Mighty Avengers #18

June 13, 2024 Nick Peron

Secret Invasion continues from Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #5…

Two Days Ago

Nick Fury has gathered a team of “Secret Warriors” — Quake (Daisy Johnson), Druid (Sebastian Druid), Hellfire (J.T. Shade), Phobos (Alexander Aaron), Slingshot (Elena Rodriguez), and Stonewall (Jerry Sledge) —to help him stop the planned Skrull invasion of Earth.[2] He has been spying on the superhero community trying to figure out who has been replaced with a Skrull and has come to the conclusion that SHIELD Deputy-Director Maria Hill has been replaced.[3] After months of training, Fury wants them to capture Hill for their first mission.

When J.T. balks at this idea, Fury tells them that if they don’t think they can do this mission they can fuck off. Shade is annoyed that Nick isn’t even going to help them. This is just another grievance he has after he tagged everyone with tracers rigged to explode in order to prevent them from being replace with Skrulls, beat them all in combat training, and then staged a Hydra kidnapping involving actual torture to test their loyalty. Fury claps back by telling them that all of that training has made them smarter, stronger, trustworthy, and savvier than they have ever been and tells them to get to work.

Daisy takes point and the team the following day, they are in New York staking out a hotel where the President of Madripoor is staying during a state visit. This is being overseen by Maria Hill herself, giving them an opening to nab her while she is away from the SHIELD Helicarrier. Hellfire still has his misgivings about the intel they got, but Fury tells them to stick with the plan.

When a SHIELD limo pulls up in front of the hotel, Daisy confirms that Hill has arrived when people start exiting the vehicle. Phobos is up first, and he rides up to them on his bike and hits them with his fear power. Druid then casts an illusion spell that makes it appear that demons are falling out of the sky. Quake rounds off this ambush by using her earthquake powers to shake things up. This creates an opening for Rodrigues who zips in and snatches Maria Hill at super speed. She then drops her off with Stonewall who hauls Hill into their van and they speed off.

Within moments SHIELD cars begin giving them chase and they are soon joined by fighter planes, jet-pack units, and the entire helicarrier. As Stonewall evades pursuit, Druid races to the next block and casts another spell that clouds the street with a thick green mist that allows their getaway vehicle to escape. They get Maria Hill to a safehouse where Fury asks her what he told her the last time they met. Maria recalls how he told her to watch her back and employ Life Model Decoys whenever something didn’t feel right. Fury then checks behind her ear and finds a barcode tattoo proving that she followed his advice. With that, Fury tells them that its time to go.[4]

When they are back at their hideout, J.T. is furious about the mission they undertook as he thinks they did it for nothing. Fury says that, on the contrary, this was their training mission and they passed it with flying colours as it allowed him to confirm if Hill has been compromised or not. This leads to another argument with Fury, who tells Shade that they are preparing for war and if he doesn’t like it he can leave. That’s when Elena interrupts them because of what’s happening on the news. They all look at the computer monitors and see that the Skrull invasion of Earth has just begun! Fury tells them that this is the fight they have been waiting for and orders them all to suit up.

… Secret Invasion continues in War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #34.

Recurring Characters

Secret Warriors (Nick Fury, Quake, Druid, Hellfire, Phobos, Slingshot, Stonewall)

Continuity Notes

This issue’s cover pays homage to Strange Tales #135.
Fury learned about the Skrull invasion and formed his team in Mighty Avengers #13-14.
Fury has a number of photos tacked to the wall and has circled various people in red to signify that he thinks they are Skrulls. They include the Sentry, Doctor Strange and Maria Hill. None of these people are actually Skrulls as we’ll learn Secret Invasion event (See below). It’s entirely possible that Fury singling out Hill was part of his test.
Here, Maria Hill tells Fury that he is under arrest for treason. She is referring to the fact that Fury is wanted after it was learned that he staged an illegal coup in Latveria. See Secret War #1-5.

Topical References

Fury tells J.T. that if he doesn’t like his orders then he can go back to working at the 7-11. This should be considered a topical reference as this is a real world brand of convenience stores.

Secret Invasion Reading Order