The Mighty Avengers, Vol. 4: Secret Invasion, Book 2

The Mighty Avengers (2007)

by Brian Michael Bendis, Khoi Pham (Illustrator)

Elektra is a Skrull!
Words that have echoed through Marvel Comics for the last two years. But how did this happen and for how long has this been true? Plus, the return of Mar-Vell has brought with it more questions then answers, but now all those questions will finally be answered. Also, find out all you need to know about Nick Fury's Secret Warriors. Then watch the lives of two of the most famous Kree, Captain Mar-Vell and Marvel Boy, alter the events of the Invasion forever!

Collecting: Mighty Avengers 16-20

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Fiction, Comic Book

120 pages, Hardcover

First published April 29, 2009

About the author

A comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim (including five Eisner Awards) and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics. For over eight years Bendis’s books have consistently sat in the top five best sellers on the nationwide comic and graphic novel sales charts.

Though he started as a writer and artist of independent noir fiction series, he shot to stardom as a writer of Marvel Comics' superhero books, particularly Ultimate Spider-Man.

Bendis first entered the comic world with the "Jinx" line of crime comics in 1995. This line has spawned the graphic novels Goldfish, Fire, Jinx, Torso (with Marc Andreyko), and Total Sell Out. Bendis is writing the film version of Jinx for Universal Pictures with Oscar-winner Charlize Theron attached to star and produce.

Bendis’s other projects include the Harvey, Eisner, and Eagle Award-nominated Powers (with Michael Avon Oeming) originally from Image Comics, now published by Marvel's new creator-owned imprint Icon Comics, and the Hollywood tell-all Fortune and Glory from Oni Press, both of which received an "A" from Entertainment Weekly.

Bendis is one of the premiere architects of Marvel's "Ultimate" line: comics specifically created for the new generation of comic readers. He has written every issue of Ultimate Spider-Man since its best-selling launch, and has also written for Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate X-Men, as well as every issue of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up, Ultimate Origin and Ultimate Six.

Brian is currently helming a renaissance for Marvel’s AVENGERS franchise by writing both New Avengers and Mighty Avengers along with the successful ‘event’ projects House Of M, Secret War, and this summer’s Secret Invasion.

He has also previously done work on Daredevil, Alias, and The Pulse.

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bendis is back with volume two of stand-alone Secret Invasion stories and this one is slightly better than the first volume.

The discovery of Skrull Elektra was the flash point for this cross over event.



So how did it happen?

Elektra was minding her own stabby business when she’s attacked by a couple of multi-powered weird-assed Skrulls.



It took some doing, but she’s finally subdued and the Skrull’s plan to put Elektra/Skrull at the head of The Hand bears fruit.



Well-played evil weird-assed Skrulls. Well played.

Second, Nick Fury, continues to toughen up his band of Secret Warriors. The highlight, Phobos, the ten year old, God of Fear, pedaling up to the Maria Hill kidnapping scene in a Big Wheel.



The Skrulls took great pains to create a duplicate Captain Mar-Vell, Kree defender of Earth. The problem: faux Captain Mar-Vell over road his Skrull programming and attacked the Skrull fleet in orbit around the Earth. Oops and ouch!



Enter Marvel Boy!

How many Skrull Hank Pym’s does it take to screw in a light bulb?



Skrull (I wish I had a nickel for every time I had to type this word up) Dum Dum Dugan is correct in his premise: that if Skrull Hank Pym is sharing half a brain with the real Hank Pym, he’s going to be a f*ck up too.

So…



…I think we’re gonna need another Hank Pym.

At least there’s crazy hairball sex with Tigra.



This volume wraps up with the real Hank Pym coming to grips with the death of Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp.



But his grief doesn’t do much to counter the rage he feels towards Tony Stark.



Bottom Line: Most of the crossover events that Bendis oversaw at Marvel are the better ones. This is a nice addtion to the main plot and source story.

[Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

"What was that? What the hell?! Everything you say is @#$% ! I'm done." -- Hellfire, inadvertently providing my exit line

I'm not sure I've ever observed such an expeditious turnaround of a series from very enjoyable to absolute execrable as experienced with The Mighty Avengers. Barring one fleeting scene at the conclusion - when the eloquent Thor superbly eulogizes a fallen teammate at a funeral service . . . although said colleague's death was curiously and confusingly NOT depicted thus far in this series - the volume was even worse than its predecessor with glaring disconnect. Once again, the title team is largely absent from any of the proceedings apart from glorified cameo appearances, and the latest illustration style is just plain unappealing. I guess I'm not surprised that Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, and the others are shown on the cover reaching as if grasping for a lifeline . . . the readers likely are, too.

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite good!

