Synopsis
In an undisclosed location Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Doctor Voodoo, Hellcat, Iron Fist, Jessica Jones and Valkyrie are clustered round the bed of Luke Cage where he's recovering from heart surgery after a heart attack. Jessica wants her husband to rest but *he* wants to see their baby. Jessica says her mother is looking after her (but Luke and Mrs Jones don't get on well).
Dr Strange is worried about the surgery that they coerced Norman Osborn to arrange last issue. He doesn't trust the ex-Green Goblin and casts an 'X-ray' spell which reveals something attached to Luke's heart. Daredevil faintly detects a frequency, but he can't tell if it's being transmitted or received. They can't tell whether it's just a tracer or something more dangerous.
Ex-surgeon Stephen Strange says he can't do anything about it personally, but he knows a man who can.
These people rescued post-operative Cage from HAMMER's helicarrier last issue while the regular New Avengers staged a diversion by attacking the Initiative HQ at Camp HAMMER. Now Osborn is angrily jetting back from there as Iron Patriot followed by Sentry, with Ms Marvel (Moonstone) piloting the rest of the Dark Avengers (Ares, Daken, Hawkeye (Bullseye) and Spider-Man (Venom (Mac Gargan))).
En route he gets a video call from Hood (with Madame Masque) who has been absent for a while getting new powers from Loki (#57) (after he lost the ones he had from Dormammu in #54). In the meantime Jonas Harrow took over the gang Hood led in service to Norman, and demanded the same deal that Hood had had (#56). Osborn has to admit he agreed to it (#57).
Henry Pym arrives at Luke's bedroom in the guise of the miniature Wasp. (He took on the role to honour is ex-wife Janet Van Dyne who is assumed dead after the end of Secret Invasion.) Wasp intends to enter Cage's body super-small alongside Dr Strange, who may have passed the mantle of Sorcerer Supreme to Dr Voodoo (#50) but is still an ex-surgeon with mystical abilities of his own.
The NAv (Captain America (Bucky Barnes), Mockingbird, Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers), Ronin (Clint Barton), Spider-Man and Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)) get back in time to see what happens. Pym shrinks Strange and they fly up Luke's nostril. Next thing we know they've reached the heart. The object *is* transmitting, so Osborn could be on his way. Daredevil detects a change in the signal.
Victoria Hand on the helicarrier tells Norman they've tracked the signal to a place on Long Island. Iron Patriot leads the DAv there, but also orders Hand to tell Jonas Harrow to initiate something.
Strange casts a containment spell (to limit any explosion?). Wasp prepares to shrink the device on Cage's heart, but he detects something he doesn't like. Daredevil's acute senses can also tell that the device is now cycling, and the cycle is speeding up. Spidey and Iron Fist figure it's a bomb counting down.
Iron Patriot has reached the target house. He suddenly tells Hand to get Harrow to shut the device off. And orders Sentry and the DAv jet to back off. We see the device lying on an empty bed. Harrow reports that there *is* no off switch. The house blows up. And we learn that it was Osborn's own house (or 1 of them - he's rich - it's his summer house).
The Avengers and guests (including Misty Knight and Thing from last issue who weren't shown in the earlier sequence) are now safely in the NAv's secret HQ. Luke Cage is walking, but then has to sit down for a rest. Jessica's mother enters the room with baby Danielle Cage, and the non-family take it as their cue to leave. Luke says he'll never be able to repay them for what they did. Danny Rand (IF) says *they* were paying him back for what he's spent his life doing for them.
Mrs Jones breaks the spell by saying that the couple owe the baby a normal life. Jessica tries to defend them but Luke agrees. Maybe it's time to give up the hero life.
Jonas Harrow and his gang have been gathered together in the HAMMER helicarrier. Hood enters with Madame Masque and Norman Osborn. Parker Robbins shoots Harrow in the head with 1 of his magic bullets (and this death is 'real' because we've never seen Jonas again).
His eyes glowing with mystic power Hood berates them for ruining the secret deal he had with Osborn. They could do what they wanted most of the time and just do the odd job for Norman - and in return they would stay out of jail. But in Parker's absence they have signed themselves up to working for NO full time. The gang ask for the old terms back. Norman says he'll agree if they do 1 big job for him - kill the New Avengers. Except Spider-Man - he wants *him* brought in alive.
The NAv will next be all together in their Annual #3, except Mrs Jones who won't be seen again until the 2017 Jessica Jones series. Before that all but the Cage/Jones clan are in Dark Reign: The List: Avengers where Norman Osborn captures Ronin, and in the Annual the NAv rescue him.
The team members have scattered apps before those, and Bucky Barnes lays out the map. He's in the Black Widow: Deadly Origin limited series with Mockingbird and Ronin. Then that duo join him in Captain America #600 with Luke Cage and Spider-Woman. BB and Ro greet the return of Steve Rogers in the CA: Reborn mini-series, and BB, LC and MB participate in CA: Who Will Wield The Shield. But Bucky continues in the role of CA for a while longer in the Nomad: Girl Without A World mini featuring Rikki Barnes/Nomad, his counterpart from a copy of the Heroes Reborn world. And then in CA#602-605 he fights the 1950's Cap. Meanwhile LC crops up in Thunderbolts #137. And somewhere along the way Spider-Man makes his sole solo apps in 2 tales in Amazing SM #605.
Iron Patriot creates a similar map for the Dark Avengers. 1st up is a crossover which pits his Thunderbolts against Nick Fury's Secret Warriors in TB#134-136 and SW#7-9. Ares and Bullseye are in some of the issues with him, while Moonstone and Sentry visit CA#600. IP, Ares, Venom and Victoria Hand are all in CA:Reborn, and IP follows that with TB#137. Then he and all the DAv are in DRL:Av and NAv An#3.
Hood and Madame Masque don't feature in any of these issues. Hood will turn up later in Dr Voodoo #3-4, and MM in Iron Man (2008) #14-23 as she tracks the fugitive down.
NAv's guests are more scattered. Daredevil is in the BW:DO series before he leaps to DRL:DD which is later than NAv An#3. Iron Fist's before and after apps are TB#137 and Siege:CA#1. Wasp goes from CA:Reborn to Mighty Avengers #32-34. Thing has an early cameo in Hulk (2008) #17 and then the Fantastic Four star in Girl Comics (2010) #1/5 - then they leap over NAv An#3 to DAv An#1 where ex-DAv'er Marvel Boy becomes Protector. All the other guests don't appear until after the NAv Annual:- Dr Strange and Dr Voodoo in X-Force (2008) #25. Misty Knight in Shadowland: Blood On The Streets #1. Hellcat in the 1st issue of the next NAv title. And Valkyrie in Secret Avengers #1.
Hood's gang here is Answer, a Blood Brother, Brothers Grimm, Bulldozer, Bushwacker, Centurius, Chemistro (Calvin Carr), Corruptor, Crossfire, Deathwatch, Griffin, Mandrill, Piledriver, Razor-Fist, Thunderball, Wrecker. All were in recent issues except Bushwacker who was last in Dark Reign: Hood #1.
All but Chemistro will be recruited for the Siege of Asgard in a flashback in our #64, and *he* will be with them in #61 when they go after the NAv. But some of them will be seen before the fb, 3 of them before NAv An#3:- Centurius in TB#136, Bushwacker and Razor-Fist in the X-Force: Sex and Violence mini. Bushwacker will then be in ASM#626, and Razor-Fist in IM#20 with Brothers Grimm. Answer crops up in Wolverine: Origins #45, Griffin in X-Men: To Serve & Protect #4/4 and Mandrill is attacked by Tigra in the latter part of Av: Initiative #31.