The New Avengers, Vol. 4

The New Avengers (2004) #7, Illuminati

by Brian Michael Bendis

In the wake of the super-hero Civil War, outlaw Avengers Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Spider-Woman, Dr. Strange, and Iron Fist are still fighting the good fight, joined by two new recruits: mistress of mimicry Echo and long-lost Avengers mainstay Hawkeye, now Ronin. But when the heroes uncover evidence of a Secret Invasion by shape-shifting Skrulls, paranoia starts to tear the team apart. Who can they trust when any one of them might be an alien monster in disguise? Which Avenger betrays the group? And can the embattled rebel Avengers survive when new supernatural crime boss the Hood targets them with an army of super-villains? And, Join Iron Man, Professor X, Black Bolt, the Sub-Mariner, and Mister Fantastic as they take on the threats no one else can handle - and learn of secrets that will forever alter the way they (and you) look at the Marvel Universe After years spent protecting Earth from harm, it is now when the planet is perhaps at its most endangered, as the Illuminati find themselves at the head of the spear of a Skrull invasion. But can the Illuminati keep themselves from fracturing in the waking moments of this worldwide threat? Collects New Avengers #32-37, Annual #2, and Illuminati #1-5.

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

312 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

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

[Baba · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm reviewing these multi-volume hardbacks versions to limit the number of reviews I of Bendis' superb New Avengers run on my feed: The first volume is The New Avengers, The New Avengers, Vol. 7: The Trust in which one of the team's most deadly enemies returns starting off by wiping one of them out; one of the team's newest enemies is building a criminal union; and whilst all this is happening, the Elektra discovery has left the team not trusting one another! A wonderfully weighted Secret Invasion prelude that forces the team to trust each other as the face enemies all around.

The next volume covered is The New Avengers: Illuminati in which we get to see the clandestine major powers actions over a number of key Marvel events starting with the Kree-Skrull war and ending with the Secret Invasion Elektra problem. This is such a well thought out and intriguing reimagining, but one that fascinates less and less each time I read it, indicating that the 'shock value' of the story is stronger than the actual plotting. Still a solid 8 out of 12, For Stars for this one.

2023 read

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great entry from Bendis. I’ve been really enjoying his New Avengers/Mighty Avengers so far. The first part of this volume, issues 32-37 and the annual deal with The Hood becoming a real threat for the New Avengers. He has decided to get all the criminals to work together to take it to the Avengers. The Hood does some real F’d up stuff to one of the heroes. There was a lot of action and some great battles here. Also pretty cool how this tied into the Mighty Avengers, showing us The New Avengers view of what went down in that book. The only bad part was Yu’s art was a little shaky in some of the panels. This ends with Jessica Jones making a crazy move. Then we have the Illuminati 1-5. We get a look at a move the Illuminati, Reed, Namor, Professor X, Dr Strange, Black Bolt and Tony, made way back that may have kick started the Skrulls invasion that’s coming. This was a pretty dope flashback. There was also a story about Reed telling them how has been collecting the infinity stones which lead to someone big showing up. I feel like this will come back to bite them in the ass. There was a story beat dealing with the Beyonder which gives some new background on the character which I thought was pretty cool. But I feel like this will also come back to bite them. The end of this volume sets up and leads directly leads into Secret Invasion. So that’s up next.

[The Lion's Share · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this. Being part of the avengers is about being part of a team, and this volume starts to show the bonding of this despite the massive trust issues.

Another highlight was the lengthy episodes of illuminati. Namor is such a dick, but I'd like to see more of him in situations that put him under pressure as I've not seen his full abilities. Overall I'm looking forward to reading through the full marvel continuity through to siege.

[Omnibuster · Rating 4 out of 5]

The New Avengers continue to operate while avoiding authorities for being unregistered, decide to take Skrull-Lektra’s body to Tony Stark, combat a demon-possessed Hood’s plans to gather dozens of b-list villains to directly assault the NA, help the registered Avengers combat Doom’s symbiote bomb, and end up being directly assaulted and almost beaten. Doctor Strange’s powers are diminishing for unknown reasons as of now.

The second half of the book focuses on the Illuminati’s role, pursuit and division of the Infinity Gems, being captured by the Skrull and blowing up one of their ships, dealing with Nov-arrh’s appearance, and realizing a Skrull invasion is imminent or already happening.

