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| Secret War | |
|---|---|
 Captain America as featured on the cover ofSecret War #3. Art byGabriele Dell'Otto. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Format | Limited series |
| Publication date | February 2004 – December 2005 |
| No. of issues | 5 |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Brian Michael Bendis |
| Artist | Gabriele Dell'Otto |
Secret War is a 2004–2005 comic book storyline published byMarvel Comics, consisting of a central, five-issueminiseries written byBrian Michael Bendis and illustrated byGabriele Dell'Otto, and a number of tie-in books. It is loosely based on classified operations told to Bendis by an anonymous high-ranking officer in theUnited States Intelligence Community during Bendis' childhood.[1]
The storyline involves a large-scalesuper-herocrossover featuring Marvel characters such asSpider-Man,Captain America,Wolverine,Daredevil,Luke Cage andNick Fury fighting a wide array of supervillains who have receivedhi-techarmaments from a mysterious benefactor.
The first issue was published in April 2004, and though intended originally as abimonthly publication, it faced long delays. It was completed with issue five's publication in December 2005.
The aftermath of the series was explored in stories inThe Pulse and Bendis has gone on to use many of the same characters in hisNew Avengers titles. This event begins an eight-year-long series of cross-over events ending withAvengers vs. X-Men.
The storyline inSecret War is unrelated to the originalSecret Wars andSecret Wars II crossover limited series which Marvel published in the mid-1980s, although its title is clearly inspired by them. Those stories received their own spiritual successor inBeyond!, published in 2006.
Bendis has noted thatSecret War is connected to the "Secret Invasion" storyline, in which Skrulls have infiltrated several institutions of Earth.
Nick Fury, Director of the international security forceS.H.I.E.L.D., uncovers a secret plot byLatverian Prime MinisterLucia von Bardas to fund a group of B-List supervillains with advanced technology, presumably that of previous Latverian dictatorDoctor Doom (who was trapped in Hell at the time), as a means of wreaking terror on American soil. Fury immediately takes his findings to the President of the United States but is denied the authorization requested to overthrow the post-Doom Latverian government due to its sponsorship by the U.S. Government. Fury is enraged at what he sees as the same pre-9/11 security complacency inviting disaster yet again.
Fury recruitsCaptain America,Spider-Man,Daredevil,Black Widow,Luke Cage,Wolverine, and superhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. agentDaisy Johnson in a private attempt to covertly overthrow Latveria.
A year later, a mass reprisal is unleashed across New York City, leaving Luke Cage in a coma as Fury and a cadre of NYC heroes face off against a cyborg Von Bardas and her hi-tech army. The reprisal is revealed to be a trap for New York's superheroes when Von Bardas arms a high-tech bomb linked to the technology provided to her supervillain army.
The cyborg Von Bardas is destroyed by Daisy Johnson, the bomb is disarmed, and the supervillain army is defeated and arrested. Captain America immediately demands answers from Nick Fury about what happened. They are soon joined by the X-Men and Wolverine, who attacks Fury until Johnson informs him that the man before him is aLife Model Decoy, and that the real Fury already departed. Through the L.M.D., Fury reveals the invasion of Latveria and the fact that the heroes (with the exceptions of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Black Widow and Daisy Johnson) were brainwashed afterward. Nick Fury then informs the heroes that this is the last time they will see him and that he hopes those involved in his plot will understand that what he did was necessary.
His replacement as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.,Maria Hill, discovers the particulars of the story through her interrogation of Agent Johnson in the present-day framing device of the story.[2][3][4][5][6]
| Title | Material collected | Format | Pages | Released | ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Secret War | Secret War #1-5;From The Files Of Nick Fury | OHC | 256 | 8 Mar 2006 | 978-0785118374 |
| TPB | 22 Nov 2006 | 978-0785113317 | |||
| 30 Sep 2009 | 978-0785142287 | ||||
| Secret War #1-5; Pulse #6-9;From The Files Of Nick Fury | Omnibus | 368 | 1 Apr 2025 | Classic costume cover:978-1302963828 | |
| Secret War costume DM cover:978-1302963835 |
In addition to the main five-issue series, there were a few other comics that tied in with the storyline.Secret War: From the Files of Nick Fury was a handbook-style one-off publication that featured S.H.I.E.L.D. profiles of all the main characters, written by Mike Raicht. These profiles are presented with the five issues in theSecret War hardback and paperback collections, and include a list of heroes that Fury recommended be sent in if his stealth attack failed and a large-scale assault was required (Hawkeye,Spider-Woman,Punisher,Ms. Marvel,War Machine, theHulk and theSentry), and a list of heroes who Fury contemplated including in the original mission but rejected for various reasons (Cyclops relied on his team too much, Fury had doubts aboutDoc Samson's ability to come through in a crunch, theFalcon lacked the right kind of power,Iron Man would ask too many questions even without the issue of bringing in someone who relied that heavily on technology against the Tinkerer, theThing was too visually distinctive,Kitty Pryde lacked the right mentality, and Fury couldn't trustMystique or thePurple Man).
The Pulse #6–9 featured an original storyline which runs parallel to and intersects with the main series (it was meant to last five issues but when the last two issues of the mini-series were delayed Bendis decided to remove some content from the tie-in in lieu of spoiling the main event). This storyline was collected separately in its own paperback (The Pulse Volume 2: Secret War). Bendis has also stated that part of theSecret Invasion storyline has its beginnings in theSecret War publications, as he had been planning that event for several years.
The video gameMarvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 begins its story with the events depicted in the "Secret War" story arc of the Marvel Universe. It starts from the attack on Castle Doom to Lucia Von Bardas' defeat, but there are key differences. While Fury, Captain America, Spider-Man and Wolverine are involved like in the comic,Iron Man appears and serves as a substitute for Daredevil and by extension Luke Cage, while Black Widow only plays a communicative role guiding the heroes and aiding Fury, and Daisy Johnson does not appear. From there the story follows the "Civil War" story arc which is also connected with Bardas' bomb attack on New York causing casualties. The Secret War costumes for Wolverine, Luke Cage and Daredevil appear as alternate costumes.
Spider-Man's Secret War costume appears as an alternate costume inSpider-Man: Shattered Dimensions andMarvel's Spider-Man.
