New Avengers #42

March 22, 2024 Nick Peron

This story continues from New Avengers #40…

Months Ago….[2]

Jessica Drew (aka Spider-Woman) meets with Nick Fury to tell him that she has been approached by Hydra. They have offered to give her her powers back if she agrees to spy on SHIELD for them.[3] He tells her to take the offer so that she can spy on Hydra for him. Following Fury’s orders, Jessica soon finds herself at a secret Hydra base where she is to undergo surgery to get her powers back. Connelly, the man who made her the offer explains that the process will work before they put her to sleep to perform the surgery.[4]

What Jessica doesn’t know is that all of these Hydra agents are all Skrull infiltrators. While she is asleep, Queen Veranke enters the room and is told everything is going according to plan. With Jessica Drew subdued, Veranke then undergoes the process that will allow her to imitate Spider-Woman so genuinely that she will be undetectable. The process gives her all of Jessica’s memories which subdue her own.[5] The process is a complete success and just like that, Veranke replaces Jessica Drew.

A few weeks later, Veranke meets with the various Skrull spies that are active in New York City. Among them is one posing as senior SHIELD operatives Countessa de la Fontaine. She has successfully infiltrated SHIELD and their infiltrators are in place. They can now start swapping out operatives of both SHIELD and Hydra once they are given the go ahead. Pleased, Veranke gives them permission to proceed.

She then goes over the plan: First, they are to secure and destroy the world’s supply of Vibranium as it can be used as weapons against the empire, which means targeting both the Savage Land and Wakanda.[6] If they get caught, they are to use the opportunity to sow distrust in SHIELD, an easy task now that Fury is out and Maria Hill is in charge.[7] She is also concerned about the massive mutant population, particularly since they now have Genosha to call their home. They need to ramp up anti-mutant sentiments to deal with the problem.[8] She also needs them to start coming up with contingency plans to take down powerful superhumans.[9] When it comes to Mister Fantastic and Iron Man, Veranke wants them taken alive so they can stand trial for their crimes against the Skrull empire.[10] She reminds them to not take risks but also that not all of them will survive to see their moment of glory.

Soon, “Jessica” is placed on security detail at the Raft Maximum Security Prison. This is on the faithful day when Electro stages the massive breakout. As a result of this incident, over 40 villains manage to escape. They are also able to smuggle the Silver Samurai and Sauron out of the country.[11] This will assist in their plans to poach Vibranium in the Savage Land and take control of the Japanese underworld.[12] However, this came with a drawback: She inadvertedly caused the Avengers to reform and take on a powerful new ally: The Sentry.[13] She tells this to a Skrull spy who is posing as Yellowjacket (aka Hank Pym), which annoys them since Pym was a founding member of the Avengers.[14]

The fact that “Jessica” has been asked to join the New Avengers is fortuitous to their plans. Veranke then meets with Madame Hydra, to tell her. Unaware that this is really a Skrull spy, the Hydra leader “blackmails” her spy to take the offer so she get intel on this new team.[15]

After accepting the offer, “Jessica” dresses up as Spider-Woman for a team meeting.[16] As she is coming down, she overhears Iron Man (Tony Stark) telling a story about the Scarlet Witch. When “Spider-Woman” asks what happened to Wanda, Tony reveals to them all that she had a nervous breakdown and that she was the person who attacked the old Avengers not to long ago. He also says that she has been left in the care of her family, which doesn’t sit well with anyone since Wanda is related to Magneto.[17]

Later, “Spider-Woman” is called for a meeting with SHIELD Director Maria Hill. She starts grilling “Jessica” on her encounter with Madame Hydra.[18] Hill makes it very clear that she doesn’t trust “Spider-Woman”. “Jessica” counters by saying that she is sure that there are more SHIELD agents — Fury loyalists — that trust Hill less than they trust her. After being dismissed, Veranke gets a call from “Yellowjacket” who is wondering where she is. He has been called to a meeting with the Avengers and the X-Men about the Scarlet Witch. They are about to go to Genosha to confront her and wants to know what the plan is. Veranke tells her fellow spy that he is to kill the Scarlet Witch the first chance he gets, as it would be plausible. They would then switch him out for the real Pym after the dirty deed is done.

Hours later “Spider-Woman” is present with the others on Genosha when, suddenly, all reality is torn asunder![19]

… This story continues in New Avengers #45.

