Previous Secret Empire event Posts:

Beyond the Defense Shield

Under the Darkforce Dome

Life in a Hydra Nation

A Hydra Army Band played

And children drunk lemonade

And the morning lasted all day,

All day

And through an open window came

Like Sinatra in a younger day,

Pushing the town away

Ah Ah hey ma ma ma

Life in a Hydra Nation. –With apologies to Dream Academy

Avengers #9 & 10

Avengers #9

Synopsis:

The story is told from the perspective of Helca, a native who takes Thor in and offers to help her find a way back to Earth.

The Mighty Thor finds herself trapped in another dimension without her Hammer, yet she is still in the form and possessing the powers of Thor and not Jane Foster.

The two must set out on a long journey to find the artifact that may be able to transport her back to Earth. Hecla also makes her a wooden hammer to carry.

Along the trip, the two learn about each other. Hecla tells Thor that his wife and child are gone becasue they stood up to Yod, a being that demanded loyalty and destroyed civilization to keep the people from rising against him.

Hecla says Thor told him about things like The Rainbow Bridge, Fossil Fuels, and the game of Cricket.

When the two reach their destination, Thor faces off against Yod while Helca locates the artifact he believes can send Thor home.

During the battle, Yod mortally wounds Hecla. Thor uses the device, which only has one charge, on the dying Hecla which sends him to wherever his wife and child are (I assume they were merely banished and not killed) and Thor pummels Yod into oblivion.

How does it tie-in to the overall Secret Empire storyline and when does it take place?

This one-shot explains what happened to Thor after she disappeared in the Free Comic Book Day Secret Empire issue which showed the heroes trying to defeat Hydra in Washington D.C. the first time

and where she has been until Doctor Strange brings her back in Secret Empire #9

Is it necessary to read to understand the read the Avengers tie-ins to understand what is happening in the larger story?

No but it does explain where Thor is sent and it removes one of the heavy hitters of the board and gives Hydra-Cap a way to manipulate Odinson into working for him.

Avengers#10

Background

Synopsis:

The Hydra-Avengers are sent to check out one of the installations that boost the signal of the Planetary Defense Shield as something has been destroyed and the Hydra-Avengers ar sent to investigate.

The team is led by Doc Ock, the Superior Octopus whose internal monologue serves as the driving narrative. He mentions how the “Avengers” are a rag-tag group made up of those who are either being paid, owe some sense of loyalty to Hydra-Cap, or being manipulated beyond their control in to being part of the team.

When they arrive at the station they find that whoever has caused the destruction is still there. The creatures try and communicate telepathically saying that they mean no harm and just want to return to their home in outer space

The villains destroy the aliens and return to base. Doc Ock steals one of Black Ant’s Pym Particles which will probably be a thread that will be picked up in the future.

How does it tie-in to the overall Secret Empire storyline and when does it take place?

Unclear as to when this takes place in the scheme of the larger timeline. I doubt it matters, merely a chance to show what d-bags some of the Hydra-Avengers are.

Is it necessary to read to understand the read the Avengers tie-ins to understand what is happening in the larger story?

If I had to pick, I would say that Issue #9 is more important than issue #10, although #10 does have some funny character moments as the characters interact with each other.

— — — — — — — — — —

U.S. Avengers #6 – 9

Background:

Synopsis:

Issue 6

Sam “Cannonball” Guthrie returns to Earth as the space heroes are fighting the first wave of Chitauri and joins the fight.

Back in Washington D.C. DeCosta is monitoring the events as they unfold around the world.

Sam goes to rescue Quasar who is about to be eaten by one of the larger aliens and is caught in the explosion as the alien detonates itself. DeCosta tries to contact Sam but can’t and contacts Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, who tells him that she didn’t know he was out there and has no visual on him.

Hydra-Capt contacts DeCosta and informs him that he has been given full emergency powers and control over all the S.H.I.E.L.D. forces. Capt orders DeCosta to have his team stand down.

As they await their orders, an A.I.M. scientist gives Gen. Maverick and shot that will allow him to override his Hulking ability.

As things start to calm down, Doctor Faustus appears on DeCosta’s screen and attempts to mind-control him. DeCosta initiates the mind-defense taught to him by Charles Xavier and tells the U.S. Avengers to do the same. He is then shot by an A.I.M. agent as the rest of the team lands in Washington D.C. to see it overrun with Hydra and Red Hulk turns on his teammates, attacking Iron Patriot.