Its mostly the tie ins and like the fallout of the event as we see what Elektra was upto and how she got replaced and the reasons for it plus the story with Hank Pym skrulls and like how they failed and showing some great personality traits about him but the last ch. was my favorite focusing on Hank as he deals with the death of his ex-wife and god it made me teary just showing even with their arguments they are like one of the best couples of Marvel.

The tie ins could be jarring but then again showing how it relates to the main event provides a fun perspective you usually dont get but also like hints at future storytelling to come and the fallout of it is gonna be interesting to read. The art was again meh but nothing that hampers your reading. Its a good one time read.

[Luke · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Mighty Avengers Secret Invasion tie-ins finally come to end. Like the previous volume this is an anthology, mostly featuring characters that have nothing to do with the team.

I must say, if I was actually a fan of this team and series as a whole, I would be extremely disappointed with these last two volumes. I mean, 50% of the whole series so far is tie-ins. That’s crazy. That being said, there are no fans of this book, so I doubt Marvel got any angry letters about dropping the ball so hard on this series, especially since the ball was on the ground since the first page of the first issue.

This volume expands some more on Nick Fury’s team. This time in a much less interesting way. Maybe it was my overall disinterest in the book, but I found the action hard to follow. Things happened at a random pace and I pretty much just skimmed it. Again it’s so weird that this team is featured so heavily in Mighty Avengers.

Another storyline here is with Elektra. This story was basically toilet paper. Completely worthless. Next.

Some guy named Noh-Varr was featured in this volume. He is actually an interesting character, who is seen a bit more in later Marvel books. His story is like three pages, maybe four? No idea. There’s also some stuff with Captain Marvel here. Not interesting. Same as the Elektra stuff.

Lastly there are two stories about Hank Pym. One about the Skrull Hank and the other about the real one. The Skrull Hank is doubting the Skrull’s overall plan, so they have to replace him, and the real Hank’s story follows him dealing with what happens to Janet after the invasion.

The story with the real Hank was solid. It was the part of this book I actually enjoyed reading. Is it worth picking this book up for that little end bit? No.

Why does this series exist again?

[Brandon Daniels · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this trade, we get an issue illustrated by Khoi Pham that shows us how Elektra was replaced and used. It’s solid.

Next we get an issue illustrated by Khoi Pham that shows us how sometimes the sleeper agents go crazy. It’s very cool.

Next we get a Secret Warriors focused issue by Stefano Casselli that shows the team preparing for the invasion. It’s great.

Then we get an issue by Khoi Pham that follows the confused Skrull clone of Captain Marvel and Marvel Boy. Solid.

Last we get an issue that serves as an epilogue to the main event that deals with Hank Pym (the real one.) several artists are involved and the pages by Jim Cheung are the real highlight.

[Daniel Sepúlveda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Puntaje: 4 Estrellas.

Este volúmen nos muestra que Nick Fury no es tan cool como parece en la Película de los Vengadores.
Literalmente personifica el dicho de “El fin justifica los medios”

Por otra parte, seguimos explorando la mente del Capitán Marvel, quien ha regresado de la muerte.
El volúmen termina con un funeral de un personaje muy importante para los Vengadores. Y abre la puerta al nuevo evento que atacará al Universo Marvel.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second Secret Avengers tie-in volume of the Mighty Avengers continues to mostly focus on Hank Pym and Nick Fury's New Warriors, while spending an issue each on Electra and Marvel Boy. It's good stuff.

[Mela · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you've picked up these volumes (Mighty Avengers 3 & 4) because you want to read about the Mighty Avengers, then you have made a great mistake (or, perhaps the mistake was made by the person who decided to publish these stories under the title). These stories hardly feature the cast from volumes 1 & 2, and do not alone create a coherent story.

However, if you're an avid reader of comics, and you want more insight into how we got from Civil War to Secret Invasion, then you should most definitely read this. While each issue in the trades are relatively unrelated, they all give some kind of back story to the secret invasion - how Elektra came to be Skrull, and how others lived their double lives, etc. The appearance of Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors seemed pretty unnecessary, but still likeable.

For me, the best part of this tpb was the last issue (#20), which deals with the aftermath (and a funeral). It was just enough sad mixed with a little bit of foreboding for Dark Reign. For me, it was a very important story, one that should be read as a conclusion to Secret Invasion.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This comprises of different stories, mostly of events that happened before the Secret Invasion. Though there is one that shows Pymm's reaction to coming back to Earth and finding out what happened. I think this is good if you have read a lot about the Secret Invasion, it is definitely not a stand alone piece. A good read.

[Ronald · Rating 1 out of 5]

This collection seems to be nothing but a number of unrelated stories without context or consideration of the timeline. Disapointed.

