New Avengers #21
New Avengers: Disassembled, Part 1
Civil War continues from X-Factor (vol. 3) #8…
Steve Rogers (aka Captain America) sits at his drawing table trying to force himself to draw something.[1] However, his mind is too preoccupied with recent events. The passage of the Super Human Registration Act (SHRA) has left him feeling like he has no friends. His opposition to the new law has made him a person non-grata with SHIELD and Steve feels like he doesn’t have a friend in the world.[2] Steve thinks back to when the Avengers first revived him in the present day and thinks how he should have died during the war.[3] At first, he blames the American people for not caring enough, but stops himself, as he believes he is being unfair.[4] He reminds himself to focus on the problem at hand. Suddenly, Steve realizes that he is not alone.
He has suddenly been surrounded by SHIELD’s Cape-Killers, soldiers specifically trained to apprehend superhumans who refuse to register. They have come to arrest him for not backing the SHRA. Grabbing his shield, Steve gives the SHIELD agents one chance to stand down. They don’t listen and begin trying to subdue him. Although he is shot in the shoulder, Steve manages to take down all of the Cape-Killers. The last one to go down is his old friend, Dum Dum Dugan, which causes Steve to pause for a moment. Dugan tells Steve to knock him out now or else he will have to take him in. Steve is angered that they would send one of his friends and vows not to forget this. Using Dugan’s communicator, Steve sends a bogus message telling SHIELD that Captain America is dead and to stand by for further information. He then grabs his costume and flees into the sewers before they figure out the truth.
Steve blacks out and when he wakes up again he finds himself in an old safe house with no memory of how he got there. With him is his former partner the Falcon (Sam Wilson). However, Steve is already paranoid and isn’t sure this is really his friend until he convinces Sam to take his mask off and has him answer a code word. However, Steve isn’t relieved until Sam confirms that he hasn’t signed the SHRA. Wilson tells Steve that he thinks Iron Man (Tony Stark), the champion of the new law, is and has always been a sellout. When Steve starts going through the crates and old technology he tells Sam that this was a safehouse set up by Nick Fury in the event something like this happened. It has all sorts of fake identification and passports, but Steve refuses to flee America, he wants to stay and fight.
The Falcon doesn’t need to be asked to join his side, he also thinks the SHRA is wrong and wants to fight to the bitter end. He’s not scared of the long bloody battle ahead, but what will happen after. Namely, what the villains of the world will be up to while heroes are fighting each other.[5] Steve then suits up as Captain America and tells Sam that their first job is to gather a team to resist this new law.
The first person they look for is Cap’s fellow Avenger, Spider-Man (Peter Parker). However, much to their disappointment, they see the wall-crawler heading into Avengers Tower a surefire sign that he supports the new law.[6] That’s when they hear gunshots coming from the street. Despite the fact that they are outlaws on the run, Cap wants to go down and stop whatever is going on. They end up stopping the Shocker who was in the middle of a stand-off with the authorities at the Federal Courthouse. The incident is caught on video by an amateur and becomes the top story in the news.
The pair then pay a visit to Hank Pym to see if he will join their cause.[7] Unfortunately, Hank (who never really kept a secret identity) support the new law and says he is working with Iron Man and Mister Fantastic and suggests that Cap and Falcon do the same thing. Steve is furious that nobody who is siding with the new law will say who they are working for or why.[8] Seeing that they are getting nowhere, the pair try to leave. Hank then uses his size changing abilities to grow to giant size and block the window they are trying to exist out of. Cap warns Hank that he’s about to find out the difference between wartime and fighting ordinary super villains. Pym explains that he isn’t trying to fight them, only slow them down. That’s when they are attacked by more Cape-Killers, summoned by Hank to apprehend them.
Steve hurls his shield and hits Hank in the nose, before leaping out a window. He is caught by the Falcon and the two flee the scene. Moments later, Maria Hill — the current Director of SHIELD — bursts into the room. She tells her Cape-Killers to do a full sweep of the area.
Having gotten away from their pursuers, Falcon jokes about how well that went. He then asks Cap who they should go to next…..
… Civil War continues in Wolverine (vol. 3) #43.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, Falcon, Yellowjacket, SHIELD (Maria Hill, Dum Dum Dugan), Spider-Man, Shocker
Continuity Notes
We first learned of Steve’s affinity for art when he became a commercial artist in Captain America #237. He had to stop his career in issue #308 due to his desire to work as Captain America full time.
The SHRA was a law came about after hundreds of people were killed in a superhuman battle in the town of Stamford, Connecticut in Civil War #1. As a result, the US government is in the process of passing the law which will come in effect in issue #3 of that series. This law will remain on the books until Siege #1-4.
