iron Man 2.0 #5.

Currently, it is not clear whether the Ascendents and the People Defense Force are both active or one has replaced the other. The current handler for the Ascendents is called SPEAR, which is a Chinese version of SHIELD.

In one of the issues, the China team actually went against the Mandarin, who we all know is coming in Shang Chi. It will be interesting to see if other Chinese superheroes will be introduced or hinted at during this movie.

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UK’s MI: 13

MI:13 is UK’s government agency that deals with the supernatural. Two members of the team (Blade and Black Knight) are already casted for the MCU. It doesn’t take much for this team to be introduced especially when one of its story arks deals with vampires in the UK.

Fortunately, the MI:13 has been pretty consistently unlike most of the other International teams. Their first appearance is in Excalibur #101, a very affordable book.

However, the actual members first appearances are scattered in other issues. Pete Wisdom for example first appeared in Excalibur #86 while Captain Britain appeared in Captain Britain #1.

If you want to hunt for the members’ first appearances, below are some of the trending characters

Europe’s International Teams

Europe is a bit of a mess to sort through. There are a couple of teams that had formed but none has any extensive runs or storylines.

Here is a list of some of the recent European teams:

• Euroforce – Europa #3: Euroforce is the combination of 2 previous Europe team comprise Taskforce and Eurolab. Both of which appeared in Europa #0. Most of the current members are new and made their first appearances in Avengers World #8. Interestingly, their leader is Black Knight, who has been rumored to have his own movie eventually.

(Sidenote: Europa is an Italian title so it might not be available in Ebay US. However, in Ebay Italy, it can be found easily)

• Champions of Europe – US Avengers #7: This team was formed during during the Captain America Hydra storyline to prevent Hydra from entering Europe. Since then, the team has not been active.

• Les Heroes de Paris – Fantastic Four #541. This is a really obscure team whose main protection area is Paris. They have made only 1 appearance so far.

• S.H.E. – Sentry #4: The Superheroes of Europe is another obscure European team. Not much is revealed about them as they have only appeared 4 times in comics.

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Russia International Team

Among the list here, this team has gotten the most attention from the comic speculation community due to the Black Widow movie. Currently, there is no news of any sort saying this team will appear but prices of the books have started to move.

Russia’ superhero team has a long history of name changes, although it is basically the same team.

• Soviet Super Soldiers – Hulk #258: The first iteration of the Russian team appeared here although there is a cameo in Hulk #250. Only Ursa Major made his first appearance here. The rest of the members are in Iron Man #109 (Vanguard and Crimson Dynamo) and Champions #7 (Darkstar)

• Supreme Soviets – Captain America #352: An second team was formed to hunt the Soviet Super Soldiers after believing they had betrayed the country. Most of the members made their first appearances in this issue as well.

• Winter Guard – Iron Man Vol 3, #9: The name, Winter Guard, was first used here. However, all the members are from either Soviet Super Soldiers and Supreme Soviets. This name is currently the one being used and most likely to stick

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Other International Teams

These 4 countries/continent have the most history in the comics, even though it is still not much. Below are international teams from other countries.

• Triumph Division – Invincible Iron Man Vol 2 #2 : This is a team from the Philippines. They made recent appearances due to the Agents of Atlas series whereby one of their new members, Wave, became part of the Agents.

• Desert Sword – New Mutants Annual #7: A very obscure team that made only 5 comic appearances. However, I find their designs to be pretty outstanding. It is a pity this IP was not further developed.

Conclusion

Expanding beyond the USA gives MCU much more room to create unique visual experiences. The introduction of Wakanda is one such example. I believe that more such locations will be used in the coming years. Hopefully, these will also bring out more non USA characters to the big screen.