[Dominica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ditto what I said for The Mighty Avengers Secret Invasion book 1. As a standalone book, this is confusing, but if you've read the other Secret Invasion books, this fills in more of the story.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marvel made some strange editorial choices when it came to telling the Secret Invasion story. This book is one of them. This is not the story of what The Mighty Avengers were going through during The Secret Invasion, it's five major events of The Secret Invasion that all took place behind-the-scenes of the main book. The only connective tissue is that Skrulls are involved. Each book focuses on different characters and at very different points in the main storyline.

Were I to suggest a reading order for the Secret Invasion (which is something I'm working on while I read these), I would put this near the end, as the final issue of this book dovetails into the next Marvel Event: Dark Reign.

As an anthology book, it's strong. The only issue that didn't connect with me was the one focused on Captain Marvel (original flavor 1970s Captain Mar-vell), which is a shame because the Captain Marvel Secret Wars trade was one of the best of the bunch.

As a Mighty Avengers book, it's thoroughly lacking in the Having Mighty Avengers Characters aspect, and would be skippable if you were doing a readthrough of just The Mighty Avengers.

[Ryk Stanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading New Avengers for some reason and got up to the Secret Invasion storyline and said, “Hey, I have the Mavel Unlimited app, why don’t I just read the entire Secret Invasion storyline? I’d be really interested because I know that the MCU is going to come out with a movie pretty soon.” Great idea, right?

Ugh, that thing is 99 issues long and just starts to d r a g in the middle as Marvel tried to cash in by incorporating as many titles as possible. But I was committed, and I read every single issue. Was it worth it? Absolutely not. Am I glad I read it? I’m not sad, but I wish that Marvel had done a better job writing with concise storytelling. Or that I had not made the decision to read the whole blamed thing.

But, you know, in for a penny, and for a pound. And it’s red and I will never have to read it again and I can enjoy the movie when it comes out. So I’m just going to copy and paste this review in every single trade paperback that contains the secret invasion, storyline and call it a day.

if anyone reads this review, I recommend you just read the essential story itself without all of the side issues.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

The fourth and final volume of this run of Mighty Avengers (before it transitioned into Dark Avengers).
Here we learn more details of Skrull infiltration of Earth, including how Elektra was replaced, Nick Fury's ongoing secret opposition to the alien invaders and the troubled personalities of the Skrulls impersonating Hank Pym and Captain Mar-Vell. Finally we get an epilogue to the Secret Invasion, where the real Hank Pym has to deal with learning all the terrible events he missed, as well as the death of the Wasp, his wife.

By this point, I'm fairly tired of Bendis' 'Secret Invasion' tie-in tangents and, honestly, the actual crossover event wasn't that inspiring to me in the first place. The whole 'anyone could be an enemy infiltrator' shtick feels very Cold War in flavour and, by 2009, was fairly old hat.

Parts of this book did at least deal with interesting alternative aspects of the conflict, such as Skrull infiltrators who have started going native and the fact that Nick Fury is driven to increasingly extreme and unheroic ends in his one-man quest to 'save' Earth.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Selenay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stoklarda bulamadığım için yine sırasıyla okuyamadığım bir çizgi romanla devam ediyorum. The Mighty Avengers serisinden Gizli İstila 2’yi bitirdim. İlk sayıyı bulamadığım için doğrudan ikincisini okumak zorunda kaldım. Neyse ki daha önce Gizli İstila okuduğum için olaylara yabancı kalmadım ve rahatlıkla takip edebildim.

Bu sayıda Elektra’nın bir Skrull olduğunun ortaya çıkması, Nick Fury ve ekibinin yaşadıkları, zorlu eğitimleri. Hank Pym’in gerçek bedenin olaylara dahil oluşı, Janet Van Dyne’ın ölümünün öğrenilmesi gibi önemli noktalar vardı. Ayrıca geçmişe dair kesitlerle Captain America’nın yıllar sonra yeniden ortaya çıkışına da değinilmişti.

Genel olarak akıcı ve keyifli bir çizgi romandı. Çizimleri beğendim, özellikle aksiyon sahneleri oldukça başarılıydı. Yine de seriyi sırasıyla okuyamamak beni üzüyor. The Mighty Avengers çizgi romanlarının yeniden basılmasını çok isterim. Aynı şekilde Dark Avengers serisinin de hiçbir yerde bulunamaması, hikâyeyi bütünlüklü okumayı zorlaştırıyor.

Tüm bunlara rağmen, okuması zevkli ve görsel açıdan tatmin edici bir sayıydı. Bulabildiğim sayılarla da olsa devam etmeye kararlıyım.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this considering that the last installment was a 3 star read for me. This collection continues to focus on characters and gives context for the Secret Invasion event. The stand out pieces for me were about Hank Pym, both his Skrull counterparts and his human self once he comes back and learns of the events that he missed. It was emotional and answers some questions. I did find that many of the stories didn't relate to each other, so I could see this being confusing for a reader who's just starting with it. However, I really enjoyed this one.

