Synopsis
New Avengers, The (2025 series) #2 synopsis by
Rob Johnson
Rating:
Last issue Black Widow and Winter Soldier recruited Sub-Mariner and Wolverine (Laura Kinney) to help investigate a mystery lab in Kamchatka. When they got there they discovered that the Jackal had genetically created twisted clones of the Illuminati (Black Bolt, Black Panther, Dr Strange, Iron Man, Mr Fantastic, Prof X and Sub-Mariner). And a shout from BB sent our heroes tumbling and destroyed most of the base, and Jackal's body evaporated leaving his head.
But this issue begins with a flashback to Jackal receiving 7 vials from a mystery benefactor who also provided the lab in Kamchatka. And he mentions that the Jackal currently in jail in New York is another clone. (And I'd guess that the 1 who died last issue was a clone too.)
The rest of the issue has a voiceover whose identity will be revealed at the end. At this point it pours scorn on Jackal's scientific abilities.
Bucky Barnes emerges from rubble to be grabbed by the coils of 'Reed Richards' again. In a relatively intact part of the base Wolverine had her left arm incinerated by 'Iron Man' Now they hear those 2, and Iron Apex (with somewhat distressed armour) turns his back on his crippled foe. Kinney calls him back for a rematch but she's slashed through the stomach by the blade of the besuited 'Black Panther' who calls himself Luke Charles. He also threatens 'Tony Stark', telling him not to stop him leaving and ignoring his companion's reminder of a previous excursion where they learned that working together was the best option. Meanwhile the villain who calls himself Mr Ouroboros is crushing the life out of Winter Soldier until Black Widow fires several bullets through his elastic head.
Iron Apex arrives and and calls together the rest of the Killuminati (except Luke Charles who's now free in the world), saying that if they want to avoid being put back in their tanks again they need to make an escape plan. Mr O imagines being free to create his unstable molecule virus or his infinite liminal prison, but Apex asks him instead to jerry-build a weapon to kill the heroes before they tell the world about them. Reed immediately comes up with the idea of merging an arc reactor with a plasma generator. Tony tells him to get on with it while they keep the heroes busy.
The voiceover reminds us of the original Illuminati who banded together to secretly 'save' the world. He wonders how such a collection of smart men could have got things so wrong. He and possibly billions of others suffered from their arrogance.
Namor had also been buried by the explosive voice of 'Black Bolt' (this version just called Bolt). Now he breaks free, causing his own mini-earthquake, to join BW & WS. The melee resumes with 'Strange' zapping Bucky who uses his cyber-arm to slash Iron Apex while Natasha Romanoff zaps Professor X-Tinction and Subby punches Bolt until his counterpart Imperius Rex overmasters him with Atlantean telepathy. Prof X has Widow by the throat and is mentally draining her when a new player enters the fray ... Clea.
The voiceover reminds us that Clea Strange, wife of Dr Strange, is Sorcerer Supreme of the Dark Dimension and he's not as sure of her motives as her husband appears to be.
Clea has freed Natasha and she reminds the heroes and us that Stephen Strange has gone on a quest for power (in the Doctor Strange Of Asgard mini-series while Dr Doom has replaced *him* as Sorcerer Supreme of *Earth* in the One World Under Doom event). She thought she sensed him here (last issue) but now sees Guru Strange instead. Doing a 60's hippy impression GS magically takes himself and Prof X away to escape her wrath. Bolt's voice smashes into her so she magically decapitates him. We didn't see what happened to Imperius Rex but Namor is free of his mental control. BW, WS and Clea have Iron Apex trapped but he refuses to power down so flying Subby smashes him through a wall and into the sky demanding to know where his clone is. IA tells him IR has gone to the ocean for an upgrade. So Namor shove his trident into Stark's armour shorting it all out. As Tony sinks into the water he calls Reed and tells him to escape. SM follows him in to make sure of the job and Apex sinks further as his life support dwindles to 0.
Wolverine's regeneration has worked and she joins her 3 teammates. Bolt and Iron Apex (and Jackal) are dead but the other 5 Killuminati are scattered. Bucky wonders if Doom was funding this but Nat says he wouldn't have needed Jackal to do the dirty work. Bucky is angry at Namor for killing 'Tony' because they could have got answers from him. Subby retorts that he doesn't take orders from him. Laura tries to intervene but gets angry when SM calls her a fake Wolverine. Bucky and Nat have to keep them apart. Clea's getting a headache watching them.
When they've calmed down Bucky asks her to join the team. She explains that she just came here looking for Stephen and she doesn't know what this team *is*. Nat agrees that they just fell into this, but now they have 5 evil clones left to deal with. And Bucky adds that a mad Reed Richards could easily destroy the world. Clea's only interested in hunting down the Strange-clone. Bucky says they'll help her with that but Richards should be their 1st priority. He proposes a loose team with 2 rules:- proactive strikes and watching each other's backs. The contentious 3 can agree with the 1st but not necessarily the 2nd. But when BW takes charge they all fall in line.
Namor proposes another rule, they don't involve the real Illuminati. He doesn't trust them (even though he was 1) but Bucky says he has a different genius to bring on board. Next we see Clea transporting herself and Bucky to their target as the voiceover returns to agree that the Illuminati shouldn't be trusted with this. Then an actual voice recognises his 2 visitors in his dark, magical 'kingdom'. He's worried about the person who controls this place, but Bucky says the rest of the team are distracting him. Bucky asks him to join the team. The voiceover says he's got nothing better to do. And we see this is Hulkspace, and it's Bruce Banner trapped on a 'throne'.
CharactersGood (or All)Plus: Wolverine (
Laura Kinney duplicate).
Enemies
Killuminati.
Flashbacks
Jackal (Miles Warren).