Secret Avengers #1 – Review

By Ed Brubaker (writer), Mike Deodato (artist), Rain Beredo (colorist)

“Our world is out of control… But the things I worry about most are the threats we don’t know about.”

As the Marvel Universe breaks free from the dark reign of Norman Osborn to bask in the light of a new age, Steve Rogers has remained skeptical. Cautious, even. He and his compatriots have endured many hardships over the years, responding to threats that have threatened to destroy them and only barely emerging victorious each time. Captain Steve Rogers has had enough. Ever the steadfast soldier, he is tired of holding ground and waiting for the problems to come to him. He has put together a new strategy, one that will proactively hunt the threats that plague the world before they have a chance to destroy it. To aid in his mission, Rogers has assembled a covert team of specialized operatives to help him save the world, but only this time from the shadows.

After months of speculation and eager anticipation, Secret Avengers has finally arrived, and I’m relieved to find that it was a comic well worth the wait. There’s simply a lot to like here!

Marvel has flirted with this idea of a preemptive superhero strikeforce before (anybody ever read Abnett’s short-lived Force Works?) but I’m glad they dusted it off and polished it up for The Heroic Age, because I think it’s an idea Marvel needs to keep around and address often. Why aren’t there more superheroes in the Marvel Universe that prevent problems instead of simply stopping them after they’ve already happened? Why do so many teams stand idly by and wait for shit to land on their doorstep when they should be relentlessly taking the fights to the villains until they are crushed once and for all? Hell if I know, but Secret Avengers seems ready to defy those conventions and offer us a new perspective on what heroes can and should do, and for that alone I’m ready to see where Brubaker, Deodadto, and Beredo take this comic.