Captain America was famously found frozen in suspended animation by the Avengers in Avengers #4.
We see images of Steve fighting the Winter Soldier, who Steve recently learned is his former partner Bucky Barnes. See Captain America (vol. 5) #1-14 for that whole story. We also get a flashback of the New Avengers revealing themselves to the public, which happened in New Avengers #15.
Sam mentions the recent breakout at the Raft Super Max Prison. This saw the escape of over 40 supervillains. This happened in New Avengers #1-2. What nobody knows right now was who was behind it and why. Mighty Avengers #16 will reveal that this was a distraction created by the Skrulls who were ramping up a planned invasion of Earth which will happen in Secret Invasion #1-8.
Indeed Spider-Man does because Iron Man has been mentoring him since Amazing Spider-Man #529. Peter will ultimately throw in his support of the SHRA, going as far as to unmask and reveal his secret identity to the public in Civil War #2.
The man who appears to be Hank Pym here is actually a Skrull spy named Citri Noll, as will be revealed in Secret Invasion #3. Per Mighty Avengers #15, Hank was swapped out prior to House of M #1.
Here, Steve references that the real Hank Pym was a founding member of the Avengers, as seen in the first issue of their series.
Topical References
Captain America states that he should have died 60 years ago. This was roughly the length of time between the end of World War II and the date in which this comic was published. This measurement of time should be considered topical due to the Sliding Timescale. As the Modern Age gets bumped forward, the gulf of time between WW2 and the MA will continue to grow.
The safe house Steve hides in is stacked with old equipment including CRT television and computers with CRT monitors. This wouldn’t necessarily be considered a topical reference since Nick Fury has had these safe houses for decades. In addition, later on in the Civil War event, Captain America and his resistance uses analogue technology to communicate without being spied upon. As technology advances and older machines become obsolete it makes more sense for a spy to use old equipment as it would be harder to track due to the incompatibility between the two. Since this is integral to the story, then this would have to be factual.
Civil War Reading Order
Road to Civil War: Amazing Spider-Man #529, 530, 531, Fantastic Four #536, 537, New Avengers: Illuminati #1
Main Event: Civil War #1, She-Hulk (vol. 2) #8, Wolverine (vol. 3) #42, Amazing Spider-Man #532, Civil War: Front Line #1
Civil War #2, Thunderbolts #103, Civil War: Front Line #2, X-Factor (vol. 3) #8, New Avengers #21, Wolverine (vol. 3) #43, Amazing Spider-Man #533, Fantastic Four #538, Civil War: Front Line #3, Thunderbolts #104, Civil War: X-Men #1
Civil War #3, Cable & Deadpool #30, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #1, Civil War: Front Line #4, X-Factor (vol. 3) #9, New Avengers #22, Wolverine (vol. 3) #44, Amazing Spider-Man #534, Fantastic Four #539, Civil War: Front Line #5, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #6, Civil War: X-Men #2, Heroes for Hire (vol. 2) #1, New Avengers #23, Wolverine (vol. 3) #45, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #2, Cable & Deadpool #31, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #7, Civil War: X-Men #3
Civil War #4, Wolverine (vol. 3) #46, Heroes for Hire (vol. 2) #2, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #3, Civil War: Front Line #6, Captain America (vol. 5) #22, Cable & Deadpool #32, Amazing Spider-Man #535, Civil War: Choosing Sides #1, Fantastic Four #540, Civil War: Front Line #7, Civil War: X-Men #4, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #8, Wolverine (vol. 3) #47, Heroes for Hire (vol. 2) #3, Captain America (vol. 5) #23, New Avengers #24
Civil War #5, Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways #4, Iron Man (vol. 4) #13, New Avengers #25, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #1, Civil War: Front Line #8, Amazing Spider-Man #536, Black Panther (vol. 4) #22, Captain America (vol. 5) #24, Civil War: War Crimes #1, Civil War: Front Line #9, Iron Man (vol. 4) #14, Fantastic Four #541, Black Panther (vol. 4) #23, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #2
Civil War #6, Civil War: Front Line #10, Amazing Spider-Man #537, Fantastic Four #542, Civil War: The Return #1, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #3, Black Panther (vol. 4) #24
Civil War #7, Amazing Spider-Man #538, Civil War: Front Line #11, Black Panther (vol. 4) #25, Civil War: The Initiative #1, Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #15, Mighty Avengers #1, Captain America (vol. 5) #25, Civil War: The Confession #1, Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America #1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Fantastic Four #543-544, Avengers: The Initiative #1
