New Avengers #41: Review

May 2008

Brian Michael Bendis, Billy Tan

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Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:

New Avengers #41 Review by Rob Johnson (July 25, 2016)

This issue begins in Secret Invasion #2 but the main current action lies within SI#4, which is why I suggest Spider-Man lies stunned for a while. But the whole Event only lasts 2 days and SI#2 and #4 are in the 1st day, so the gap isn't very long.

Sheena is a different jungle heroine who's been published since 1938 by other comics companies. However she did star in a film and Marvel did a comics adaptation in 1984.

This part of SI is continued in #43 where Captain America is exposed as a Skrull, wrapped around another flashback which describes the origin of Cap and the other characters from the Skrull ship in SI#1 - and why they believe they are the real human heroes.

The last issue I covered was #36. But I included a description of #37 in my Comments there, plus a rundown of the appearances of NAv team members through World War Hulk.
Annual #2, #38 and #39 occur between WWH and SI, and I'll mention them in the following survey of apps in that period.
#40 started a run of issues during SI depicting events in the buildup to the Invasion, alongside similar issues of Mighty Av. They all have covers showing Skrullised versions of classic Avengers covers. #40 starts it off with Av#1 and depicts the rise of Queen Veranke. This issue's cover copies Av#11 where the team met SM.

SM and Wolverine do a lot in this period and I only have room for their highlights.
SM starts off with the Back In Black issues of Sensational SM #35-40, including Venom-less Eddie Brock suffering from cancer. Then he clashes with the Scarlet Spiders in Avengers: Initiative #7.
W remembers stuff about Romulus in W#52-55, W:Origins Annual #1, W:O#16-20 and W#56, and in the present he kills Sabretooth. Then #57-61 is the Logan Dies arc - W has fought the Angel of Death each time he's previously died. This time he survives with DrS's help - but next time he dies it will be for good.

SM, W and DrS join the rest of NAv for Annual #2. Hood's gang attack the team again. DrS defeats them but also takes his own side down. He quits the team because merging with Zom during WWH has corrupted him.
SM dominates the next short section. Amazing SM #543 ends the Back In Black stories and then One More Day changes everything:- DrS helps SM reach out to lots of sources of help in Friendly Neighbourhood SM #24, but to no avail. SM does the deal with Mephisto in the 1st half of ASM#545 which cures Aunt May and restores his secret identity at the cost of losing Mary Jane. A fb in ASM#641 shows that the secret identity bit is achieved by DrS, Reed Richards and Tony Stark casting a techno-spell which removes all evidence and memory of Peter being SM except for him and MJ. It's that last bit that splits the couple apart.
The NAv minus DrS are in #38 when Jessica Jones goes with her and Luke Cage's baby Danielle to MAv for safety from the Skrulls and other threats.
SM then has some apps building towards Brand New Day, including the return of Harry Osborn who gets Oscorp to rebuild May's destroyed house. Then the 2nd half of ASM#545 officially kicks off BND with a party for HO. And ASM: Swing Shift introduces Jackpot and the villain Overdrive.
Meanwhile W's in NAv#39 to help stop a Skrull replacing Echo, and Ronin's on hand to help her get over it.
Later SM teams up with X-Men including W in XM&SM#4 to fight a clone of Kraven I created by Mr Sinister.
In the 3rd story in Mystic Hands Of DrS the mage confronts a demon, plus LC gives Dakota North a case to investigate and she brings in Daredevil in his #107-108. Meanwhile W is in the Astonishing XM team. #14-24 is the Breakworld story which ends in Giant-Sized AXM #1 as Kitty Pryde stops a huge missile hitting Earth but is trapped in it heading into space. SM and DrS guest in that.
W and SM continue on their separate paths:-

W contributes to Messiah Complex in which the 1st mutant baby is born since M-Day. Lots of people are after her, including Bishop who believes she will cause his bad future and wants to kill her, and Cable who believes she will cause a good future and wants to protect her. Cable takes the baby to the future.
SM launches into BND with his now-lone mag ASM appearing 3 times a month in 3-issue arcs. #546-554 introduce new supporting cast plus villains Mr Negative and Menace. Dexter Bennett takes over the Daily Bugle and renames it the DB. And Jackpot returns.
Meanwhile Ronin drops in on Bucky-Cap in CA#37. Old partners LC and Iron Fist link up in Immortal IF #16-20 to fight Zhou Cheng, killer of IFs. Then IF helps DD against new villain Lady Bullseye in DD#111-115.
SM and W pay DrS a visit in ASM#555, and wind up fighting Mayan ninjas. SM continues alone in #556-557.
Then DrS needs help from Daimon Hellstrom to repel an invasion from the Dream Dimension in Last Defenders #3.
DrS, W and SM with LC and IF are among those fighting the CAP robot in Fantastic Four #556-557, and in the crowd at the funeral of the Invisible Woman from the future in FF#562. In between SM has #559-561 where he gets a shared apartment and turns paparazzo. But he messes it up and gets fired from the DB.
Then we're back to SM and Wolvie running in parallel:-
In #565-567 a new female Kraven III mistakes Peter's flatmate for SM, and Peter borrows DD's costume to save him.
In X-Force #1-6 Cyclops creates his hit squad led by W to hunt the Purifiers linked up with Magus who infects other old X-enemies with the techno-organic virus. Uncanny XM #495-499 is Divided We Stand - Cyclops disbands the team. Here I follow W, Colossus and Nightcrawler to Russia where they fight Omega Red, until Cyclops calls everyone to San Francisco. Then in W: Manifest Destiny #1-4 he takes over SanFran's Chinese gangs as Black Dragon.

