Mighty Avengers #13

June 13, 2024 Nick Peron

Secret Invasion continues from Secret Invasion #2…

Six Months Ago

Daisy Johnson, former SHIELD agent, is sitting on a park bench in Portland, Oregon. She is joined by a black man in an eye-patch and she instantly knows that this is Nick Fury in disguise.[2] She tells him that after she was involved in his secret war in Latveria, she was sacked from the spy agency.[3] She is also aware that she was part of the Caterpillar File, a list of potential superhuman SHIELD recruits that Nick was keeping tabs on.

Nick, who has recently become aware of planned Skrull invasion of Earth is now seeking to recruit those on the file. This is because only he was privy to the individuals on file and due to everyone being compromised by alien invaders, they are the only people he can trust.

In the Bronx, Ares — the god of war — is giving his son Alexander a talking too for now coming right home after work. He tells the boy that he has a lot on his plate, especially after becoming an Avenger. When the boy mouths off, Ares tells his son to show some respect. When Alex asks if he should respect his father like Ares respected his own, Ares says nothing more and walks away.[4] Moments later, some neighborhood bullies come up to Alex and begin mocking him and his father. Alex only glares at them and they suddenly become afraid for their lives and run off. This is observed by Daisy Johnson who approaches the boy. She explains to him that because his father is a god, that makes Alexander one as well. Specifically, he has become Phobos, the god of fear. Hearing it out loud makes Alex realize that she is right and it explains so much.

In San Juan, Puerto Rico, Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez is hanging out when someone snatches her purse. As she chases after the thief, she suddenly experiences a burst of super-human speed. Suddenly she finds herself out by the beach. As she starts to process what just happened, she suddenly sling-shots back to where she started running. When she stops moving she is approached by Daisy Johnson. Daisy knows who she is and who her father is, but assures Rodriguez that she is not a mutant.[5]

Next, in Atlanta, Georgia, she finds a man named J.T. Shade working his job at a convenience store. Shade lets a shop lifter get away with stealing something from the store. When Daisy asks him why he let them do it, J.T. explains that he only gets paid minimum wage and its not worth getting into an altercation with a petty thief. Daisy, then asks him to show her what he can really do. They go into the alley out back where Shade tells Daisy that he discovered his powers when he was out hanging out with a girl. Her brother, who didn’t want J.T. hanging out with his sister came at him with a chain. When he instinctively caught it, it suddenly caught on fire. Shade then shows her this power with that very same chain and cracks it like a whip. She reveals that J.T. is the descendant of the original Ghost Rider, also known as the Phantom Rider.[6] He is excited to learn this but then begins suspicious as to who she is working for and why Daisy is trying to recruit him. She says she’s not from Hydra, SHIELD, or AIM, but does have an offer for him to become something better than a simple convenience store clerk.

Daisy’s next stop is the offices of X-Factor Investigations in the part of New York City known as Mutant Town. There, Layla Miller is waiting for her. Her ability to be aware of the future has tipped Layla off on why Johnson has come to recruit her. However, she declines the offer, saying that her involvement in Fury’s new team would end in failure. Before Daisy leaves, she assures her that she will survive the battle ahead. After that, outside the abandoned Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange.[7] Outside is Sebastian Druid. He had come all the way from Hawaii in the hopes that Strange could teach him about an old family spell book. When Daisy offers to help him out, he hugs her in relief. Daisy’s last stop is a jail in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she bails out a super-strong man named Jerry Sledge. He was arrested after an off duty police officer gave him trouble while on a date. He admits that what he did was wrong but he couldn’t help himself. Daisy pays his bail and Jerry explains what happened to her, until he realizes that he doesn’t know who she is and asks what she wants….

Soon, this new team is brought to Nick Fury’s secret safehouse. He tells them all from here on out they are to do everything he tells them to do if they want to stay alive. However, he promises them that they will make the world a better place each and every single day. He then asks the group if any of them know what a Skrull is.[8]

… Secret Invasion continues in Captain Britain and MI-13 #1.

