New Avengers #48
After a final battle in Central Park, the Skrull invasion of Earth has ended and the planet’s heroes and villains can start picking up the pieces.[1][2] In the aftermath, Captain America (James Barnes) meets up with Ronin (Clint Barton) and suggests that he and the New Avengers should meet up and discuss what happens next. The word is soon passed on to Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Iron Fist (Danny Rand), Wolverine (Logan), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and others.
The following day, they all start showing up at Cap’s hideout in the Bronx. When Spider-Man arrives he finds Wolverine, and Ronin already there. When Peter asks who this new Captain America is, they explain that it is “Bucky” Barnes, Steve Rogers’ old partner from World War II.[3] They decide to wait for everyone to show up to talk about things, so Clint passes the time by reacquainting Spider-Man with his wife Mockingbird (Bobbie Morse) who had just been freed from Skrull captivity.[4] Bobbi is trying to come to terms with the fact that she lost years of her life while in captivity. Clint promises he’ll help her through it, and they all take a moment to mourn the loss of the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne) who seemingly died in the final battle.[5] Spider-Man is still freaking out over everyone who showed up for the final clash.[6]
That’s when Iron Fist arrives and asks if anyone has heard from Luke Cage or Jessica Jones since the final battle. All anyone remembers is that they had took off for some reason.[7] That’s when Spider-Woman arrives and tells them that she saw them. Clint wonders why Jessica has shown up and Logan says he invited her. He reminds them that she is as much a victim of the invasion as Bobbi was since the leader of the Skrulls, Veranke, took her place for months.[8][9] This leads to questions about what is going on with SHIELD, since there is news that the spy agency is being dissolved.[10] That’s when the new Captain America shows up. He congratulates the team for helping win the war and says that the world will need them now more than ever. Since this new incarnation of the team was formed by Steve Rogers, he is opening up his home for them to use as a headquarters.
That’s when Iron Fist announces that he won’t be staying on the team. He explains that his company is doing poorly following the Skrull invasion and needs to focus on that. However, he says that if they ever need him all they need do is call. That’s when Luke, Jessica, and Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) finally show up. Luke and Jess tell them that their daughter — Dani — was kidnapped by a Skrull that was posing as the Avengers butler, Edwin Jarvis. They tried searching Avengers Tower to find out where he went but found nothing. Wolverine figures that the baby was taken as a hostage so this impostor can get off world. When Luke asks if they will help try and find Dani, there is no question that everyone wants to help.
Their first stop is to the Baxter Building, which is in shambles after the invasion.[11] When Jessica tells the Invisible Woman (Sue Richards) that her baby was taken, Sue wakes up the rest of the Fantastic Four — Mister Fantastic (her husband, Reed), the Human Torch (her brother Johnny Storm), and the Thing (Ben Grimm). Reed quickly gets to work to try and narrow down their search area. Luckily, New York City has been locked down by the military. However, there have not been any Skrull sightings since the battle in Central Park. Hacking into spy satellites Reed uses his Skrull detectors to try and find the kidnapper. While it picks up no signs this only suggests that the Skrull that kidnapped Dani is still wearing the form of Edwin Jarvis. Reed will keep working at it while the New Avengers and Fantastic Four go out and start shaking down the usual suspects.
While Spider-Woman and Iron Fist shake down a local Hydra base, Mister Fantastic takes Mockingbird and Ronin to bust up an Advanced Idea Mechanics hideout. The Invisible Woman and Human Torch travel below the city to see if “Jarvis” is hiding among the Moloids. Meanwhile, Wolverine roughs up Electro while Ms. Marvel searches the ruins of Avengers Mansion.[12] Lastly, the Thing trashes a bar to get answers from the criminal underworld.
The trail leads them to a bar where a large group of SHIELD agents are watching the news coverage to find out what is going to happen to them and their jobs. One of the agents sarcastically proposes a toast to the government suits that decided to put a psycho like Norman Osborn in charge of their jobs. That’s when Wolverine shows up with Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Logan points at a single SHIELD agent and tells her to stand up. Realizing that the woman they are pointing at is a Skrull, the SHIELD agents draw their weapons. While Wolverine and Luke try to keep them back, Jessica pleads with the woman to tell them where they have taken her daughter. That’s when the Skrull drops her disguise and tries to flee the scene.
