The CIVIL WAR has spilt the costumed heroes of America into two factions: those who’ll sign the Superhuman Registration Act and those who won’t. Even the Avengers are split in two with the SHRA-approved Mighty Avengers led by Ms Marvel & Iron Man hunting Luke Cage‘s outlaw New Avengers. But, on a mission in Japan, Cage’s squad are about to uncover a secret that’ll throw the super-human community into further disarray.
Be warned… SECRET INVASION is coming!
Related Events: While these stories mostly take place in isolation and are contained in each respective title without crossing over, you’ll see the bigger picture developing if you read them all together.
Must-Reads: In the Fallout section, issues marked with a ✔ are the stories that are most heavily impacted by this event.
Anthology Issues: When an issue contains multiple stories, the relevant story is denoted with square brackets. For example, [2/5] refers to the second story of the five stories in that issue.
Spoilers: The issue descriptions and fallout section contain spoilers, so be warned!
Previous events that directly impact this story:
- CIVIL WAR (2006-2007) – A new Captain Marvel emerges in the Negative Zone
- THE INITIATIVE (2007-2008) – The Avengers are divided into two teams
Want to keep it simple? Here’s the chronological reading order without story descriptions, or spoilers:
- New Avengers #31 (tie-in)
- New Avengers #32 (tie-in)
- Mighty Avengers #7
- Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 [5/5]
- New Avengers #38-39
- Captain Marvel #1-3 (tie-in)
- Ms Marvel #24 (tie-in)
- Ms Marvel #25-27
- Young Avengers Presents #2 (tie-in)
- Captain Marvel #4-5
- New Avengers: Illuminati #5
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | New Avengers #31 (tie-in) Luke Cage’s New Avengers have headed to Japan to free estranged team member Echo from the Hand‘s control. When Doctor Strange succeeds, Echo turns her attention to the Hand’s leader, Elektra, and forces a sword through her stomach. Elektra’s corpse take on the form of an alien shapeshifter… a Skrull! Also see THE INITIATIVE Identity revealed: ‘Elektra’ is a Skrull |
| ✔ | New Avengers #32 (tie-in) As the team fly home from Japan, Wolverine suggests that any one of them could be a Skrull. Just as Spider-Woman tries to convince the group to take the Skrull Elektra’s body to Tony Stark, an electromagnetic pulse hits the jet which causes it to crash. Wolverine regains consciousness first, only to be knocked back out by Spider-Woman’s sting. He loses consciousness again as he watches her leave with the Skrull corpse. Also see THE TRUST |
| ✔ | Mighty Avengers #7 Spider-Woman takes the Skrull corpse to Tony Stark at Avengers Tower. Unsure of how to react, Tony decides to keep this little revelation a secret between himself and Spider-Woman, who he asks to join his Mighty Avengers without the consent of the team’s leader, Ms Marvel (Carol Danvers). The EMP that caused the New Avengers’ jet to crash also causes a satellite in Earth’s orbit to launch a projectile containing Symbiotes at New York, infecting citizens! Also see… THE TRUST VENOM BOMB 1st appearance: Venom Virus (unnamed) |
| Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 [5/5] Philadelphia’s 50-State Initiative team, the Liberteens, successfully take down Flag-Smasher when he tries to destroy the Liberty Bell. Later, Revolutionary reports back to Camp Hammond. However, it turns out the little geek is a Skrull, as is his high-ranking contact at Camp Hammond! Turns out there’s a Skrull in all fifty teams of the 50-State Initiative. So who else out there has been replaced? And who’s really running the Initiative? 1st appearance: Liberteens (2-D, Blue Eagle, Hope/Ariana Diamante, Iceberg/Jack Pierce, Ms America/Erika Kelley, ‘Revolutionary’ (Skrull)) | |