Issue 7

Red Hulk and Iron Patriot fight, as Captain America, reveals that he is with Hydra. Iron Patriot transports Squirrel Girl and Enigma away, leaving only her and Red Hulk to be taking into Hydra custody.

Squirrel Girl and Enigma are transported to Paris, France where they are attacked by French Hydra soldiers and are rescued by Ares (who apparently got better after being torn in half) and some other heroes who are opposing Hydra.

Toni “Iron Patriot” Ho and Red Hulk are taken to a Hydra re-education center where they find DeCosta, who has been put in a cell and his M-Pox infection ( the mutant disease caused by the Terrigen Mist that Black Bolt released into Earth’s atmosphere at the end of “Infinity.” ) is killing him.

Issue 8

The issue is an origin story for Toni Ho. Turns out her father was the doctor that died saving Tony Stark’s life years ago, which made him Iron Man.

Now she must find some way to save DeCosta and slow down the M-Pox infection using only the materials she has available in their cell.

Back in Paris, Squirrel Girl and Enigma team up with the European superheroes ( I guess) as they take the fight to Hydra there, raiding an armory.

Back at the re-education, Toni rigs up something to help DeCosta just as the guards realize something is going on in their cell.

Issue 9

Iron Patriot and DeCosta are working on escaping the Hydra Re-Education center when they run into a roadblock: Red Hulk, who is being controlled by nanomachines.

Back in Paris, Squirrel Girl, Enigma, and the European heroes take the fight to Hydra and free the other heroes who have already been captured.

DeCosta faces off with Red Hulk and is able to use his mutant power to fry the nanobots controlling him. They then take control of the Hydra re-education center and get in contact with the team members over in Europe, who have taken down the Hydra forces there.

Meanwhile, Cannonball, who was found floating in space and sold as a slave, finds himself in a place that kind of look like Earth.

How does it tie-in to the overall Secret Empire storyline and when does it take place?

The story picks up from where the Opening Salvo lead-in leaves off at the end Secret Empire #0 with Hydra taking over Washington D.C. Where the issues end is unclear, but the U.S. Avengers are part of the final attack on Washington, D.C. and appear in a panel of Secret Empire #9

Is it necessary to read to understand the read the U.S. Avengers tie-ins to understand what is happening in the larger story?

Not really, this is more a of a side story about the members of the U.S. Avengers and what they are doing while the other events are unfolding.

— — — — — — — — — —

Deadpool #31 -34

Background:

Synopsis:

Issue #31

Steve Rogers contacts Deadpool saying he has a special mission for him, find S.H.E.I.L.D. agent Phil Coulson. Not only does Steve want Deadpool to find Coulson but also want him to kill him, saying he has gone rogue. In truth, Coulson has learned that Captain America is not the person he claims to be after discovering the Chituari Queen eggs, Hydra-Cap has hidden on Earth to draw the aliens to attack.

Deadpool says that he is Captain America’s number one fan and knows why Steve invited him to be on the Unity Squad…to do the dirty work.

Coulson has gone dark and is headed to one of Nick Fury’s old safe houses in The Catskills. Deadpool tracks down Coulson after talking to Agent Preston who was tight with Coulson. Coulson tries to reason with Deadpool before he is killed.

After he kills Coulson, Deadpool meets with Steve who tells him he knew he could count on Deadpool to accomplish the mission and that change was coming soon.

Issue #32

Deadpool is now part of the Hydra-Avengers and with that comes perks like having your daughter enrolled in Baron Zemo’s School for Superior Students.

When not being a father, Deadpool has been tasked with bringing in members of the superhero community, mainly those in The Underground.

It is also about this time that he questions if he is on the right side of this, being that Steve Rogers has revealed himself to be part of Hydra.

Deadpool takes down the mutant Speedball and is then told to go search for the Underground’s headquarters. After checking places like the old Thunderbolt’s Mountain, where Xaiver’s mutant school used to be located, eventually finding himself at The Mount. He observes Quicksilver dropping off supplies to Hawkeye and decides it is not worth it to try and take it down.

He returns to D.C. in time to drop his daughter off at school and then reports back to Hydra base, telling them he didn’t find anything at The Mount. As he is giving his report he gets a message that his daughter has been in another fight at school.

Issue #33

Deadpool has to go deal with his daughter who has been expelled from school. He tells her that her mother had to go underground after what has happened with the Hydra takeover. Deadpool meets up with Agent Preston (Deadpool’s Ex) who is searching for Coulson.

