The New Avengers #1-12

An in-depth synopsis at the first 12 issues of New Avengers.
by
Adrian Watts

Issue One | Issue Two | Issue Three | Issue Four | Issue Five | Issue Six
Issue Seven | Issue Eight | Issue Nine | Issue Ten | Issue Eleven | Issue Twelve

N.B. - I tried to be objective in these summaries, but I really couldn't. Sorry. If you see a snide remark, ignore it. :P

New Avengers #1 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #1 - Breakout! Part One
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: (Technically none, explained below)
Guest Stars: Mary-Jane Watson-Parker, Foggy Nelson, Electro, Sentry

What happened:
We are first shown a recap of the "Avengers Disassembled" event, and then we are presented with a page featuring Electro talking to a shadowy, bald, trenchcoat-wearing figure. They are discussing a secret operation, and apparently with the Fantastic Four out of the country and the X-Men, as always, 'preoccupied', it is time for Electro to strike. In a flash, he dons his costume and heads out.

Even as this transpires, Matt Murdock, Luke Cage and Foggy Nelson arrive by helicopter on the Raft (the 'Maximum Maximum Security Wing of Ryker's Island') where they are met by Jessica Drew (aka. Spider-Woman I and now, apparently, a SHIELD agent).

The assemblage is led through the Raft, where Cage discovers that the Purple Man is a prisoner. (In Bendis' Alias, the Purple Man used his powers to turn Cage's girlfriend, Jessica Jones, into a sex-slave.) Once the group enters a lower level by elevator, the power goes out. We soon see the blackout is affecting all of New York City... and is, apparently, being used to power a huge explosion at the side of the Raft!

New Avengers #1 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge In his apartment, Peter Parker is watching movies with his wife, Mary Jane, when he notices the explosion and heads off to investigate. He hitches a ride by webbing a helicopter, but the 'copter is struck by lightning and explodes, hurling Spidey into the water. He swims to shore and is rescued by... Captain America who, it seems, also caught a ride.

Electro enters the Raft and frees all the prisoners, and downstairs Murdock, Cage, Nelson and Drew quickly rush to find the man Reed Richards sent them to speak to... the one and only Sentry!

Technically, no team of Avengers shows up in this issue because a) they're not all there and b) no team has formed yet.

 

New Avengers #2 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #2 - Breakout! Part Two
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: (Technically none, explained below)
Guest Stars: Foggy Nelson, Sentry

What happened:
We begin by getting a recap of the Avengers Disassembled event and #1.We then see the ruined Raft, and Cap and Spidey see Electro flying off carrying someone. Spidey then heads inside to investigate... where the assembled villains pounce on him and his arm is broken by Mr. Hyde.

The Murdock crew find and speak to the Sentry (who is himself a prisoner after having apparently killed his wife), but Carnage rears up behind Foggy. Matt saves Foggy, Cage, Drew and Matt fight Carnage, and Mr. Hyde (who has much longer hair now than he did when he broke Spidey's arm) arrives and starts pounding on Daredevil.

Spidey is assaulted by Foolkiller, Crusader and Cutthroat until Captain America finally comes to his aid. Foggy speaks to the Sentry and convinces him to help. Mr. Hyde fights Daredevil some more while Cage and Drew continue to fight Carnage, then the Sentry shows up, grabs Carnage, flies into space and tears him in half. Hydro Man arrives and tries to drown the Murdock team, but they swim to the surface and rush to the aid of Cap and Spidey.

New Avengers #2 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge Cap is tossed in the air and caught by... Iron Man! They have a disagreement over the disbanding of the Avengers and then rejoin the fray. As Luke Cage punches Mr. Hyde, Purple Man takes control of him and instructs him to kill the other heroes and then himself.

Technically, no team of Avengers shows up in this issue because a) they're not all there and b) no team has formed yet.

