New Avengers #2
Breakout!, Part 2
Six months after the Avengers disbanded, Electro (Max Dillon) has attacked the Raft super-max prison, causing a massive breakout.[1] As Captain America (Steve Rogers) and Spider-Man (Peter Parker) arrive on the scene, they witness Electro making his getaway with one of the prisoners.[2] When Spider-Man looks into the hole that Electro emerged from his spider-sense begins going crazy because all of the other prisoners have been released. That’s when the wall-crawler is pulled into the pit. Within seconds, Spider-Man has his mask yanked off. He is then confronted by Jigsaw who breaks Spidey’s arm.[3][4][5]
As this is happening, lawyer Matt Murdock (aka Daredevil), Foggy Nelson, Luke Cage, and SHIELD Agent Jessica Drew were in the sub-basement when Electro hit the prison.[7] Needing to get the situation under control, Murdock tries to convince the forgotten hero known as the Sentry (Bob Reynolds) to help them get the situation back under control.[6] That’s when they are ambushed by the symbiotic serial killer Carnage (Cletus Kasady). Matt quickly pushes Foggy into the Sentry’s cell and slams the door shut so they don’t have to worry about his safety in the battle. As they try to get Carnage under control, Murdock is then ambushed by his old foe, Mister Hyde (Calvin Zabo).[8]
Back in the main block, the criminals all take turns pummeling on Spider-Man, many of them wanting to get back at the wall-crawler for defeating him in the past.[9] That’s when Captain America leads SHIELD agents on the charge in an effort to save the web-slinger and get the riot under control.
Meanwhile, Foggy Nelson tries to convince the Sentry to help them. He explains how he and his law partner were asked to meet with him on behalf of Reed Richards (Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four).[10] He understands that the Sentry asked to be locked up after the allegedly death of his wife, but Nelson is afraid for his life and pleads with Reynolds to do the right thing. Outside, Matt and the others are struggling in their fight with Carnage and Hyde. Luckily, Foggy’s pleas for help get through to the Sentry. Breaking out of his cell, he grabs Carnage and flies him into space where he rips the maniac in half.[11] With Cassidy out of the way, Luke and Matt are able to take down Mister Hyde. That’s when they notice that the room is slowly filling up with water. This is the work of Hydro-Man (Morrie Bench) who plans on drowning them all.
Instead, the heroes are all washed into the main cell block where they join Spider-Man and Captain America in beating back the rioting prisoners. When Cap is tossed high into the air, he is caught by Iron Man (Tony Stark), who has just arrived on the scene. Joining the battle and seeing how serious things are, Stark suddenly realizes that they shouldn’t have broken up the Avengers. As they try to contain the situation things start going south when the Purple Man (Zebadiah Killgrave) uses his mind control powers to take make Luke Cage his slave and orders him to kill the others.[12]
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Iron Man, Spider-Man, “Spider-Woman”, Luke Cage, Daredevil, Sentry, Electro, Foggy Nelson, Armadillo, Barbarus, Blackout, Blood Brother, Bushwacker, Carnage, Controller, Count Nefaria, Crossbones, Crusader, Cutthroat, Foolkiller, Griffin, Hydro-Man, Jigsaw, Mandrill, Mister Fear, Mister Hyde, Sauron, Shockwave, Slug, Typhoid Mary, Vermin, U-Foes (Vector, Vapor, X-Ray, Ironclad), Zzzax, SHIELD
Continuity Notes
This story follows the events of the Avengers Disassembled storyline where the Scarlet Witch went mad and decimated the team. See Avengers #500-503 and Avengers Finale #1. Electro’s prison break began last issue.
In New Avengers #4, we will learn that Electro escaped with Carl Lykos, aka Sauron. in Mighty Avengers #16, we will learn that he was hired by a Skrull posing as Elektra, then leader of the Hand. This was so Lykos could show Skrulls disguised as SHIELD agents where to mine Antarctic Vibranium as part of a larger invasion of Earth. See Secret Invasion #1-8.
While Jigsaw is part of the Punisher’s rogues gallery, he made his debute fighting Spider-Man, in Amazing Spider-Man #161.
Vermin, who is oddly able to speak in this story, wants a piece of Spider-Man as well. He says that he has history with the web-slinger. Vermin first encountered Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up #128. The pair went on to face each other multiple times over the years.
Spider-Man’s beating is expanded upon in Spider-Man: Breakout #1.
The reason why nobody remembers the Sentry is because he has forced everyone to forget his existence in order to keep his evil side — the Void — under control. See Sentry #1-5 and Sentry/The Void #1.
This is now the real Jessica Drew but another Skrull infiltrator named Veranke, who has taken her place. As we’ll learn in Secret Invasion #3. New Avengers #40 will explained that Veranke swapped places with Drew circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.
Although he started off his career as a foe of Thor, Mister Hyde has also fought Daredevil on a number of occasions, starting in Daredevil #30. The reason why Zabo knows Murdock is Daredevil is because Matt recently had his double life leaked to the media, as seen in Daredevil (vol. 2) #32.
The villains who want a piece of Spider-Man include:
Foolkiller, who first fought Spider-Man back in Foolkiller #8.
Cutthroat who first clashed with the web-slinger in Marvel Team-Up #89. Leighton appears here after being seemingly killed from a slit throat in Captain America #409. According to his profile in New Avengers: Most Wanted Files #1, Cutthroat narrowly survived when his betrayers revealed where they dumped his body to SHIELD, who managed to save his life.
Crusader only wants to beat up Spider-Man for religious reasons, apparently, as they actually have never met at this point.
The Sentry was revealed to have a long standing friendship with Mister Fantastic and the Fantastic Four dating back to the early Modern Age, as seen in Sentry/Fantastic Four #1. As for the Sentry’s wife — Lindy Lee — being dead, that’s proven false in New Avengers #7.
You’d think that this would kill a dude, but not Carnage. He’ll survive this as we’ll see in Carnage #1-5.
Killgrave targets Luke Cage due to the fact that Cage is in a relationship with Jessica Jones, as former hero that Purple Man is obsessed with. See Alias #22-28.
