Volume 1
After the events of "Dark Reign" and Siege, Norman Osborn was deposed as America's "top cop" and his organization H.A.M.M.E.R. was disbanded. In response to his hand in reforming the original Avengers and staving off the Siege of Asgard, The President appointed former Captain America Steve Rogers as America's new foremost law enforcement agent, as well as dissolving the Superhuman Registration Act at Rogers' request.[1] Captain Rogers then forms the Secret Avengers as a group of superheroes to operate under a veil of secrecy, in addition to the main Avengers team.
The opening issues show the team being proactive about known threats and cleaning them up, black ops style. They are in direct opposition to a group called the "Shadow Council" seemingly led by Nick Fury. In one such plot they find a dangerous artifact, the "Tentacle Crown". After some research the group finds a link to the Roxxon Corporation, which leads to investigations of a mining site on Mars. Richard Rider is on the case, and in his investigations he finds another crown, the "Serpent Crown." The crown possesses Nova, but he is pursued by a guardian of the crown claiming to be a collective named the "Archon" who was created by the Watchers. The possessed Nova directs Shadow Council agents into unearthing a primordial evil. Steve Rogers, with the help of the Xandarian Worldmind, temporarily gains the Nova Force to take out the Serpent Crown/Nova.
The Secret Avengers later have to deal with the fact that someone resembling Nick Fury is shown to be working for the Shadow Council. The real Fury confirms that what they are seeing is a self aware Life Model Decoy modified by Jake Fury. S.H.I.E.L.D. was going to destroy the LMD, but he was rescued by the Shadow Council and given the name Max.[9] Some other operatives in the "Shadow Council" are an immortal named Aloysius Thorndrake and former Golden Age hero John Steele.
Shang-Chi offers himself as bait in order to capture his immortal father, Zheng Zu, who needs the blood of a relative to stay alive.[10] Ant-Man accidentally foils that plan, but later the team falls into a trap where Carter is kidnapped. Shang-chi volunteers to exchange himself for her, but during the exchange Moon Knight disguises himself as a Shadow Council guard. He is able to lead the team to stop the sacrificial ceremony.[11] John Steele is apprehended and Captain America is able to delve into his memories and figures out that because of his actions during a WW2 mission, John Steele ended up getting kidnapped and brain washed by the Shadow Council.[12]
During the Fear Itself Crossover, the Secret Avengers are summoned to defend Washington DC. Beast meets with an old congressman friend, who turns out to be an Omega-level mutant, who can animate statues, then has Abraham Lincoln from the Lincoln Memorial and dinosaurs from the National Museum of Natural History fight off Nazis.[13] In issue 14 we get Valkyrie's origin story, about how she defended her love during a battle and Odin made her an immortal. She then leads a groups of soldiers in battle.[14]
The Secret Avengers then track the Shadow Council to an underground city,[15] to Serbia to stop a soul-stealing truck,[16] to a multiverse,[17] a fictional Eastern European arms dealer who has demonic super-soldier serum,[18] and an alien hybrid breeding lab[19]
During one battle the team gets killed, but Black Widow is able to teleport back in time. In order to save her team, but not disrupt the time continuum, she teleports back 44 years and creates the technology needed to stop the lasers that kill her team without them realizing she saved them.[20]
Max Fury and the Shadow Council form a new incarnation of the Masters of Evil, consisting of Princess Python, Vengeance, and Whiplash. The Secret Avengers discover them during a mission run by Captain America, who is testing Hawkeye's leadership skills before making him the new team leader.[21]
Giant-Man, Captain Britain, and the original Human Torch join the Secret Avengers with investigating a new threat called the Descendants, an army of synthezoids.[22] During the battle it seems that Ant-Man is killed and Torch is severely damaged, but Agent Venom rescues the team. Ant-Man reappears uninjured.[23]
The team then crosses over into the Avengers vs. X-Men event. They attempt to intercept the Phoenix Force, but fail to stop it, even with Thor's help. They land in the Kree home world Hala, but Protector and Carol Danvers are subdued by the Kree Hive-mind, which is being manipulated into inviting the Phoenix Force, which is heading for Hala. Vision is able to break the control and Mar-Vell sacrifices himself to stop the Phoenix, which spares Hala.[24]
The Masters of Evil realize John Steele is a double agent, but are able to keep the mystic crowns and even steal the third from Taskmaster, then unleash an evil force called The Abyss on Bagalia, that controls the minds of the Masters and the Avengers. Venom and Ant-Man were immune and are able to separate the three crowns. Black Widow suspects that Ant-Man is a LMD, since he was not affected by The Abyss, but her suspicions are dismissed by Hawkeye due to Grady's heroic actions, causing her to quit in protest.[25]
The Descendants (with the addition of the Human Torch who was reprogrammed to serve them) launched a massive attack on the main cities of the world, starting an invasion to take it and launched a nano-mist, which slowly started turning every human into Descendants.[26] The Secret Avengers fought them, and Human Torch {who Captain Britain made come into his senses} managed to destroy the Orb of Necromancy, which killed every single one of the Descendants of the High-Breed and eliminated the nano-mist from any human. Before dying, the Father told Captain Britain he still felt the presence of another Descendant who didn't die. In the aftermath, the Secret Avengers reunited with Captain America to tell him what happened. Time later, Hawkeye decided to disassemble the unit.[27]
Volume 2
As part of the Marvel NOW! event, a new version of the Secret Avengers is formed under the jurisdiction of S.H.I.E.L.D. A mysterious traveler from the future attacks a battalion of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents before he is killed. Following the attack, Maria Hill decides to form S.H.I.E.L.D.'s version of the Secret Avengers. Maria Hill is able to recruit Hawkeye, Black Widow, Nick Fury Jr., and Phil Coulson. Their first operation is to foil a plan of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda from using teleportation knowledge given by Andras Bertesy to execute a terrorist attack on the United States. The Secret Avengers follow the terrorist group to Budapest, where they get the coordinates of the attack from one of their members. After Hawkeye is left to be rescued by Black Widow, Nick Fury Jr. sets a trap for the Al-Qaeda member who was going to perform the attack, by waiting him in the Oval Office to kill him.[28]
In the second mission, the Secret Avengers raid Bagalia and fight through the Masters of Evil, in order to free Taskmaster, who is going to be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Mockingbird joins up with them, using S.H.I.E.L.D. Camo-Tech to masquerade as Aloysius Thorndrake of the Shadow Council. Nick Fury Jr. pays Crossfire to let Taskmaster out of his cell. After Taskmaster agrees to join the Secret Avengers, he goes on a mission to infiltrate A.I.M.'s new High Council (consisting of Andrew Forson, Graviton, Jude the Entropic Man, Mentallo, Superia, and