 

New Avengers #3 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #3 - Breakout! Part Three
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I
Guest Stars: Jarvis, Sentry

What happened:
We begin by getting a recap of the Avengers Disassembled event and #s 1-2.We get two pages on the SHIELD helicarrier, with Cap and Iron Man discussing how 42 villains escaped. They then talk in greater detail about the incident. Apparently, Purple Man's powers are not working, so Cage is not under his influence. Cage literally beats Purple Man to a bloody pulp.

The group continues to fight the villains for several pages, until the Sentry shows up with the SHIELD helicarrier in tow. Apparently, Sentry and SHIELD cleaned things up, as all of a sudden Iron Man and Cap are sipping coffee and eating bagels on the helicarrier. Cap asks Iron Man to re-form the Avengers, and while Iron Man 'thinks about it' Cap goes off to assemble the team

Cap finds Peter Parker, who he knows is Spider-Man because SHIELD has a file revealing this info. Huh. He convinces Parker to give the Avengers a shot; he can leave if he doesn't like it.

Cap then tracks down Cage, and convinces him to join. It seems Cage has forgotten his time as a hero for hire, because 'Groups and teams and whatnot, never even occurred to me to bother with it.' But he gives it a go nonetheless.

New Avengers #3 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge Cap finds Daredevil, who refuses to join, but Cap asks him to think about it anyway. Cap then recruits Jessica Drew as a go-between between the New Avengers and SHIELD.

Iron Man unveils the new HQ - a skyscraper called Stark Tower, and Jarvis returns as housekeeper. Finally, we see Jessica Drew speaking to an off-panel figure, who wants her to continue spying on SHIELD for them and now to spy on the New Avengers.

Three issues in, we have a team... with half its members.

 

New Avengers #4 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #4 - Breakout! Part Four
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I
Guest Stars: Special Agent Hill, Electro, Wolverine

What happened:
We begin by getting yet another recap of the Disassembled event, followed by a summary of issues 1-3. We then see Jessica Drew making her first visit to Stark Tower, where the other New Avengers are on the vid-phone to Special Agent Hill, the Acting Director of SHIELD (after the unfortunate events of Secret War, Nick Fury is no longer in the top job). Hill is not terribly keen on a new team of Avengers, and in her own words: 'Yeah, um, I'm going to hang up on you now. Not out of disrespect, but because I have no time for this today. This is exactly the kind of crap that put Nick Fury where he is, and I'm telling you this is not happening.' Cap and Iron Man don't take kindly to this, and politely inform Agent Hill that they were not asking permission.

Drew changes into her Spider-Woman garb and has a witty exchange with Spider-Man about the number of Spider-Women there are running around now. Captain America then confirms that forty-two villains escaped from the Raft, and he shows their identities on a large video wall (unfortunately most of the villains are obscured by heads or dialogue balloons, so we cannot id them).

After looking at video footage of the incident, Spider-Man identifies his old pal Max Dillon (Electro) and the New Avengers head to Boston to confront him in a brand new quinjet. Built by Tony Stark. With the money he apparently no longer has to be able to fund the Avengers. Huh...

The New Avengers find Electro in Boston, trying to make an escape with his girlfriend. Electro tries to defend himself but Iron Man traps him in an energy sphere. Spidey webs up Luke Cage's hands, and when Luke threatens to hit Electro, the villain faints.

New Avengers #4 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge The Avengers return to Ryker's Island and bribe the inmates with a 'fresh box of apple crumb cake Entenmann's donuts'. Apparently they are awesome, and all of the villains inform the Avengers that Electro broke out Karl Lykos - Sauron.

The New Avengers head to the Savage Land (Lykos' home) and on the way they discover that SHIELD has locked Sauron's file... and the SHIELD outpost outside the Savage Land has gone offline. Spider-Man uses Iron Man's built-in phone ('Just say "phone" and then the number.') to call Mary Jane, and then makes a joke about how transport always crashes when you go to the Savage Land. Lo and behold, a dinosaur attacks the flying quinjet, and although Iron Man manages to land it safely, it explodes seconds after impact and a T-Rex emerges to hunt the New Avengers down.