| ✔ | New Avengers #38 Paranoia over the Skrull infiltration and attacks on Doctor Strange’s house by the Hood leave Jessica Jones no choice but to take her and Luke’s daughter to Avengers Tower. This stings Cage, especially as he believes Tony Stark’s a Skrull. The couple argue outside the tower, until Ms Marvel warns Cage off and allows Jessica inside with her baby. |
| ✔ | New Avengers #39 Wolverine tells Echo that half the reason he’s on the team is to look out for her, which he continues to do when she goes roof-hopping and runs into a Skrull impersonating Daredevil. Wolvey steps in and gets crispy fried saving her life, but can’t stop the Skrull from escaping. Later, Ronin (Clint Barton) interrupts Echo’s meditation and the two of them sleep together. 1st appearance: ‘Daredevil’/’Echo’/’Maya Lopez’ (Skrull) |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| ✔ | Captain Marvel #1 (tie-in) Everyone seems to have forgotten that the long-dead Kree superhero Captain Marvel returned (during CIVIL WAR, 2006-2007). Not that anyone’s seen him since. Turns out Mar-Vell‘s been hanging out in Paris, staring at a painting, completely unaware that a cult has started up in his name. Iron Man calls in SHIELD agent Heather Sante to track him down. Two days, later, Captain Marvel makes a very public return! 1st appearance: ‘Cyclone’/’André Gerard’ (Skrull), Nathan Jefferson, Agent Heather Sante, Brotherhood of Hala (Mother Starr/Julia Starr) |
| ✔ | Captain Marvel #2 (tie-in) Ms Marvel catches up with Marv and they both admit their feelings for each other, but the moment is interrupted by a rampaging Cobalt Man. Later, Marv agrees to meet Iron Man on the SHIELD Helicarrier. However, Kree troops show up, ordering their deaths! 1st appearance: ‘Cobalt Man’/’Ralph Roberts’ |
| ✔ | Captain Marvel #3 (pp.1-8) (tie-in) Captain Marvel and Iron Man defeat the ‘Kree’, discovering their suspicions that they’re just Skrull in disguise are true… |
| Ms Marvel #24 (pp.1-20) (tie-in) With her Binary powers restored by the alien Cru, Ms Marvel battles a Brood infestation on Monster Island alongside Wonder Man and her Operation: Lightning Storm team. Cru congratulates Ms Marvel on her victory – won by expelling her Binary powers. But the indestructible Brood Queen kills Cru, prompting Ms Marvel to fly her into space and put a bomb in her mouth… | |
| ✔ | Captain Marvel #3 (pp.9-12) (tie-in) Tony Stark assigns Agent Sante to an investigation into the Brotherhood of Hala – the cult claiming the Kree Mar-Vell’s resurrection is religiously significant… |
| Ms Marvel #24 (pp.21-22) (tie-in) Iron Man informs Operation: Lighting Storm’s Agent Sum that Ms Marvel appears to be a Skrull! | |
| Captain Marvel #3 (pp.9-12) (tie-in) Tony Stark assigns Agent Sante to an investigation into the Brotherhood of Hala – the cult that’s risen up around Mar-Vell’s apparent resurrection… | |
| Ms Marvel #25 Ms Marvel – initially recalling her first run-in with the Skrulls – follows an AIM truck containing an all-new Super-Skrull whose mission is to kill Carol Danvers’ love-interest, William Wagner. Ms Marvel finds Wagner dead in his apartment right beforen Agent Sum bursts in and sees her stood over Wagner’s corpse! 1st appearance: Hs’fld (Skrull), ‘Ms Marvel’ (Skrull), Rl’nnd (Skrull), Rm’twr (Skrull), Interplanetary Probe | |
| Must Reads | Title, Issue Number & Synopsis |
| Ms Marvel #26 The full force of Operation: Lightning Storm – including Machine Man and Sleepwalker – hunt Ms Marvel. Meanwhile, a Skrull ‘Ms Marvel’ tries to convince Agent Sum (who it seems it an immortal) that she’s the real deal. After a bunch of shape-shifting switches, the ‘Ms Marvel’ Skrull is revealed and contained. The real Ms Marvel learns William Wagner was a Kree. Identity revealed: ‘Agent Sum’ is Hui Lin | |
| Ms Marvel #27 (pp.1-16) The ‘Ms Marvel’ Skrull utters the words “he loves you” and blows herself and Lightning Storm’s Mini-Carrier to pieces, almost killing Sleepwalker’s host, Rick Sheridan… | |