Now the NAv including DrS join with the MAv and the Invaders from WWII for the Avengers/Invaders limited series. In the 2nd half W, LC and SM end up back in WWII with the Invaders and Iron Man, Ms Marvel, Wasp and the Skrull-Spider-Woman to stop Red Skull changing events with a Cosmic Cube.
W and SM dominate again between here and SI:-
W starts with AXM#25-30, a part of Manifest Destiny involving mutants from another timeline invading via Ghost Boxes. UXM#500 brings Magneto back with technologically-simulated powers to team up with High Evolutionary. In W:O#21-25 W hires Deadpool and Bucky-Cap to help him capture his son Daken, and in #26-27 he learns about Daken's past brought up by Romulus. Next is Original Sin. We learn that Romulus arranged for W to meet Prof X in order to kill him, but PX made him forget about lots of his past including Romulus. In the present the Hellfire Club capture Daken, and W & PX rescue him. Then PX telepathically shows Daken that Romulus is the real enemy not W. In W:O#31-32 W and Daken go after Romulus but Daken tricks W and goes on alone. Cable #6-7,9-10 has W and X-Force hunting time-hopping Bishop.
Meanwhile PP tries to get jobs, and in Young Av Presents #6 SM, Echo and LC are there when Ronin OK's Kate Bishop to use his old Hawkeye name and equipment. Then in ASM#568-583 PP starts working for Ben Urich's Front Line. Norman Osborn brings his Thunderbolts to hunt Spider-Man. Martin Li, who runs the FEAST shelter that Aunt May volunteers at, has secretly cured Eddie Brock of cancer. The Venom symbiote tries to transfer from Mac Gargan back to Brock, but Eddie rejects it and instead becomes Anti-Venom. Plus lots more. In IM#7 SM and IM team up and we learn that Tony Stark's amended memory is that Peter used to work for him.
Later DrS answers the call in ILLUM#5 when IM reconvenes the Illuminati and shows them Elektra-Skrull's body. But Black Bolt turns out to be a Skrull replacement too.

From Our Blog:

Gwen Stacy, beauty queen of Standard High School, was Peter Parker's (alias Spider-Man) first great love.

Gwen Stacy: Classic Beauty

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

New Avengers #41 Synopsis by Rob Johnson

This issue centres around a flashback showing another view of the SHIELD vibranium mining operation in the Savage Land from #5-6.

But it begins with a scene from Secret Invasion #2 as a dinosaur interrupts a fight in the SL between 2 sets of heroes.

The Mighty and New Avengers have come to the SL to investigate a crashed Skrull spaceship. The other side came out of it claiming to be real Earth heroes who have been captives of the Skrulls for years. They include Captain America (the current version now dead), Thor (the current version restored to life but keeping out of current affairs) and Iron Man (the current version and his armour suffering from a Skrull virus that attacks StarkTech). Both sides claim to be the real deal, and so the other side must be Skrulls.

The dinosaur rampages among them. The current Spider-Man (who also has a duplicate here) climbs onto the dino's head, but it tosses him away - a long way away.

The chronology of SI suggests that he is stunned for a while. But then he finds himself confronted by Ka-Zar, Shanna, Zabu and representatives of various SL tribes. Spidey thinks they're all Skrulls (KZ says to Shanna "I told you so"), supported by that fact that the female thinks she's called Shanna when everyone knows it's Sheena. They deny it and KZ says they are at war with the aliens. He tells a tale ....

Several months ago Ka-Zar, Sheena and Zabu awake to gunfire. They discover SHIELD agents forcing SL natives to work in the vibranium mines. Apparently UN laws now prohibit mining vibranium which can be used to make 'Tony Stark' weapons. Nick Fury head of SHIELD (they obviously don't know he's been thrown out) promised KZ he'd uphold this ban.

They capture a female SHIELD Agent. Shanna hits her too hard and she dies, turning green and developing pointed ears and a corrugated chin. KZ recognises her as a Skrull, but Shanna's never heard of them. Shanna dons the SHIELD uniform and infiltrates the camp.

Contessa Val de Fontaine appears to be inspecting the site, but she's trying to reassure the guy who presumably runs it. She dismisses the modern humans (ie Shanna and Ka-Zar) who may be nearby, and tells him not to worry about Avengers or X-Men visiting. She says they have agents inside the New Avengers (ie Spider-Woman and Edwin Jarvis). She brushes aside his question as to whether the Skrull Queen knows what they're doing down here.

But now Shanna's disguise is rumbled. So she shoots her way out - but doesn't quite make it. Then Zabu attacks while Ka-Zar commandeers a jeep and drives them away to safety.

Later Ka-Zar suggests contacting Nick Fury. But Shanna says the aliens have infiltrated SHIELD and the Avengers - so a better plan is to recruit a Savage Land army and deal with the situation themselves.

They do so. But before they can attack the New Avengers beat them to it - a team they've never seen before, with old hands Captain America and Iron Man joined by Spider-Man and Wolverine and others.

And then a SHIELD helicarrier appears and destroys the site.

... end of Ka-Zar's tale.

Spidey confirms that the New Avengers were there, but they never realised the SHIELD Agents were Skrulls. Afterwards SHIELD refused to tell them what was going on. Captain America thought that it was a rogue SHIELD faction.

Shanna still isn't sure Spidey is the real Spider-Man but Ka-Zar's instincts tell him to trust him. But Peter still thinks KZ and gang might be Skrulls too, especially when his Spider-Sense goes off. But it's the other Captain America who now attacks them all.

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