Recurring Characters

Secret Warriors (Nick Fury, Alexander Aron, Yo Yo Rodriguez, J.T. Shade, Quake, Sebastian Druid, Jerry Sledge), Layla Miller, Ares

Continuity Notes

This cover pays homage to Avengers #16.
Nick Fury’s disguise here is the creative team’s giving a nod to his Ultimate Universe (Reality-1610) counterpart who first appeared in Ultimate Marvel Team-Up #5. That version of Fury also resembles actor Samuel L. Jackson, who would later go on to star as Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe starting in 2008’s Iron Man.
Daisy was recruited by Fury to take part in an illegal coup in Latveria as seen in Secret War #1-5. When the truth came out, Fury went into hiding.
Ares is, of course, son of Zeus, ruler of the Olympian gods. His position as the god of war had often put him at odds with his father. Most recently this happened in Ares #1-5 when Ares and his son were dragged into a war between the Olympians and the Japanese chaos deity Amatsu-Mikaboshi.
Its not really explained how being born with her powers don’t make Rodriguez a mutant, since that is the definition in the Marvel Universe. If I were to guess why this was said, I think it might have had something to do with the fact that 20th Century Fox had the license to make X-Men films at the time which allowed them to use any mutant character in their movies. During this period, Marvel management was trying to limit Fox’s access to new mutant characters. It’s all inside baseball shit that is complicated to get into so Google it. That said, time of this writing (June, 2024), she has yet to be reclassified as a mutant so……
The original Ghost Rider was a masked crime fighter during the days of the American Frontier, as seen in Ghost Rider #1. He was Carter Slade. Over the years he has gone by the name the Night Rider and Phantom Rider in order to differentiate him with the modern age Ghost Riders (such as Johnny Blaze). Here, Daisy refers to Slade as J.T.’s grandfather. This is likely topical, see below.
Doctor Strange’s Sanctum was abandoned after Doctor Strange went on a vision quest of sorts following the events of New Avengers Annual #2.
Nick Fury has a bunch of photos of heroes on his wall. Some of them are circle in red, signifying that these are people that Fury thinks are Skrulls. They are Hulking, Doctor Strange and the Wizard. All of these guesses are wrong except for Hulkling, however we’ve always known he was a half-Skrull since Young Avengers #9-12. Regardless, Hulkling is not in league with the Skrull invaders. All of this is played out in the Secret Invasion event (See below).

Topical References

Elena Rodriguez is depicted hanging out at a McDonalds. This should be considered topical as this is a real world business.
There are a lot of real world products on display in the convenience store where J.T. Shade works such as Pepsi cola, Camel cigarettes, the New Yorker magazine, the USA Today newspaper, and the Georgia State Lottery. These should all be considered topical for the same reason as McDonalds is.

J.T. Shade’s Family Tree

In this story, J.T. is referred to as the grandson of the original Ghost Rider, Carter Slade. Since Slade was active in the 1800s, making this biologically impossible due to the Sliding Timescale. Assuming that J.T. is someone with an ordinary life span, this would mean his birth would be tied to the Sliding Timescale. As the Modern Age is pushed forward in time, the gulf of years between the 1800s and the present day Marvel Universe will continue to grow making it impossible for Carter Slade to be J.T.’s grandfather. This is because Carter died in the 1800s, as seen in Western Gunfighters (vol. 2) #7. His history is locked in that period of time. As of this writing (June, 2024) Slade’s exact family tree has yet to be explored in any detail. But for Shade to be Carter’s grandson, this would mean that either his biological father or J.T. himself would have have their lifespans extended by some extraordinary means. At the time of this writing, Marvel has yet to offer clarification. One could assume that references to J.T. being the Ghost Rider’s grandson should be considered topical. Modern readers could instead interpret this to mean that J.T. is descended from Carter Slade, as opposed to a specific lineage. At least until this gets sorted out.

Secret Invasion Reading Order