New Avengers #14
Secrets & Lies
At the offices of the Daily Bugle, Kate Farrell is freaking out trying to find a story when she gets a call from her mother. She is in a panic about a building “lighting up”. She tries to dismiss this as nothing but when she looks outside the window she is shocked by what she sees. It is the Sentry’s Watchtower, which has appeared on the roof of Stark Tower.[1]
Inside Stark Tower, Captain America (Steve Rogers) has confronted his teammate, Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) about who she is working for. He has reason to doubt her after she intentionally allowed Madame Hydra to escape captivity on their last mission. Cap isn’t going to take no for an answer and Jessica struggles to find the words to explain herself in a way that won’t see her dead. She also says Steve is partially responsible for her precarious situation by making her an Avenger.[2]
She decides to start from the very beginning, talking about how screwed up her life was. Having her genetics altered by her father to give her spider powers, being brainwashed into joining Hydra, then being coaxed out of the life by Nick Fury and SHIELD. She became the heroic Spider-Woman and had many adventures and she loved every minute of it.[3][4] However, it all came to an end when Jessica lost her powers.[5] She quickly saw herself out of the superhero game and regretting all the things she was missing out on as a result.
That was until one day when a Hydra agent named Connelly tracked her down. Due to her past association with the terrorist group he wanted to offer her a chance to get her powers back and be Spider-Woman again. However, he would offer them for a price: Jessica was to reinstate her SHIELD status and spy on the organization on behalf of Hydra. He then left her to consider her options. She knew that if she refused she would be killed immediately.[6] Needing advice, Jessica arranged for a private meeting with then SHIELD Director, Nick Fury. Fury told her to go along with Hydra’s scheme, as it gives SHIELD the perfect opportunity to feed them bad intel. Jessica is certain that Hydra will kill her if they found out that she is a operating as a mole. Fury pointed out that they’ll eventually try to kill her one way or the other so she might as well get her powers back so she can defend herself.
So Jessica went through with the painful seventeen months of treatment to get her powers back.[7] While she was recovering from her ordeal, she came to realize that she absolutely wanted her powers back. When the procedures were over and she was fully recovered she was back and better than ever before, as now she could actually fly![7] However, her new life soon became a nightmare as she had to constantly rely on her ability to lie convincingly to keep herself alive. Providing intel to SHIELD, while also feeding bad intel to Hydra.[8]
She was just getting used to her situation when Nick Fury had his little Secret War. After it was revealed that Fury and a number of heroes were involved in an unauthorized coup in Latveria, Fury had to go on the run.[9] Since he was the only one at SHIELD who knew that she was operating as a mole within Hydra. Left in the cold, Jessica had no choice but to continue providing intelligence to the terrorist group in order to protect her own life. She thought she was in the clear when all Fury loyalists (herself included) were pulled from field duty. This is how she ended up at the Raft on the day of the big breakout. She had hoped that her lack of intel would eventually make Hydra leave her alone, but then Captain America asked her to become one of the New Avengers. Since Steve went to Jessica’s superiors first, that information was leaked to Hydra who then forced her to join up with the new team so she can continue providing them detail.
However, she stuck with it because she started believing that whatever was rotten inside of SHIELD was also involved with Hydra’s current activities and she continued playing along in the hopes of finding out who was pulling the strings.[10] Then the incident with Madame Hydra happened and she had to help her escape. A stunt that almost cost Cap his life and one she feels incredibly guilty about to the point she breaks down crying in front of him. Steve then asks if she knows where Fury is now and she tells Cap she doesn’t know.