Luke, Logan, and Jessica work fast to subdue the alien in the parking lot. Unfortunately, just before they can get the Skrull to talk, a SHIELD agent shoots it in the head. With their only lead gone, Jessica breaks down because she is convinced that the Skrulls are going to kill her baby. Realizing that he has no other choice, Luke decides to do the unthinkable. He goes to Norman Osborn with hat in hand and pleads for help. He tells Norman that he will owe Osborn a favor as a result. This pleases Norman to no end and he agrees to help find Cage’s daughter.
Recurring Characters
New Avengers (Captain America, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Ronin, Iron Fist, Echo, Ms. Marvel, Mockingbird), Jessica Jones, Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Thing), Thunderbolts (Norman Osborn, Bullseye, Venom, Penance), SHIELD, Hydra, AIM, Iron Man, Thor, Ares, Young Avengers (Hawkeye, Stature, Wiccan), Hood’s Gang (The Hood, Madame Masque, Bulldozer, Cutthroat, Thunderball), Electro. Moloids, Skrulls
Continuity Notes
This follows immediately after Secret Invasion #1-8 and a ton of limited series, one-shots, and crossover issues across the Marvel line.
Here we see Iron Man reaching out to Thor who has his back turned to him. At the time of this story, Thor is pissed at Tony Stark. See, not that long ago, Thor was dead after Ragnarok consumed Asgard in Thor (vol. 2) #81-85. Not long after, Tony used Thor’s DNA to create a clone of the thunder god (later named Ragnarok) in Civil War #3. Thor returned to life in Thor (vol. 3) #1, and in the 3rd issue of that series he confronted Stark over the unauthorized use of his DNA.
At the time of this story, James had just recently taken on the mantle of Captain America as seen in Captain America (vol. 5) #34. This is because Steve Rogers was believed to have died in issue #25 of that series. He’ll be back though, check out Captain America: Reborn #1-6 for the details.
Bobbie was one of the first heroes swapped out with a Skrull prior to the invasion. This happened years earlier. New Avengers: The Reunion #2 reveals that Morse was swapped out during the events of Avengers West Coast #91. This Skrull impostor was later killed in issue #100 of that series. Here, Spider-Man mentions that he has met Bobbie in the past. The first time they met was in Marvel Team-Up #95. Clint and Bobbi got married in Hawkeye #4, in case you were wondering. We all caught up? Good.
The Wasp was seemingly killed during the final battle in Secret Invasion #8 when he size changing powers were used against her by the Skrulls. In reality, she was shunted to the Microverse, which we will learn in Avengers (vol. 4) #31.
He specifically mentions Nick Fury, who had gone underground following Secret War #1-5, Thor who was believed dead (as I mentioned above), and Norman Osborn and Venom (who were members of the Thunderbolts at the time starting in Thunderbolts #110).
Namely, that their daughter Dani was kidnapped by Skrulls as seen last issue and Secret Invasion #8.
As revealed in New Avengers #42, Veranke took Jessica’s place in Giant-Size Spider-Woman #1. Veranke revealed her true identity to our heroes in Secret Invasion #3.
Here, Mockingbird introduces herself to Spider-Woman as a fellow agent of SHIELD. Bobbi was first seen as a SHIELD agent in Astonishing Tales #6. Per New Avengers #14, Jessica joined up prior to being swapped out by Veranke. Here Bobbi says they met “a billion years ago”, she is likely referring to Contest of Champions #1, the first time the two women were depicted being in the same room together.
As seen in Secret Invasion #8, Norman Osborn is considered a hero for making the kill shot on Veranke. Former SHIELD Director Tony Stark (aka Iron Man, who took over in New Avengers #25) took the blame for the invasion and is replaced by Osborn. Norman’s first order of business was to dissolve SHIELD and form a new spy agency called HAMMER.
Part of the building was sucked into the Negative Zone as we saw in Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1-3.
Avengers Mansion was heavily damaged when the Scarlet Witch went mad and attacked her teammates in Avengers #500-503. In Avengers: Finale #1, Tony stark shut the headquarters down. It will remain closed up until New Avengers (vol. 2) #1.
Topical References
When Spider-Man swings through the holographic wall outside Captain America’s hideout he is repeating the line “There is no spoon!” over and over. This is a line from the 1999 film The Matrix. In that film, the lead character (Neo, played by Keanu Reeves) discovers that the world he knew was actually a highly complex form of virtual reality and bands with resistance fighters to free humanity from the machines that have enslaved them.