[Jdetrick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is slightly worse than most of Bendis' work on the title mostly because of the misogyny. The Hood's attack on Tigra is way too similar to the attach on Barbara Gordon in The Killing Joke, and then there's an issue of the Illuminati where the men are talking about women in a very uncomfortable way. The Illuminati series is horrible anyway, since it shows all of these characters acting out of character (except Namor) and also shows that the Marvel Universe has no strong women in it...or at least Bendis doesn't think it does. Blah!

[B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like some of these stars may be from relief. Mighty Avengers and all the event stuff felt like it was clogging the book.

These are really stories about characters and the conceits that put them on the run allow them to express feelings as a story advances. It's how things should be.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who’s a Skrull? Who isn’t? Can we trust anyone at all? These are the questions the characters in this volume of New Avengers ask, out loud, about 1000 times each. Now, I love a good spy thriller, and having one set in the middle of the Marvel Universe featuring aliens and superheroes and all that seems like a great fit for a big, bonkers version of Battlestar Galactica or something. The problem is, there’s way too much tell and not anywhere near enough show.

After it’s revealed that Elektra has been a Skrull for God knows how long, the New Avengers are thrown into chaos. But instead of toying with our/their allegiances, building suspicion naturally, I get the feeling Bendis just didn’t have time to build this up organically. Instead, we just are told over and over that everyone is a suspect instead of watching them do suspicious things.

Additionally, the majority of the New Avengers action (as compared to the Illuminati miniseries at the end of this volume) is centered on events outside of their control that are introduced fairly randomly. There’s some crossover with Mighty Avengers, as the Ultron and symbiote storylines from that series pop up here. But I didn’t really care? There’s so much potential with the Skrull stuff that I found it kind of disappointing that the best Bendis was giving was some nods to other major events in simultaneous Marvel continuity. I’m hoping the Skrull stuff picks up considerably in Secret Invasion (as I’m sure it will), because it just kind of drags its feet here.

Now, all that said, the Illuminati miniseries is actually VERY good, which by itself elevates this volume to 4 stars. While laying the groundwork and reasoning behind the Skrull invasion with thrilling super team action sequences, it also manages to artfully explore the idea of a secret supergroup essentially running the world. Each issue serves as its own sub-story, dealing with big-deal Marvel U things like the Infinity Gauntlet and Noh-Varr (who I was excited to see return after the abrupt end of Grant Morrison’s Marvel Boy miniseries a while back).

I do think some Marvel U knowledge is required to fully enjoy Illuminati, as it shows some behind-the-curtain goings on of major Marvel events of the past few decades. The stories are still very well executed even without this knowledge (I don’t know squat about the Kree-Skrull War, and yet I enjoyed the issue centered around that), but I’m sure it helps to be familiar.

So, overall, this collection is well worth a read just for Illuminati, but don’t expect rapid plot advancement from the central series. At least Bendis isn’t doing the incredibly annoying dialogue crap he’s doing in Mighty Avengers, though.

[Ernest · Rating 3 out of 5]

The New Avengers Role is this moment of the Registration Era Marvel 616 universe adds an interesting dimension to this team volume. This story and art were well done, if a little cramped given how many characters were involved. The Illuminati stories were also interesting, at worst if only to see how these story were fitted around the world. It is a good read to more fully explore the background and overall Marvel 161 universe, but I was particularly disappointed about the Beyonder story.

[Dean Olson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collecting the infamous story arc that officially started "Secret Invasion" and a side mini that details early adventures of the Illuminati. While the mini is a lot of fun that details unseen adventures from famous storylines like the Kree-Skrull war and Secret Wars. The main storyline has the Avengers go to Japan to save Echo/Ronin from Elektra and The Hand. There are some surprises and once again Bendis writes good interaction between the characters.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

The build up to Secret Invasion! This book has a combo of New Avengers stories and New Avengers: Illuminati stories which both were great! Although towards the end of the New Avengers arc you see just how bad-a#$ Doctor Strange is. I haven't enjoyed any main Marvel titles for a couple years, so I have been sucked in by Bendis' wonderful writing in these ongoing New Avengers story lines. Loved it.

[Kayenne · Rating 2 out of 5]

spiderwoman is a bit annoying, but spiderman is funny. the use of the character Ronin/ Maya Lopez/ ninja asassin is great and she's hot. Oh, and Elektra Natchios shows up a bunch, even though she's been replaced by shape-shifting alien skrulls, its good.