Flashback to Deadpool meeting up with Agent Preston (his Ex) who is searching for Coulson.

The two travel to the safe house location where Deadpool killed Coulson and Preston learns that it was Deadpool who killed Coulson.

Back in the present, Deadpool begins to question his loyalty to Steve and Hydra. Intentionally bringing in C and D List heroes instead of going after the Underground members.

Issue #34

Deadpool arrives at Hydra with a “high-value” target aka The Trapster, which leaves the Hydra commander unimpressed. The commander tasks him with finding Maria Hill who just blew up another Hydra recruitment center.

Flashback to Agent Preston beating the snot out of Deadpool for killing Coulson.

Deadpool says he only did it because Steve Rogers asked him too and this was before it was revealed that he was really the Hydra Supreme Leader.

Deadpool takes down Preston, who turns out to be a Life Model Decoy and then goes and takes his daughter from her new husband, telling him she went underground.

Back in the present, Deadpool is taking Trapster to lock up when he initiates his plan, by letting Trapster loose to distract the guards. While the guards are dealing with Trapster, Deadpool locates Blackout who is being kept in his Pleasantville persona so he can be controlled to power the Darkforce Dome.

After he locates Blackout, Deadpool mindwipes Trapster and tells the Hydra Commander that he has a plan to capture Maria Hill by giving her what she wants, Steve Rogers.

Issue #35

Disguised as High Commander Steve Rogers, Deadpool visits his daughter’s new school and talks to her class.

As they are exiting the building, “Steve” is hit with a bullet and Maria Hill kills the guards and shoots “Steve” in the head. She is dumbfounded when Deadpool takes of the disguise and the two fight.

Deadpool tells her he is trying to help her and has important information to give her.

He tells her where they are keeping Blackout, that he wants to help her and he is sorry for killing Coulson and Preston. Deadpool follows Hill into a parking garage where she runs Deadpool over with a van, trapping him beneath the wheels and tosses a grenade bringing down the entire structure.

How does it tie-in to the overall Secret Empire storyline and when does it take place?

Deadpool #31 takes place before Secret Empire #0 and Maria Hill uses the intel given to her in Deadpool #35 to locate and kill Blackout in Secret Empire #8. In between those two story points, the only other time Deadpool actually appears in the main series is in Secret Empire #1 when the Hydra Avengers take down the monster Kiroggorath in Denver. It should also be noted that it does not look as though he was with the other Hydra – Avengers when they killed the Atlantian monks to force Namor to comply with their demands of turning over his fragment of the Cosmic Cube.

The Hydra commanders reference to Maria Hill taking out a Hydra recruiting center (issue #34) could be the one mentioned in Secret Empire #3 when Hill gives Natasha the social calendar of Steve Rogers.

Other than the appearance in Secret Empire #1 Deadpool is not in the main series but does appear in the Avengers #10 (see above) and in Secret Warriors where he gets nailed in the crotch by Moon Girl.

Is it necessary to read to understand the read the Deadpool tie-ins to understand what is happening in the larger story?

It is not necessary to read the Deadpool issues, it does explain some of the major plot points such as Deadpool giving Maria Hill the location of Blackout since her killing him is what brought the Dome down in the end.

It was also nice to see that even though he was working for Hydra he really wasn’t “working” for Hydra as he could have revealed the location of the Underground and really focused on bring in the A-List superheroes.

— — — — — — — — — —

Brave New World Vignettes

THE LAST PLACE YOU LOOK

Characters: Misty Knight

Synopsis:

Misty Knight, who is helping Sam Wilson save Inhumans from the Hydra Detention Centers, takes center stage in this story. They have been trying to hide Inhumans where they will be safe, like with Amish families where Hydra wouldn’t think to look.

On one such trip, Misty hits a rock and it breaks the driveshaft on her car. Luckily for her someone comes along and is willing to help and not turn her and her passenger into Hydra.

Luckily for Misty, turns into an opportunity to find the perfect place for the Inhumans they are rescuing to hide.

Misty’s faith in the rescue mission is restored and she feels like she has found a place that she could fit in.