Spider-Woman runs into the scrub, and finds three metal claws inches from her neck.

Four issues in and we still have a team... with only half its members.

 

New Avengers #5 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #5 - Breakout! Part Five
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I
Guest Stars: Sauron, Yelena Belova, Wolverine

What happened:
The issue begins with a recap of the Avengers Disassembled event and a summary of the first four issues.We then get an update on the T-Rex situation - it has clamped its jaws on Iron Man who... blows up the inside of its mouth. Cap, Iron Man and Spider-Man go looking for Luke Cage and Jessica Drew, who are fighting Wolverine (the owner of the metal claws from last issue). Jessica manages to bend Wolverine's arm and slit his throat with his own claws. The group reunites and Wolverine is questioned.

Before Wolverine can give them any information, they are attacked by a group of Savage Land mutates. They try to put up a fight, but a red and blue, mind-controlling mutant manages to take out their powers and put them to sleep. The New Avengers wake up to find themselves completely naked and hanging by their wrists from trees. Captain America demands to see Sauron, who he instructs to surrender. Sauron refuses, and rants about Weapon X for a bit (apparently, Weapon X is an American project, not Canadian). Sauron orders the New Avengers killed.

Iron Man remotely retrieves his armour, attacks Lykos, then frees the Avengers. Cap suspects that the Savage Land mutates bribed SHIELD with vibranium in order to get Lykos back, and staged the whole Raft incident to cover SHIELD's involvement. The New Avengers stand around talking for a few minutes (and, oddly, the mutates don't take the opportunity to attack) and then the Avengers finally launch themselves into a fray. Wolverine fights Lykos, who undergoes his transformation into Sauron.

New Avengers #5 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge Sauron strikes, but before he can do any damage he is shot in the head by a SHIELD Agent, one of many in a group led by Yelena Belova (Black Widow III). She instructs her team to 'clear and clean' the area, and to leave no survivors - not even the Avengers!

(For continuity's sake, the Black Widows are:
Black Widow I - Golden Age villain
Black Widow II - Natasha Romanoff
Black Widow III - Yelena Belova (blonde)
)

Five issues in... and we still have only half a team.

 

New Avengers #6 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #6 - Breakout! Part Six
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I, Wolverine
Guest Stars: Yelena Belova, Special Agent Hill, Sauron

What happened:
The issue begins, as usual, with a recap of the Avengers Disassembled arc and issues one to five of the Breakout! arc. The SHIELD agents under Yelena Belova's command are refusing to fight the Avengers (specifically Captain America), but when Belova starts shooting they all join in anyway. The Avengers join in, and Iron Man uses his armour to generate a magnetic field that lifts anything metal (including Wolverine but not, it seems, Luke Cage's 'bling' or the armour) into the air. With the agents defeated, Jessica Drew threatens to kill Belova if she does not reveal who gave her her orders.

Belova does not give a straight answer, and Sauron returns to the fight, suddenly breathing fire. (An authentic AvengersAssemble!.us No-Prize to the first fan who contacts us with some precedent for this power, 'cause none of us can find it.) He fries the SHIELD agents, including Belova, but Luke Cage manages to take him out with a single punch.

The Avengers look for a way back home and discover SHIELD operatives using mutate slaves to mine vibranium. The Avengers decide to stop them, but before they have an impact 'a level white energy influx', followed by 'several energy fluxes' (but drawn as one big explosion) wipes out the whole area and the SHIELD helicarrier comes into view.

The Avengers harangue Agent Hill for killing the SHIELD operatives and mutates, and suggest that she wanted to kill them, too, but Wolverine uses his senses to tell she isn't lying, and Hill reminds them that she did order them to stand down.