| Young Avengers Presents #2 (tie-in) Hulkling of the Young Avengers ignores his teammates’ advice and gets Captain Marvel’s attention, awkwardly revealing he’s the result of Mar-Vell’s bedroom fandango with the Skrull princess Anelle. After the initial shock, Mar-Vell promises he’ll see Hulkling again before he returns to his own time. | |
| Captain Marvel #3 (pp.13-22) (tie-in) Agent Sante finds evidence that the Brotherhood of Hala is a Skrull operation. Captain Marvel finally accesses his lost memories. He accuses Ms Marvel of being a Skrull to his regret. Captain Marvel unmasks ‘Cyclone’ as a Skrull who accuses him of not being the real Captain Marvel! Identity revealed: ‘Cobalt Man’/’Ralph Roberts’ is a Skrull | |
| ✔ | Captain Marvel #4 Mar-Vell heads to the North Pole to freak out. Later, he convinces the Brotherhood of Hala to do some charitable work in the Sudan, but their leader, Julia Starr, is killed by guerrilla soldiers. Ms Marvel uses the Nega-Bands to teleport Captain Marvel to the Negative Zone! |
| ✔ | Captain Marvel #5 Mar-Vell escapes the Negative Zone through a portal back to Earth which jolts his memories, making him realise he’s a Skrull called Khn’nr! Agent Sante is there to arrest him, but he convinces her to let him continue to do good work as Captain Marvel. Identity revealed: ‘Captain Marvel’ is Khn’nr (Skrull) |
| ✔ | New Avengers: Illuminati #5 Tony Stark summons the Illuminati and hits them with the revelation of the Skrull infiltration. The argument over whether or not there even is an impending invasion is interrupted when the normally-silent Black Bolt is revealed as a Super-Skrull. Namor the Sub-Mariner kills Skrull ‘Black Bolt’, only for more Super-Skrulls to attack! Iron Man connects to a local power station and blows the Skrulls up. Unable to trust each other anymore, the Illuminati go their separate ways. The Earth just might be doomed, after all! Identity revealed: ‘Black Bolt’/Blackagar Boltagon’ is a Skrull |
| Ms Marvel #27 (pp.17-22) Weeks after the incident with the Ms Marvel Skrulls (and immediately before SECRET INVASION, 2008-2009), Ms Marvel sleeps with Wonder Man to make herself feel better about recent events. The next morning, they answer the call to intercept a Skrull hip above Manhattan! |
| Must Reads | Issue & Fallout | Event / Crossover |
| ✔ | Mighty Avengers #4 Ultron is the cause of the EMP that hits the New Avengers’ jet. | THE INITIATIVE THE ULTRON INITIATIVE |
| ✔ | Mighty Avengers #8-11 Doctor Doom is revealed to be behind the ‘Venom Bomb’ that was accidentally released into New York. | VENOM BOMB |
| ✔ | Annihilation: Conquest #1 Iron Man is unable to contact the Kree due to their home world, Hala, being taken over by the Phalanx. Annihilation: Conquest #6 The bubble around Hala is destroyed. | ANNIHILATION: CONQUEST |
| ✔ | Secret Invasion: Inhumans #1 Iron Man hands the body of the Skrull Black Bolt to Medusa of the Inhumans; the real Black Bolt’s whereabouts is revealed. Secret Invasion #1 The Skrulls begin their invasion; the Skrull at Camp Hammond is revealed to be ‘Hank Pym’; ‘Edwin Jarvis’ is revealed to be a Skrull; Tony Stark finally begins the autopsy on Skrull Elektra; more Super-Skrulls invade Earth. New Avengers #40 ‘Spider-Woman’ revealed to be a Skrull; how the real Spider-Woman was replaced by a Skrull is revealed. Secret Invasion #3 ‘Spider-Woman’ reveals her true Skrull identity to Tony Stark. Mighty Avengers #16 How the real Elektra was replaced by a Skrull is revealed. Secret Invasion #6 ‘Captain Marvel’ is killed defending Earth from the Skrull invasion. Avengers: The Initiative #18 Revolutionary is killed by Hope. Secret Invasion #8 The outcome of the Skrull invasion is revealed; the real Elektra returns; Ronin is reunited with his ex-wife, Mockingbird, immediately forgetting about his burgeoning relationship with Echo. New Avengers #47 Skrull ‘Jarvis’ kidnaps baby Danielle Cage. | SECRET INVASION |
