PREAMBLE
While none of the following series are direct precursors to his work on the Avengers franchise, there are certain thematic/ pertinent elements that play into Hickman’s greater Marvel narrative.
Top half cover art by Jim Cheung. Hickman design aesthetic present throughout…
Secret Warriors (2009 – 2011): Old white Nick Fury cleans out his desk for 27 issues. Kidding aside, lots happens but this run is fairly self-contained despite how ingrained it is in the woodwork of the day.
The backstory is something like this: During the 2004/05 espionage-heavy mini Secret War (no relation), writer Brian Michael Bendis deposes “classic” Fury as head of S.H.I.E.L.D. via some super-powered mind control and political maneuvering. In running this costly, unsanctioned initiative, Fury utilizes Daisy “Quake” Johnson (aka “Skye” from ABC-TV’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) as his primary field operative.
Shortly after Fury’s ugly manipulations come to a head and result in many a burnt bridge between the spymaster and the cape crowd, Bendis’s alien shapeshifter extravaganza, Secret Invasion, begins to take root. One of the Skrull’s early targets is on-the-lam Fury, which backfires. On the run and unable to trust any of his old contacts, Fury turns back to relatively unknown quantities like Johnson and his “caterpillar files” (tabs on potential assets).
L to R: Sebastian “Son of Dr.” Druid, Alexander “Phobos, the God of Fear” (son of Ares, God of War), Yo-Yo (Daughter of the Griffin) Rodriguez, pre-“Skye” Daisy “Crazy Cal is my Dad” Johnson, Jerry “Son of the Absorbing Man” Sledge and JT “Hellfire” James (distant relation of the Old West Ghost/Night/Phantom Rider)
A two-parter running in 2008’s Mighty Avengers by Bendis and artist Alex Maleev depicts Fury and Quake putting their band together. Suffice to say, the squad of next-gen supers are integral in stemming the extraterrestrial subjugation.
Ironically, the public face of the repelled Skrull Invasion becomes recovering Green Goblin nutter, Norman Osborn. Instead of being Fury’s hour of redemption, he and his young commandos are driven further into the shadows. Tony Stark and Fury’s replacement, Maria Hill, are out and in the vacuous remains of S.H.I.E.L.D., largely neutralized during the invasion, Osborn is handed the keys to America’s super paramilitary resources- remade in his image as HAMMER (acronym to be determined).
Fury takes to dismantling his global network of bases before they fall into the wrong hands. However, in closing all the old accounts, there is one outstanding above the rest: Baron Strucker and HYDRA. This is the true meat of the series.
Again?! (Secret Warriors #1, April 2009. Art by Stefano Caselli)
Fury “discovers” HYDRA’s been manipulating S.H.I.E.L.D. since Day One. But!- Surprise twist- Fury’s actually been playing Strucker all along, making the Baron only think HYDRA’s got the long-con. Seriously, it’s like one of those “keep your eye on the ball” street games. Except this one also takes place inside a series of nesting dolls. But yeah, this does say a bit about Fury- considering all the lives written off over the years as “acceptable losses” in the name of his puppetry.
By the end of the series, Steve Rogers returns from his time-traveling post-Civil War “death”, leading a charge of heroes in defense of Asgard against Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign, ushering in a renewed “Heroic Age”. Fury and the kids assist again. Utilizing the very last of his political favor, Nick begins the process of re-legitimizing S.H.I.E.L.D. from afar with Daisy appointed as new Director. And back to his dirty den of secrets he recedes…
Aside from it being a pretty big spotlight for Daisy, the biggest impact of the series is this: Hickman systematically broke down and permanently packed up a corner of continuity dating back to the Silver Age. However in doing so, he also added a whole bunch of cool new toys- many of which act as sort of connective tissue dating back to the 60s era.
The Zodiac aka “The Great Wheel”- Italy, 1961 (Secret Warriors #25, May 2011. Art by Alessandro Vitti)
In 1961 (comic years), Leonardo daVinci (no, really- more on him in a bit. Again- no, really) convened eleven intelligence agents from various factions, assigning to each a house of the zodiac. It is out of this gathering that the incestuous tale of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA truly begins.
There are also other notables in the conclave. Cornelius van Lunt of classic 1960s Roy Thomas-era Avengers stories is in attendance as continuity through-line (his hokey animal costume-themed group being the first historical Marvel Zodiac). Leviathan, the Cold War-era Russian rogue super-soldier/ intelligence initiative also sees beginnings here. This would be the same adversarial organization recently witnessed on ABC-TV’s Agent Carter mini. Speaking of TV adversaries, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. viewers may also recognize the names Daniel Whitehall and John Garrett. Like his MCU namesake, Whitehall becomes a HYDRA bigwig. Except in the comics, he wears an armored suit and goes by “The Kraken”. Garrett still has the metal body but his comic equivalent is a Fury loyalist.
What could be of greatest significance out of this is the phrase “The Great Wheel”. In Hickman’s later Avengers/New Avengers saga, it recurs many times- particularly in mentions of “Rabum Alal, The Great Destroyer”. Whether this loops back around in relation is indeed a matter of speculation but Hickman has shown he likes his madness with a bit of circuitous methodology.
It’s an outfit Ted Nugent would approve. (Secret Warriors #4, July 2009. Words by Bendis & Hickman, Art by Stefano Caselli)
Oh, and Australian mutant spacebender Eden Fesi debuts early on in this series as one of Fury’s caterpillars. Eden will go on to become Manifold, one of Hickman’s Avengers and function as a much greater story component in the Multiversal collapse.
It is also said that about this time, Hickman began the idea of noodling about unrelated alternate-world “Secret Warriors having Secret Wars”- a competition for Multiversal survival. Ideas taking shape… [MORE→]
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