New Avengers #6 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge Iron Man reveals that the files SHIELD gave the Avengers access to after the Raft incident were tampered with, and that 14 of the prisoners there are apparently legally dead. So in addition to stockpiling vibranium (which, all of a sudden, can be used to manufacture 'super-weapons'), SHIELD is apparently stockpiling super-criminals. The Avengers decide to find out who/how/why SHIELD is corrupt, and they invite Wolverine to join (despite Cap's reservations).

Finally, we see that Belova survived and is in SHIELD custody, although she is badly burned.

 

New Avengers #7 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #7 - Sentry, Part One
By Brian Bendis, Steve McNiven, Mark Morales
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I, Wolverine
Guest Stars: Dr. Strange, Reed Richards, Charles Xavier, Black Bolt, Namor, the Wrecker, Special Agent Hill, the Sentry, Lindy Reynolds, Paul Jenkins

What happened:
The issue begins with a recap of the first six issues. We then see Iron Man speaking with Jessica Drew via comm unit, with Jessica informing Iron Man that an escapee has been spotted and that she (and whomever she can find) will be heading out to stop them. Iron Man lands outside a seemingly-deserted building and enters to be confronted by Dr. Strange (in his astral form), Reed Richards, Charles Xavier, Black Bolt and Namor. Iron Man informs the group that he has re-assembled the Avengers, and Namor loses his temper, asking when the group was going to be informed. Dr. Strange explains that he found the Crusader, and Iron Man recaps the first six issues.

Reed mentions putting a team in Chicago (apparently the group had discussed it earlier) and Iron Man says that he doesn't see that happening and he will not be rebuilding Avengers Mansion, either. Namor asks who the New Avengers are, and Iron Man replies by asking if anyone in the group knows who the Sentry is.

We then see the Wrecker harassing a lady on Long Island. It seems the lady's father collects super-villain equipment and has the Wrecker's crowbar. The Wrecker retrieves it and begins to leave, when Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Luke Cage and Wolverine show up in a new quinjet to stop him. The Wreckers throws Cage through the wing of the quinjet, and then tosses Spider-Man into the air. Wolverine rakes his back, and the Wrecker throws Luke Cage through a car. Wolverine and Spider-Woman both clip him, and the Wrecker throws Wolverine away, leaving only Spider-Woman to face him.

New Avengers #7 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge Iron Man and Captain America land yet another quinjet in the Nevada Desert, where they are met by Special Agent Hill. She allows them to meet the Sentry, who has been contained in a cave. The Sentry complains about the Void coming, and Iron Man shows him his wife - who he apparently killed (she's not a corpse :P).

Finally, Iron Man introduces the Sentry to Paul Jenkins. 'He's a comic book writer. He created the Sentry. So, my question to you, Mr. Reynolds, is... ... who are you?'

 

New Avengers #8 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #8 - Sentry, Part Two
By Brian Bendis, Steve McNiven, Mark Morales
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I, Wolverine
Guest Stars: Paul Jenkins, Lindy Reynolds, the Sentry, the Wrecker, Watchdog, Emma Frost, Reed Richards, the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch II, The Thing, Namor, Cyclops, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Beast, Dr. Strange, Medusa, Black Bolt, Karnak, Gorgon, Special Agent Hill

What happened:
The issue begins with a Silver Age-style tale, penciled by Sal Buscema, showing the Sentry fighting some Skrulls and his arch-nemesis, the Void. The tale, however, is soon revealed to be one of Paul Jenkins' Sentry comics. We then get the now-customary recap of the previous seven issues. We then see a scene, one week earlier, with Wolverine refusing to join the Avengers and citing the 'Enemy of the State' arc in his own title (and many others), in which he was controlled by Hydra, as his reason. Iron Man tries to talk Wolverine into it, and in the end offers to bribe him.