Steve then asks the others — Luke Cage, Spider-Man (Peter Parker), the Sentry (Bob Reynolds), Wolverine (Logan), and Iron Man (Tony Stark) — if they believe her. Jessica turns around and is shocked to see that the rest of the team had been listening to their entire conversation. Between Logan’s enhanced senses, Iron Man’s electronic scanners, and Peter’s Spider-Sense, nobody can detect that she is lying.[11] However, Wolverine knows that Jessica is still working with Nick Fury. Pressed to stop keeping secrets, Spider-Woman then gets a call on her cell phone. It is of Fury and he wants to talk to them. She puts her phone on the table and it suddenly creates a holographic projection of Fury. Nick tells the Avengers not to be too hard on Jessica and that everything she said was true. He now believes that with the Avengers back in action they can finally uncover the conspiracy surrounding SHIELD.[12] However, Fury won’t say where he is hiding out and tells them that have larger concerns. To illustrate what he means, he tells them to turn on the TV and get ready to smile.
When they do as Fury asks, they discover that the appearance of the Sentry’s Watchtower and the flurry of activity around Stark Tower has the media abuzz. The speculation ranges from the coming of Galactus, an alien invasion, the Avengers getting back together, and some celebrity gossip.[13] Seeing the media, Tony realizes that they should have publicly announced the new team before they left for Japan and that for better or worse, they’re going to have to do it now.
Recurring Characters
New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Luke Cage, “Spider-Woman”, Wolverine, Sentry), J. Jonah Jameson, Jessica Jones, Kate Farell, Joe Robertson, (in flashback) Nick Fury, Hydra (Connely), Spider-Woman
Continuity Notes
This actually happened in New Avengers #10, after the mental block that made people forget the Sentry existed was removed. One should assume that this scene takes place then, where as the rest of this issue takes place after the events of last issue.
Jessica has been secretly working for Hydra since she joined up with the team in New Avengers #2, leading to her freeing Viper at the end of last issue. How we got here? We'll hit all the important points as we go along.
Here we get a montage of various events early on in Jessica’s life and a running monologue. Here are the points that she touched upon:
She discusses her origins, saying that her father experimented upon her to give her spider-powers. There are two conflicting versions of Jessica’s origins that have been presented:
The original tale told is told in Marvel Spotlight #32, Spider-Woman #1, 37, Avengers #187, Punisher Annual #1, Silver Surfer Annual #1, New Mutants Annual #3, and Web of Spider-Man Annual #4 tells the tale that her father worked with the High Evolutionary, and that her powers were the result of attempting to cure radiation poisoning with spider venom.
An alternate take in Spider-Woman: Origin #1-5 states that her father was a Hydra agent that altered his daughter’s DNA while she was still in the womb and that there was no connection to the High Evolutionary. However, this story also suggests that this story may have been the result of Hydra brainwashing to make her more loyal to them.
Regardless, when we see Spider-Woman in Marvel Spotlight #32, she is an agent of Hydra. However, Nick Fury manages to convince her to turn against them. She has had an on-again-off-again association with SHIELD ever since.
She also mentions how she constantly had Morgan le Fay (of Arthurian myth) up her nose all the time. Le Fay has been a constant adversary of Jessica’s since they first clashed in Spider-Woman #2.
Then we have the actual images from this montage. Which include:
Hydra’s logo and Nick Fury, which I covered above.
Wolverine: Jessica first encountered Logan through the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #148. However, she was regularly associated with the mutant during her time as a private detective in Madripoor, between Wolverine (vol. 2) #2 through 128.
Spider-Man: Jessica first met her male counterpart in Spider-Woman #20. However, the pair have had only a tangential association until they both joined the team in New Avengers #2.
We see her fight with Flying Tiger, which happened in Spider-Woman #40.
Madame Hydra/Viper also has a past association with Jessica. The two fought in Spider-Woman #42-44.
We also see Tigra, who briefly palled around with Jessica in Spider-Woman #49-50.
Spider-Woman famously lost her powers in a fight against Morgan le Fay in Avengers #240-241. However, her powers would come back in fits and starts, as seen in Sensational Spider-Man Annual 1996, Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #1-18, and Alias #16-21. These instances are likely not brought up for story pacing since this is more an overview of her history as opposed to a detailed account.
Jessica being approached by Connelly was detailed in Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.
