New Avengers #30: Review

Are the Skrulls behind *all* the things Cage mentions? I don't know of any *evidence* that they caused Nick Fury's Secret War and his fall from SHIELD. But Mighty Avengers #12 will make it clear that they took advantage of the shake-up to heavily infiltrate SHIELD. (Sometimes it seems like Maria Hill was the only SHIELD agent who *wasn't* a Skrull.) #42 will confirm that Skrulls were behind the Raft breakout, and #41 will show that they were the rogue SHIELD agents in the Savage Land. Luke doesn't mention House of M and the Skrulls definitely weren't behind that (but #45 will reveal that they were, and remained, aware that reality was changed). I don't think they had much to do with Hydra acting 'strange'. There were Skrull Hydra agents but Madame Hydra wasn't 1 of them. The Skrull Yellowjacket stirred the Civil War, but of course neither Iron Man or Captain America was a Skrull. Hawkeye has made 1 appearance between finding Wanda in #26 and here. In Fallen Son #3 (Captain America) he confronted Iron Man, who offered him the job of replacement Cap. Clint tried it but quickly decided it was wrong, and threw the offer back in Iron Man's face. Hawkeye reminds Spider-Woman that *she* was dead once too. She died in the last issue of her 1st series, and was resurrected in Avengers #241. Wolverine (2003) #58 will reveal that Logan has died many times too, but Barton wouldn't know that. Iron Fist supposedly died in Power Man and Iron Fist #125, but this character was later retconned as a fake (but not a Skrull). Clint asks if this team is the New (or just new) Defenders, because Dr Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum has been used as their base many times. And Hawkeye was a member once.

The Japanese adventure continues in #31-32, but the flashback story ends here. So I won't be synopsising them because they don't contain any relevant characters for these Libraries. In #31 the other NAv apart from Dr Strange aren't as badly off as they appear to be here. They continue to fight Maya, Elektra and the Hand ninjas. Strange mentally contacts Wong and gets him to read a spell which sends most of the ninjas to sleep. Then DS's astral self cures Maya of the Hand brainwashing. Maya stabs Elektra who turns out to be a Skrull. Exit the equally-surprised ninjas. (Strange recovers too.) Elektra is the 1st Skrull infiltrator we see unmasked. But Mighty Avengers #12 will tell us that Nick Fury had already uncovered another 1. In #32 the team fly the body of 'Elektra' home in Danny Rand's jet. They suspect there are more Skrulls around, wondering if any of *them* are aliens (despite Dr Strange's spell that supposedly verified them all this issue). Luke Cage believes he's found the players behind his conspiracy theory. Spider-Woman suggests taking the Skrull body to Iron Man. But many of the team think that Tony Stark is a prime candidate for being a Skrull. Jessica says this will flush him out if it's true. The plane is hit by an electromagnetic pulse from MAv#4 and it crashes. Wolverine throws Spider-Woman out before it lands, and she takes the Skrull body away. She'll deliver it to Tony Stark at the end of MAv#6. #32 is actually Part 1 of the next story The Trust, but it fits more as an epilogue to this Japanese tale.

#42 will reveal that Skrull Queen Veranke's masterplan is to foment dissension amongst the superhero ranks, and her role as Spider-Woman gives her a good platform to work from. Currently the idea is to sow suspicion. and in fact MAv#16 will tell us that Pagon the Elektra Skrull was specifically planted to be uncovered. Having put the New Avengers at each others throats, Veranke now takes the Skrull body to Tony Stark to infect the other side with doubts.