New Avengers (2010 series) #16

Hawkeye talks to the Avengers oral history project on the important topic of “Who is worthy to be an Avenger?” and other heroes add their two cents and then Hawkeye suggests that it isn’t always obvious….

Daredevil is in Manhattan when Sin’s Nazi war machines attack; he leaps into action, his spectacular moves taking out a machine and then vanishing once another thinks it has killed him. He seizes a machine gun from a damaged Nazi and shoots down more. And then he hears Avengers Tower fall. And then he remembers that there’s a baby at Avengers Mansion. He rushes there to find the building besieged by the enemy. Squirrel Girl is inside, protecting Dani Cage when it all suddenly stops—the damage to the building; Doreen hears what sounds like the Nazi machines fighting each other and then…silence. She peeks outside and the enemy machines are down. Daredevil enters and leads her to safety in the underground bunker….

Three weeks later, DD is approached by Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, thanking him for protecting their baby. As a gesture of gratitude, Luke gives DD a membership card in the Avengers, with Braille, of course. He tries to turn it down but ends up an Avenger….

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Story #2

The Goblin cometh

Writer: Brian Michael Bendis.Penciler: Neal Adams. Inker: Tom Palmer. Colorist: Paul Mounts. Letterer: Joe Caramagna.

Synopsis

In Avengers Mansion the New Avengers are having lunch and the banter currently surrounds the smell of the diapers of Luke Cage and Jessica Jones' baby Danielle. But Victoria Hand, their liaison with Captain America, wants to talk to them about Osborn, which causes Spider-Man to switch banter target to her past relationship with the man. Ignoring that she tells them that he's being transferred from then Raft for trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague. But there are worries about rumours of HAMMER still being active. Spidey blows up at the word 'rumours' because they recently (#9-13 before Fear Itself) fought HAMMER and Mockingbird nearly died. Ignoring him again she says that the team has been asked to handle the transfer. Bobbi Morse asks if what they really want is for Wolverine to kill him, but unfortunately the answer's no.

Later at the Raft Cage and Thing are escorting Osborn to a quinjet while Ms Marvel flies overhead and armed guards keep watch. MB is ready to pilot the craft but she detects something as a gigantic aircraft appears and grabs the quinjet and superfolk in a large force bubble. And the armed guards turn out to be HAMMER supporters. Inside the bubble the heroes are being thrown around while 1 of the jet-packed guards fires into it and extracts Norman with force tentacles. The guards greet him as they all escape in the bigger plane. He asks where they're taking him and they say *he* was supposed to tell them the rendezvous point. So Osborn casts a spell which reveals that he's really Dr Strange. And another spell brings the craft crashing to the ground.

So now it's time for the real transfer. Jessica, Iron Fist, Wolverine and some more guards escort Osborn from his cell. Norman taunts Jess by telling her he's going to kill her baby, which prompts Logan to stick an adamantium claw in his mouth. But Osborn says "The word is given" and these guards also turn out to be working for him. They splatter Wolvie with gunfire giving them a brief time while his healing factor does its job. IF and superstrong Jones attack the guards and then Jessica grabs Osborn. But his restraints fall off and he grabs *her* and throws her at Danny Rand. He and the guards exit through a large doorway which slams shut behind them. Fist contacts the other Avengers while Logan recovers and Jessica hits an alarm button.

Osborn and his 'guards' run through the prison to release Deidre Wentworth (Superia, the HAMMER leader who was captured at the end of #13). Rand tries to smash through the big door with his Iron Fist power but it repels him, just as Cage, Dr Strange, Mockingbird, Spidey and Thing join them. Jess contacts Carol Danvers to tell her to watch for Osborn escaping in the other direction. She flies around but can't see anything so she dives down to enter the prison via an underwater entrance. She finds a large door with loud noises on the other side. But its only the heroes breaking through and Osborn is nowhere to be seen. Wolverine threatening a complicit guard doesn't help because he just spouts cult cant.

Osborn has been flown to a large stadium somewhere filled with rapturous supporters. He greets the crowd accompanied by Superia (back in her 'costume' from #13) and Madame Hydra (Ophelia Sarkissian) with an 'octopus' on her head. Some AIM scientists are seen in the assembly.