As we’ll learn in New Avengers #42, this is right where the real Jessica Drew was swapped out with Vernake, a Skrull spy who was infiltrating SHIELD ahead of a planned invasion of Earth. This invasion will be chronicled in Secret Invasion #1-8. The real Spider-Woman could not fly, instead she relied on wing gliders built into her costume.
The various things that Jessica discusses with Fury and Connelly are all things that were going on in the Marvel Universe at the time:
She tells Fury that Hydra is working with an Iraqi named Saddam Abed Dasam, and how he has the Scorpio (Zodiac) Key. Which is a reference to Elektra (vol. 3) #1-5
Connelly is told about the God’s Eye Satellite. This satellite goes rogue, prompting Fury to send the Hulk to deal with it. This was all a ruse to exile the monster to deep space. See Incredible Hulk (vol. 2) #88-91.
Connelly also asks about the “Caterpillar File”, this was a pool of young superhumans that Fury was keeping tabs on in order to form a team should the need arise, as will be explained in Secret Warriors #1.
Fury’s “Secret War” was covered in Secret War #1-5.
The “rot” within SHIELD and Hydra were discovered throughout this series. The New Avengers found rogue SHIELD agents using slaves in the Savage Land to illegally mine Vibranium in New Avengers #5-6. Hydra, meanwhile was trying to form an alliance with Clan Yoshida and the Hand, as seen in New Avengers #10-12. It’s revealed in Secret Invasion that both organizations had been infiltrated by Skrulls ahead of their invasion.
The reason why none of the Avengers can detect that Jessica is lying or that she is a Skrull is thanks to the process that made her into a sleeper agent. This was accomplished when a group of heroes calling themselves the Illuminati were captured by the Skrulls years earlier. From the data they collected from these captured heroes, they were able to make their spies virtually undetectable. See New Avengers: Illuminati (vol. 2) #1.
At the time of this story, the New Avengers were recently formed (back in issue #1, ‘natch). Prior to that, the original team had disbanded after they were decimated by the Scarlet Witch, as seen in Avengers #500-503/Avengers: Finale #1.
The media speculation makes reference to a lot of Marvel lore both past and present (in relation to this story). Here are the details:
Mention is made of Galactus, the cosmic entity that devours worlds. His first modern attempt at consuming the Earth occurred in Fantastic Four #48-50. However, as per S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, his first recorded arrival on Earth dates back to the Renaissance when he was repelled by inventor Leonardo Da Vinci.
Also mentioned is the Kree/Skrull War which Earth first got caught up in years earlier as seen in Avengers #89-97.
One report accuses Tony Stark lying about Iron Man. This is in reference to the fact that Tony had revealed that he was Iron Man back in Iron Man (vol. 3) #55. He walked this back after a disastrous stint as Secretary of Defense in Iron Man (vol. 3) #86-89 when he ultimately told the world that he was stepping down as Iron Man and having someone else take on that role. He was, obviously, lying. Stark will drop this pretense again (and it sticks) in Civil War: Front Line #1.
Lastly, there is gossip about actress Mary Jane Watson sneaking in and out of Stark Tower. At the time of this story, Peter Parker and Mary Jane have been in a long term relationship (married since Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21 until a timeline change in Amazing Spider-Man #545 erased their marriage and made them basically a common-law couple). This gossip is explored further in Amazing Spider-Man #519-524 where it is suggested that MJ is having an affair with Tony Stark. In order to quash this and explain her presence, Tony Stark reveals that he “hired” Peter Parker to work for Stark Enterprises.
Topical References
A woman in the Daily Bugle offices is wearing a Liberty Meadows t-shirt. This is a nod to the comic strip that was in regular publication by this issue’s artist Frank Cho. Liberty Meadows was a traditional comic strip that ran from 1997 to 2001, it centered around the staff and residents of an animal sanctuary/rehabilitation clinic. You could consider this a topical reference as this is now a defunct comic strip.
Spider-Woman is depicted as using a “flip” style cell phone which were popular at the time this story was originally published in 2006. While these are still around, they have fallen out of popular use. As such this should be considered topical.