They're furry, anthropomorphic and a superhero's best friends. They're the Pet Avengers -- and as of Thor #18, they're assembled and back in action.

Penned by Donny Cates and illustrated by guest artists Pasqual Ferry and Bob Quinn, "Master of Whispers" in Thor #18 picks up after the "Revelations" story arc, which ended with Thor's fabled Mjolnir missing. After asking his brother Loki for assistance in finding the hammer, which he believes to be stolen, Thor turns to another unlikely source of aid -- Simon Walterson, also known as the mighty Throg. Throg assures the God of Thunder that he's more than willing to embark on a quest of espionage to recover Mjolnir, but first needs a team of loyal companions. As it turns out, this team isn't one composed of humanoids -- rather, it's a new iteration of the motley collection of animals known as the Pet Avengers.

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The Pet Avengers return!

Debuting in 2009's Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers, a four-issue series written by Chris Eliopoulos and illustrated by Ig Guara and Colleen Coover, the team known as the Pet Avengers was composed of the Frog of Thunder Throg, Kitty Pryde's alien dragon Lockheed, the Inhumans' giant teleporting bulldog Lockjaw, Speedball's bouncing cat Niels, Aunt May's pet dog Ms. Lion, the corvid partner of Falcon named Redwing and Zabu, Ka-Zar's saber-tooth tiger. In their debut series, this crew went after the Infinity Gems and punched way above their weight class, taking on Thanos and even imprisoning the Mad Titan in another dimension.

The Pet Avengers would appear again in Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers Unleashed, another four-issue series that saw the team searching for a missing Throg and running into mythical creatures -- including a yeti and a unicorn -- in the middle of Central Park. They appeared once more in their final limited series, Avengers vs. the Pet Avengers, which featured them tangoing with the likes of Thor, Captain America and Iron Man and meeting Fin Fang Foom.

Thor #18's iteration of the Pet Avengers does not include Niels, Ms. Lion, Redwing and Zabu. Throg has instead recruited Odin's raven familiars Hugin and Munin, as well as Bats, the spectral basset hound of Doctor Strange. There is currently no indication that other members of the original team will show up in future issues, and Throg specifically says that his new teammates were chosen due to their knowledge of the Ten Realms and the dark arts, respectively.

Thor #18 is now on sale from Marvel.

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Source: Marvel