Spider-Man is an Avenger now. I remember when I first read this, in real time in 2005, and thinking, This is going to be terrrible. Spider-Man has rejected offers to be on teams before. The Fantastic Four. The Avengers. This seemed totally inconsistent.
And it was. And it also wasn’t.
In 2024, as I write this, cynicism abounds. People love to crap on Brian Michael Bendis. But when it came out, it was among the best Avengers stories we’d seen in many, many years.
The story picks up 6 months after Avengers: Disassembled.
A shadowy, evil architect hires Electro to short out all of New York City, disabling the security system on The Raft (a prison for supervillains) and causing the titular breakout.
Jessica Drew, Matt Murdock, and Luke Cage happen to be on the island prison when the power failure happens.
Spider-Man is in the city and hitches a ride on a copter to get over to the Raft. Captain America heads there, too.
Finishing off the team (for now) is one of the inmates…
Sentry.
What follows is, of course, violence and action.
Spidey gets unmasked and his arm broken by Jigsaw. (Jigsaw!?!!??)
Foggy is attacked by Carnage, but Sentry flies the symbiote up into space and rips him in two.
Daredevil takes on Mr. Hyde. Etc. Etc. Iron Man shows up and helps. And by the beginning of issue #3 we’re already in one of Bendis’ flashbacks, with the rest of the breakout in the rearview mirror and the heroes starting to assemble the new team.
Cap decides the world needs The Avengers because 42 villains escaped and need to be rounded up.
Maria Hill lets Cap do it. She’s the acting Nick Fury. And Cap has a “full champion license,” whatever that is.
Apparently, the Constitutional right to assemble doesn’t expand to heroes.
Spider-Woman joins in a panel that makes everyone want to read more Spider-Woman comics.
The first guy they go after is Electro. Not sure how they knew Electro was hired to do the breakout, but they do. Electro tells them he was hired by Sauron, so it’s off to the Savage Land, where they meet Wolverine along the way, and some SHIELD agents. And get into some light bondage.
Of course they sake Sauron down eventually.
But not before he roasts White Widow. Wow.
There’s an inside man in SHIELD stockpiling supervillains for his (or her) own personal use! That means they need an even bigger team!
Wolverine’s recruited because he’s not on enough teams yet, which Daredevil notes when he turns down Cap’s invite.
The above is a summary of six issues written by Brian Michael Bendis so, obviously, I”m leaving a lot out. Each issue is dense with characterization AND plot–Bendis is a guy who can do both at the same time (take that, Nicienza!).
Truly wonderful superheroics.
English (US) · 