For: fans of superheroes/comics; readers wanting a comic with a focus on characters.

Possible red flags: manipulation; characters in peril; violence; blood; death; language; conspiracies; distrust and paranoia; invasion/colonialism; impersonation; funeral; identity issues.

[Ryan McNie · Rating 3 out of 5]

And so we come full circle. More Nick Fury stuff to be found here, more Hank Pym as well and more Skrulls. This collection brings everything full circle. By the close of these pages it has been explained how the majority of the primary characters were switched and when. It also moves characters into position for what is to come.
That being said although this sets the story up for the next chapter it is also very clearly the end of one. The Secret Invasion story arc, as it turns out, stretches all the way back to New Avengers #1 and there is certainly a tying up of loose ends and a few neat little bows. It has overall been a clever, well plotted master plan of a storyline that truly benefits from the dedication necessary to read the entire New Avengers/Mighty Avengers run.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collects Mighty Avengers issues #16-20

Even though (in publishing chronology) most of the issues in this collection came out simultaneously as the "Secret Invasion" event issue, I would recommend reading this collection after reading the event collection. The issues in this collection are a mixture of flashbacks (explaining the origins and strategies of the Secret Invasion) and present-day, mini tie-in stories.

This collection has a lot of Nick Fury stories that include a set up for a different series (released after "Secret Invasion") called "Secret Warriors."

There is also a post-"Secret Invasion" story that deals with some of the aftermath.

[Andrew Garvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

An improvement on Bendis' previous Mighty Avengers volume thanks to upping the amount of action, this volume is based around a series of interconnected mini-stories, the best of which detail how Skrull/Elektra took over the Hand in the first place, the problems the invading Skrulls had with their Hank Pym imitation and the violent manipulations of Nick Fury as he trains his new team. The last part of this volume (issue #20) is focused on a major character's funeral. It's a good one but the whole volume feels a little too much like a somewhat connected collection of one shots instead of a cohesive story.

[Will Hinds · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last of my Bendis Secret Invasion books. I will say, I'm pretty sure I like what he wrote around Secret Invasion, via Mighty Avengers and New Avengers better than Secret Invasion itself, and also, I enjoy his one and done stories better than the long form ones. Secret Invasion itself ended so abruptly it was jarring... All that said, and done, it could have been worse... i.e. Avengers vs. X-Men, so, there's that.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 1 out of 5]

Another sucktastic, bloated, made-for-the-trade "arc" by the Michael Bay of comic books, Brian Michael Bendis. I will suffer through whatever this man wrote that is currently in my backlog, but after that, I am done. The '90s are made fun of because of Liefeld's laughable "artwork". The 2000s will be laughed at because of Bendis' laughable "writing". Decompression is the writing equivalent of stylized '90s art.

[Sr. Lado Brillante · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este volumen se alza sobre los demás por una simple cosa: Secret Warriors.
Aqui vemos el nacimiento del equipo y el entrenamiento al que Nick Fury los expone y marca la pauta para la serie que comenzaría con Hickman cuando Secret Invasion acabo.
Este es el tipo de comic que Bendis siempre debería estar escribiendo.

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was really like a 2.5/5 it wasn’t really good or all that interesting. The only issue I even enjoyed was the last one about Hank Pym which is set right after the events of Secret Invasion. That one was pretty good and saved the volume a little bit.

Mighty Avengers continues to be a disappointment overall.

[Kyle Berk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the only string to tie these together was the relation to Secret Invasion this was a very good volume for the Mighty Avengers title. The Captain Marvell issue is great as is the last one with Hank Pym.

Worth a read 3 stars.

[Vinicius · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tava tendo invasão de uns alienigena que se transformava nas pessoas e até utilizava as memorias dela para se infiltrar nos lugares e fingir ser a pessoa mas isso foi explicado de um jeito mto ruim, me perdi tudo na história. Os capítulos tbm, cada um numa epoca, eu fiquei???

[Bekka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Turns out this one was supposed to be read AFTER reading Secret Invasion, so should probably go and read that, so this makes more sense.

[Rohail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poor Hank...

[ila · Rating 4 out of 5]

that epilogue tho :(

[BjarniGautur · Rating 2 out of 5]

I still don't get why Skrull Elektra wanted to break Karl Lykos out of prison.

Hank Pym gets treated like a real character, finally.

[Dean · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as volume 1 but some good issues in here.
What an era we were in. Great to experience it again.