The issue then cuts to Long Island, "today", and back to the fight against the Wrecker. Just as the Wrecker is about to beat Spider-Woman, we see Wolverine reflected in Spider-Woman's mask and then cut back to Arizona and the Sentry. His wife, Lindy, tries to make him see sense, but he insists that he saw the Void kill her. He invokes his powers and disappears, only to reappear far away with his dog and a much-needed haircut.

Back on Long Island, Spider-Woman stalls the Wrecker until Wolverine comes and rakes him across the back again. She grabs his crowbar and smacks him across the face, then hands it to Luke Cage who bats him into a large web-net created by Spider-Man. Spider-Woman then reveals her pheromone powers to her teammates, and Iron Man instructs the team to assemble at the Sentry's new digs.

New Avengers #8 Alternate Cover - Click to Enlarge In the Sentry's home, Emma Frost appears to appear inside his television (although she is actually appearing inside his head) and co-erces him to come outside, where he comes face-to-face with:

A SHIELD Transport
The Fantastic Four
Namor
The New Avengers
Emma Frost, Cyclops, Kitty Pryde, Colossus and the Beast
Dr. Strange
Medusa, Black Bolt, Gorgon and Karnak

The Sentry freaks out and insists 'The Void. He's here now. And there's nothing you can do to stop it.'

 

New Avengers #9 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #9 - Sentry, Part Three
By Brian Bendis, Steve McNiven, Mark Morales
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I, Wolverine
Guest Stars: Namor, Black Bolt, Dr. Strange, Reed Richards, Professor Xavier, the Thing, Emma Frost, Cyclops, the Human Torch II, Medusa, Sue Richards, the Void, Mastermind (flashback), Crazed General (flashback)

What happened:
As always, we get the recap of the previous issues in the series (on the assumption that so much happens we need to be reminded), followed by yet another scene, set 'yesterday', of Iron Man's secret meeting with Reed Richards, Dr. Strange, et. al. Despite having apparently send Matt Murdock and his crew to see the Sentry in #1, Richards claims to have no idea who the Sentry is, and Xavier suggests that his brain (because telepathy involves brains and not minds now, of course) has been tampered with sans permission.

We then jump back to the present, where... inky lines? ... are attacking the assembled heroes. Frost, Strange, Richards and Stark erect defences around Reynolds, Frost and Richards, and Emma Frost takes Reynolds inside his own mind, which is a big white landscape decorated with nothing but comic book panels. They look around and see panels lifted directly from the previous two issues, and a solid black panel, which Frost somehow zaps, causing Reynolds pain.

  Reynolds suddenly remembers being a room with bright white lights and two shadowy figures, one of whom (Jason Wyngarde, Mastermind) tells the other "It is done. The Sentry is no more." but the other, aside from a military hat, cannot be identified. Reynolds insists Frost "had no right!!!" and runs away, leaving everything to turn white and literally go "BOOM". Frost suddenly seems to choke (it is all sudden, in this issue) and we see the Void zapping all the heroes and shouting "You had no right!"

 

New Avengers #10 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #10 - Sentry, Conclusion
By Brian Bendis, Steve McNiven, Mark Morales
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I, Wolverine
Guest Stars: Paul Jenkins, Lindy Reynolds, Emma Frost, Sue Richards, Dr. Strange, Namor, Cyclops, The Thing, Gorgon, Mastermind (flashback), Crazed General (flashback), Colossus, Reed Richards, the Beast, Jarvis, Black Bolt

What happened:
The readers that haven't had the good sense to rely on this synopsis are again given a recap of the previous nine issues, followed by a scene set aboard the SHIELD helicarrier in which Paul Jenkins speaks with Lindy Reynolds about the Sentry until she collapses inexplicably.

We soon see that Lindy was taken into the Sentry's mind by Emma Frost. According to Emma Frost, they are inside his subconscious brain. Literally. (How we will never know... they must be really small.) Emma explains that the Sentry is trying to kill himself, and Lindy says it isn't true, to which Frost replies "It be true." We then get the same scene from the last pages of #9, from a very slightly different angle.