Recurring Characters

Veranke, Spider-Woman, Nick Fury, “Yellowjacket”, “Edwin Jarvis”, “Countessa de la Fontaine”, New Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Sentry), Daredevil, Hydra (Madame Hydra, Connelly), SHIELD (Maria Hill), X-Men (Emma Frost, Shadowcat, Colossus), She-Hulk

Continuity Notes

This issue’s cover pays homage to Avengers #221.
This part of the story was told in New Avengers #14 and takes place circa Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1.
At the time of this story, Spider-Woman’s powers have been on the blink since Avengers #241.
Here, Connelly states that Jessica’s father was a member of Hydra. This is based on the origin told in Spider-Woman: Origin #1-5. However, these might be false memories because there are other contradicting accounts of who her father was.
We get a nice montage of Spider-Woman history up to that point. Here are the things we see:
- The Shroud, whom Spider-Woman first worked with in Spider-Woman #13-15.
- The Enforcer whom she first met in Spider-Woman #19 along with the Werewolf by Night.
- Morgan le Fay one of her most consistent foes starting in Spider-Woman #2.
- Doctor Strange, who saved Jessica from Morgan le Fay in Avengers #240-241.
- Modred the Mystic, who once offered to train Jessica in the mystic arts in Marvel Two-in-One #33. This was an empty promise.
- The High Evolutionary, who has been tied to Jessica’s origins since Spider-Woman #1.
- Tigra, who first befriended Spider-Woman in Spider-Woman #49.
- The Brothers Grimm, dolls animated by the soul of Nathan Dolly from Spider-Woman #3 to 12.
- Madam Hydra/Viper who Jessica first fought in Spider-Woman #42-44.
- Madame Webb guided Jessica along with other Spider-Women in Spider-Woman (vol. 3) #1-18.
- Spider-Man, whom Jessica first encountered in Spider-Woman #20.
- Charlott Witter, the evil Spider-Woman who first appeared in Amazing Spider-Man (vol. 2) #5. She attempted to steal the powers of her predecessors, including Jessica.
- Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor, which are odd choices since she hadn’t really encountered these heroes during her tenure as Spider-Woman.
- Wolverine and the city of Madripoor. After losing her powers, Jessica had a long association with both starting in Wolverine (vol. 2) #2.
- Nick Fury, who she first met when during her brief stint as a Hydra operative in Marvel Spotlight #32.
As seen in New Avengers #3-6 and revealed last issue, Skrulls posing as SHIELD agents attempted to poach the Savage Land’s Vibranium. An attack on Wakanda will be chronicled in Black Panther (vol. 4) #39-41.
Nick Fury went AWOL after it was revealed that he staged an illegal attack on Latveria. See Secret War #1-5.
She is referring to Genosha which was handed over to Magneto in X-Men (vol. 2) #87. Her concerns about mutants will be handled thanks to the Scarlet Witch’s reality warp that decimates mutants across the globe. See House of M #1-6 and Decimation: House of M - The Day After #1.
One Skrull states that they lucked out with Thor dying. The Asgardians were all taken out by Ragnarok in Thor (vol. 2) #80-85. However, this will prove to be short lived as Thor will return in Thor (vol. 3) #1 and start restoring his people.
While Reed and Tony have had many antagonistic encounters with the Skrulls, they are specifically being hunted for daring to stand up to the empire back in New Avengers: Illuminati . That was the inciting incident that led to this invasion of Earth.
The Raft breakout happened in New Avengers #1-2, at the time the old team had disbanded following Avengers #500-503. In Mighty Avengers #16, we’ll learn that a Skrull posing as Elektra was responsible for recruiting Electro for the breakout.
The Skrull’s attempts to infiltrate the Japanese underworld occurred in New Avengers #11-13.
The New Avengers recruited the Sentry in New Avengers #7-10.
This Skrull is known as Citri Noll, they took Hank’s place prior to House of M #1, as will be told in Mighty Avengers #15. Noll makes an offhand comment about how the Avengers treat Pym like crap. This is likely in reference to Hank’s fall from grace which happened between Avengers #213-230. He has never lived down the fact that he struck his former wife, the Wasp.
We saw this meeting with Madame Hydra standing off panel in New Avengers #3.
It should be noted that the man who appears to be Edwin Jarvis in this scene is also a Skrull spy. This will be revealed in Secret Invasion #1. He infiltrated the Avengers prior to New Avengers #1. This scene is taken from New Avengers #4.
Here, Magneto is referred to as the Scarlet Witch’s father. This has been the belief since Vision and the Scarlet Witch #4. However, it is later revealed that Wanda isn’t related to Magneto at all and isn’t even a mutant, as explained in Uncanny Avengers (vol. 2) #4-5.
This would have been in New Avengers #11-13, where Veranke intentionally let Madame Hydra free after the New Avengers captured her.
By the House of M reality warp, as seen in House of M #1-8.

Secret Invasion Reading Order