Marvel Comics has chosen to debut a new superhero team, “The Union” - and the timing couldn’t be worse. The United Kingdom has always been a major target audience for comic books. In fact, in the past, Marvel used to run a dedicated “Marvel UK” imprint, which was a smart way of avoiding import costs.

The books were originally just reprints, but gradually embraced original characters; still, Marvel UK writers created a remarkable number of original characters, including the likes of Captain Britain, Psylocke, and SHIELD agent Lance Hunter (who was incorporated into Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD). Even when Marvel UK was wound down, Marvel continued to publish books set in Britain, most notably the X-Men spinoff Excalibur. The current Excalibur series, part of the ongoing X-Men relaunch, is a spiritual successor to this; amusingly, it looks as though the X-Men are about to go to war with the UK.

In their latest push, Marvel has announced a new British superhero team that will be launched in the aftermath of the “Empyre” event. Written by Paul Grist (Judge Dredd, Jack Staff), and with art by Andrea Di Vito (Annihilation), the Union will be an unwilling group who band together against Hulkling’s Kree/Skrull invasion. It will feature the established British hero Union Jack, who’ll be joined by a number of original characters.

  • The Choir: “The hills of Wales echoes with song. Her voice destroys them.” Kelpie: “In Scotland, it’s not the monsters you have to worry about. It’s the Loch.” Snakes: “According to legend, St. Patrick threw all the snakes out of Ireland. He missed some.” Britannia: “They Wanted her to give them heroes. She gave them something else.”

The political timing of all this couldn’t be worse. Right now, the UK is essentially going through something of a crisis of self-identity. In 2016, a referendum result initiated Brexit - Britain’s departure from the European Union, which even Doctor Doom has joked about - on the basis of a 52/48 percent majority. Since then, the country has been increasingly divided on both political and cultural terms. Brexit has finally become a reality after a General Election gave Prime Minister Boris Johnson a landslide majority, but that was more a function of the structure of the UK’s electoral system.

In truth, Brexit has placed the actual Union of nations that is the United Kingdom under threat. A nationalist movement in Scotland is growing in power, and vocally demanding a fresh referendum on whether Scotland should leave the UK; their cause has been bolstered by the fact Scotland voted against leaving the EU but is essentially being dragged out because of England. Meanwhile, aspects of the EU Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by Boris Johnson place intense strain on the trading bonds between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and the odds are good Northern Ireland will unify with the Republic of Ireland and leave the UK as well. Marvel is essentially creating a superhero team dedicated to the Union right at the moment it is breaking down.

Now, it’s distinctly possible Marvel isn’t going to play this straight. There’s been some speculation the Union is loosely inspired by the Thunderbolts, a group of superheroes who turned out to be villains. But whatever approach Marvel takes, they’re playing with nationalist symbols at a time when the UK is basically split down the middle. This could get messy.

More: X-Men Are Being Worshiped as GODS (in The Weirdest Ways)