Frost steals a 'shared memory' from Lindy (which is shown to be the day Lindy and Bob "fell in love") and this coaxes Bob out of hiding. The Void stops attacking, and Captain America (wanting everyone to stop punching it) says "Cease fire!!" I fire my fists, too, Cap. Sue and Iron Man think that things that don't move are creepy, and then, back in Reynolds' mind, Emma and Bob find a comic cover.

  The cover features the Sentry and the X-Men in battle against the 'Crazed General', but Reynolds still can't ID him, although he vows to find him. Mastermind, it seemed, had done something to the Sentry, which Emma Frost undoes. The Avengers invite the Sentry into the fold, and after a brief encounter with his wife, the Sentry flares with energy and is in-costume. He hugs his wife, and then returns with everyone else to New York to see that his old HQ is now visibly attached to the top of Stark Tower. According to Iron Man it was always there, but invisible and unknown, but it is probably how he got the property so cheap.

A final scene from Iron Man's secret meeting is shown in which he is asked about what happened in the Savage Land (in #s 5-6) and he says that nothing happened.

 

New Avengers #11 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #11 - Ronin, Part One
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I, Wolverine
Guest Stars: Ronin, Daredevil, Ken Harada, Viper/Madame Hydra

What happened:
In Osaka, Japan, a nunchuku-wielding ninja kicks the crud out of some men in business suits and once they are unconscious s/he asks who will tell him/her/it what he/she/it needs to know... and then we are given a recap of #s 1-10.

Captain America speaks with Daredevil about his help in investigating Ken Harada who escaped from the Raft. Daredevil says no, so Cap tells him about his time spent as Nomad, and we see a very silent shot of the ninja jumping across rooftops. Daredevil directs Cap to someone else who might be able to help him, while a monk silently walks around with a scroll. We see, silently, Ken Harada being met by ninjas and given his Silver Samurai armour. Viper arrives and kisses him as the ninja looks on. Silently.

Back in New York, Cap meets with Daredevil's contact, who has long black hair and doesn't speak. He gives him/her/it a mission. Back in Japan, the ninja we have been following fights the other ninjas and leads them on a merry chase to a Stark building, where the New Avengers see him/her/it and he/she/it says he/she/it failed them...before being popped with a few dozen arrows and ninja stars.

 

New Avengers #11 Regular Cover - Click to Enlarge #12 - Ronin, Part Two
By Brian Bendis, David Finch, Danny Miki
Line Up: Captain America I, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman I, Wolverine
Guest Stars: Ken Harada/Silver Samurai, Ronin

What happened:
Back to the old way, we are given a recap of #s 1-11 right from the bat. We then see the Ken Harada scene from #11 again, this time not-so-silently and from a different view, and this time Viper spends a lot of time talking before she kisses him. Back with the Avengers, a swarm of ninjas have attacked their apartment and a fierce battle ensues.

The Viper explains to Harada that she wishes for him to become the Silver Samurai again and to take control of the Japanese underworld. He is reluctant.

Luke Cage, who has been thrown off the building, spends a page going up in an elevator and the battle continues for a few more until we see that the ninja - Ronin - is okay after he/she/it was struck down in the previous issue.

Spider-Woman leaves the group and flies to see Viper, who loses her temper because Spider-Woman didn't tell her that the Avengers were going to Japan. Apparently, Hydra gave Spider-Woman her powers back after they were lost way back in Avengers #2xx, on the condition that they 'owned her'. Viper allows Spider-Woman to strike her down so that the Avengers don't get suspicious when they arrive, and after they discuss all the 'bank' they'll get for capturing Viper, the Silver Samurai arrives... looming large, like a silver Red Ronin...

We forget, of course, that the Silver Samurai was killed two months before this issue was released in Kitty Pryde: Shadow and Flame...