| ✔ | New Avengers #48 Echo quietly leaves the Avengers. Avengers: The Initiative #20 The real Revolutionary first appears . | DARK REIGN |
| ✔ | Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1 Namor joins a villain-version of the Illuminati called the Cabal. | SECRET INVASION DARK REIGN LOVELORN |
| ✔ | New Avengers #49 Luke Cage rescues Danielle with Norman Osborn‘s help, becoming indebted to him. Punisher #5 The real Cyclone is resurrected. New Avengers #51-54 Doctor Strange officially loses the title of Sorcerer Supreme to Brother Voodoo. | DARK REIGN |
| ✔ | Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four #4 A retroactive story reveals that Kristoff Vernard released the Venom Bomb, setting Doctor Doom up for a fall so he could reclaim the Latverian throne. | |
| ✔ | Ms Marvel #48-50 Another Captain Marvel (revealed to be a Skrull) attacks the Church of Hala. | |
| ✔ | Chaos War: Dead Avengers #1-3 The original Captain Marvel is briefly resurrected. | CHAOS WAR |
| ✔ | Secret Avengers #26-28 The Kree resurrect the real Captain Marvel for a short time in order to defend the Phoenix Force from the Avenger. | AVENGERS VS X-MEN |
| ✔ | Captain Marvel #1 Ms Marvel (Carol Danvers) continues up Mar-Vell’s legacy when she becomes the new Captain Marvel. | |
| ✔ | New Avengers #34 Doctor Strange reclaims the title and abilities of Sorcerer Supreme. | END TIMES |
| ✔ | New Avengers #1 Namor officially returns to the Illuminati. | MARVEL NOW! |
| ✔ | Fantastic Four #4 (2018) Four members of the Liberteens take on new identities as the Fantastix; 2-D, Hope and Iceberg retain their codenames, while Ms America becomes Ms Fantastix. | MR AND MRS GRIMM |
See how this story fits into the wider Marvel Universe continuity with these reading orders:
| Collected Edition Title | Includes… |
| Secret Invasion by Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus | Mighty Avengers #7 New Avengers #31-32, 39 New Avengers: The Illuminati |
| Secret Invasion: The Infiltration | Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 Mighty Avengers #7, New Avengers #31-32, 38-39 New Avengers: Illuminati #5 |
| Secret Invasion: Rise of the Skrulls | Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 Captain Marvel #1-5 Ms Marvel #25-27 |
| New Avengers Omnibus vol.2 | New Avengers #31-32, 38-39 New Avengers: Illuminati #5 |
| New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection vol.3 | New Avengers #31-32 New Avengers: Illuminati #5 |
| New Avengers vol.3 HC New Avengers vol.6: Revolution New Avengers Omnibus vol.1 | New Avengers #31 |
| New Avengers vol.4 HC New Avengers vol.7: The Trust | New Avengers #32 New Avengers: Illuminati #5 |
| Collected Editions Title | Includes… |
| New Avengers vol.5 HC New Avengers vol.8: Secret Invasion, Book 1 New Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection vol.4 | New Avengers #38-39 |
| Jessica Jones: Avenger | New Avengers #38 |
| Mighty Avengers: Assemble Mighty Avengers vol.2: Venom Bomb Mighty Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis: The Complete Collection | Mighty Avengers #7 |
| Avengers: The Initiative vol.2: Killed in Action Avengers: The Initiative – The Complete Collection vol.1 | Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1 |
| Secret Invasion: Captain Marvel | Captain Marvel #1-5 |
| Young Avengers Presents | Young Avengers Presents #3 |
| Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers – The Ms Marvel Years vol.2 Captain Marvel/Ms Marvel – Secret Invasion: The Infiltration Ms Marvel vol.5: Secret Invasion | Ms Marvel #25-27 |
| New Avengers: Illuminati | New Avengers: Illuminati #5 |
Reading Order ©OmniverseComicsGuide 2023
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