— — — — — —

Stories from New Tian

ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE

Characters: Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw

Synopsis:

Emma Frost and Sabastian Shaw are walking the red carpet at some awards ceremony. Emma says she is giving the people of New Tian what they want and need whether they like it or not. She senses something is wrong and blocking her ability to read minds. She points out a man in the crowd who is part of the resistance that thinks the mutant leadership sold out to Hydra. After the guy is taken away she realizes that the star on the red carpet with them turns out to be part of the Resistance and tries to take out Emma with her lava powers.

Emma subdues the mutant and wipes the crowd’s memory of the events that happened a few seconds ago and they walk down the red carpet once again.

— — — — — —

SUPERHOT

Characters: Domino and Emma Frost

Synopsis:

Mutant assassin Domino has been paid to take out Emma Frost. Domino (via internal monologue) explains that it is hard to take out a telepath, let alone the worlds strongest telepath

Emma is sunbathing on the beach and being hit by two meatheads.

Domino takes the shot at Emma, who turns into her diamond form and the bullet ricochets off Emma and wings one of the meatheads.

Emma thanks Domino for taking care of the two jerks bothering her. Domino quips that hot girls always get what they want.

How does it tie-in to the overall Secret Empire storyline and when does it take place?

No clue as to when any of this Brave New World vignettes take place. The Misty Knight one probably takes place before the Underground contacts Sam in Secret Empire #2

The Emma Frost stories could take place anytime during the event.

— — — — — — — — — —

Secret Empire 10

Washington D.C.

Hydra-Steve in his Hydra-Captain America, Cosmic Cube powered battle armor tells the heroes to stand down.

He tries to sell the heroes that they are too late, the lives that have been lost are all their fault and it is time to let Hydra use the Cosmic Cube to restore the world to a stronger, better place.

Old Man Logan stops him telling him he isn’t going to find any takers from the heroes, Carol agrees saying it is time to fight, she just needs to hear the words…

They bum rush Hydra-Steve, and he activates the Cosmic Cube

The Cube starts to rewrite the history of the Marvel Universe, remake the world in Hydra’s image, and even wipes some of he heroes out of existence.

As Hydra-Steve looks around at this new world he has created, Sam Wilson approaches him with the final fragment of the Cosmic Cube. Sam kneels down and gives him the final shard and then hands him his shield.

Hydra-Steve takes the final piece of the cube and places it in his armor. He gets a quickening of power and suddenly the loses it.

Turns out Ant-Man delivered Bucky inside the suit at the precise moment that Hydra-Steve put the final shard in.

Flashback to Days Earlier:

Bucky tells A.I. Tony, Sam, and Hawkeye his plan to take down the imposter Steve, which means giving him the final fragment.

Inside Kobik the Cosmic Cube (formerly referred to as Limbo in previous posts)

Steve Rogers is searching for Kobik.

When he finds her she is hiding and apologizing for what she has done, creating Hydra-Steve

Steve tells her she needs to stand and fight. The two of them hear Bucky’s voice and Steve grabs Bucky’s hand.

Washington D.C.

Hydra-Steve is angry wondering what Bucky has done as the changes he made to reality fade back to what they once were and surprise surprise she brings along a friend…

Captain America Steve and Hydra-Steve throwdown to determine who is the real Steve Roger as the whole world watches.

insert classic Marvel fight posse

The two are equally matched and Hydra-Steve sees the one thing that may give him the advantage: Thor’s Hammer which he wielded against the heroes the first time.

However, he is unable to lift it….

Turns out Hydra-Steve had a little help the one time he wielded the hammer

As it turns out, one of them is worthy of picking up Mjionor … I wonder who that is…

Steve, the non-evil Hydra one, wins and hands the shield back to Sam and Jane Foster reclaims Thor’s Hammer.

Kobik restores the original History but leaves the scars of the events that transpired. This includes the destruction of Las Vegas and everyone who was killed during Secret Empire (Black Widow, Rick Jones, etc.). Kobik also give the heroes a “Vanishing Point” (which most likely has nothing to do with the DC Comics Vanishing Point)

Epilogue

Weeks later as the rebuilding and recovery continue and life goes on. The heroes have a service for Natasha and the Inhumans are released from their centers. As Brian “Puke” McCallister is released he is confronted by a government agent

He is reunited with his brother Jason and the two return to their house which has been vandalized following his being outed as an Inhuman. Brian falls asleep and when he wakes in the morning he finds that the neighborhood is there helping to fix up the house.

—

Secret Empire to be concluded in

I will wrap this series up with this issue and the Aftermath tie-ins along with my thoughts on the event as a whole