New Avengers #25
New Avengers: Disassembled, Part 5
Civil War continues from Captain America (vol. 5) #23…
A man arrives outside of Avengers Tower and uses his handheld device to incapacitate the SHIELD Cape-Killers stationed at the door. He then uses his hacking skills to trick the security system that he is Tony Stark and gets inside. He then takes the elevator up to the top floor where the New Avengers are headquartered. There he is caught by the Avengers butler, Jarvis, who tries to sound the alarm only to get shot in the shoulder.[1] The man quickly deactivates the alarm.
Unfortunately, he didn’t do it fast enough as Iron Man (Tony Stark) has arrived on the scene. Stark is furious to see his faithful butler injured and asks the intruder that he doesn’t have to kill him for what he did to Jarvis. Startled at first, the man is able to utter the verbal shut down code for Tony’s Iron Man armor. This causes Stark to collapse to the floor and trapping him inside his suit. The intruder then tells Stark that the war is now over.[2]
Meanwhile, aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, Director Maria Hill looks at the security feed from outside Avengers Towers and sees her men have been incapacitated. When she asks what the sitrep is on the ground below she is told that everything appears green. Suspecting that something bad is going down, Hill orders all units to converge on Avengers Tower on the pronto.
As it turns out, the man who has broken into Avengers Tower is a man named Kenny who worked for Tony Stark who is furious that with Tony siding with the government.[3] As Hill and her team arrive on the ground and still have no word from Stark, he is upstairs hearing the intruder rant and rave. He mocks Tony for relying on his armor more and more, a weakness that was easy to exploit. Unable to help himself, Kenny removes Tony’s mask so he can see the look on Stark’s face.
Kenny then begins priming an anti-matter generator in order to set it off in Avengers Tower. Meanwhile, Maria Hill is gearing up to go into the building. Among the equipment is are canisters of dematerializing foam, a new cloaking device, levitation boots, and devices to incapacitate any bombs. They are just waiting on Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) to arrive to lead the assault.
Meanwhile, Kenny is explaining how the anti-matter bomb will annihilate them and Avengers Tower without any collateral damage. When Tony says that this will only make him a martyr for registration, Kenny says that his voice will be heard because he has already posted it online. When Tony asks Kenny why he is doing all of this, he explains that Tony took his work and used it for this civil war. Stark corrects him by reminding Kenny that he was a work-for-hire and he is the one who actually owns the technology. As the device begins powering up, Kenny wonders what it will be like to cease existing. That’s when he is shot by Maria Hill, who went into the building alone. Tony tells her to get out, but Hill ignores him and tosses all her bomb disarming capsules on the anti-matter generator. Its a gamble but it pays off, shutting down the device before it can do more than wreck the living room. Moments later, Ms. Marvel and the Sentry enter the building with a team of SHIELD agents.
Nine hours later, Tony is out of his armor and on the roof of Avengers Tower reflecting on what just went down. He is met with Maria Hill, who tells him about how she was picked to succeed Nick Fury.[4] Before then, she worked at a SHIELD outpost in Madripoor. She likens her situation to that of main character in the movie A Few Good Men and realizes that being the head of SHIELD isn’t the job she wants. When Tony asks her who she thinks is better suited for it, Maria suggest Tony take it because it will piss off all the right people.[5]
… Civil War continues in Civil War #5.
Recurring Characters
Iron Man, SHIELD (Maria Hill), “Edwin Jarvis”, Sentry, Ms. Marvel
Continuity Notes
The man who appears to be Edwin Jarvis here is actually a Skrull spy planted to spy on the New Avengers, as will be revealed in Secret Invasion #1. He took the place of the real Jarvis prior to New Avengers #1.
This man is of course referring to the superhero civil war which was kicked off after the Super Human Registration Act was passed into law in Civil War #3.
Kenny states that Rhodes wounld’t approve of how Tony is supporting the SHRA. He is referring to Stark’s long time friend Jim Rhodes (aka War Machine). However, this assessment would prove incorrect as War Machine will later become a teacher at Camp Hammond, the training camp for new superhuman recruits into the Initiative. See Avengers: The Initiative #1.
At the time of this story, Nick Fury is no longer the Director of SHIELD. This is because he went underground after engaging in an illegal conflict in Latveria. See Secret War #1-5.
Tony Stark will take up the Directorship at SHIELD but it will prove to be short lived as he is blamed for the spy agency being compromised during a Skrull invasion of Earth. See Secret Invasion #1-8.
Topical References
The intruder at Avengers Tower is depicted using a personal digital assistant, which were quite common in the business world when this comic was first published in 2006. They have since fallen out of common use and are practically obsolete thanks to the advent of the smart phone. As such, its depiction here should be considered topical.
Kenny specifically states that he posted on the “blogosphere”, which was a term used for online journal platforms at the time this series was published. This was the most prominent form of social media at the time. However, proper blogs have fallen out of popular use since then thanks to social media networks growing in popularity since. This term is very dated now and its use should be considered topical.
Maria Hill makes reference to the movie A Few Good Men. This would not necessarily be considered a topical reference because she speaks specifically about the plot to the film. The movie was already 14 years old when this comic was originally published. I suppose you could come up with a more contemporary example, I guess.
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