1. There Are 2 Captains America.
The current Captain America status quo has its roots in Rick Remender's Captain America run. During the course of that story, Steve Rogers had the Super-Soldier Serum drained from his body, instantly turning him from ageless stud to withered old man. Steve had no choice to pass the Captain America mantle to a more physically capable hero. Thus, the shield passed to former Falcon Sam Wilson.Since then, Sam has remained Captain America, combining the familiar patriotic motif with his trademark wings. Not everyone in the Marvel U. is enamored with the new Cap, however, as Sam has proven to be a much more political and outspoken hero. His image problems have only grown since Steve was restored to health and resumed his superhero career. Currently, both Sam and Steve co-exist as Captain America, much like Steve and Bucky briefly shared the role during Marvel's Heroic Age status quo. Sam still wields the original shield, while Steve carries a new weapon modeled after his original WWII-era shield.So far, the two Caps remain on friendly terms, despite the fact that they found themselves on opposite sides of the conflict in last year's Civil War II. But it's safe to say their friendship won't survive the events of Secret Empire. Sam and his fellow Avengers are about to learn the painful truth about Steve Rogers.2. Steve Rogers Is a Hydra Mole.
Steve's return as Captain America came about in last year's Avengers Standoff: Assault on Pleasant Hill crossover. He was transformed back into his youthful, super-strong self by Kobik, a sentient Cosmic Cube taking the form of a young girl. But readers soon learned that Kobik's healing touch came with a rather large caveat.Writer Nick Spencer followed up Avengers Standoff with a new ongoing series called Captain America: Steve Rogers. The very first issue ended with a huge bombshell, as Cap betrayed his partner Nomad and announced his loyalty to Hydra.In the year since, Spencer has slowly shed light on the nature of this twist. It turns out that Steve has been a Hydra loyalist since childhood. He was recruited by a mysterious woman named Elisa Sinclair to join a special academy. Despite his frail health, Steve rose through the ranks and found himself being groomed to become the perfect weapon - one who could fool the Allied powers into believing he was on their side while secretly helping the Axis and Hydra win WWII. So much of what readers thought they knew about Steve's past has been altered, from his connection to Dr. Abraham Erskine to his relationship to villains like Red Skull and Baron Zemo.The question throughout this storyline has been whether this new account of Steve's past is real or simply the result of Kobik rewriting Steve's memories. But the more Spencer reveals about Hydra Cap, the more it appears that the old Steve Rogers was a lie, and this Steve Rogers is the real deal. More on that in a bit.
Check out our interview with Spencer where he talks about crafting Hydra Cap's story and dealing with the controversy surrounding the big change.
3. Hydra Has New Masters.
Steve Rogers' heel turn is just one piece of a massive, decades-long pan to usher in a new age of Hydra rule across the globe. The mastermind behind this plot is none other than Elisa Sinclair, the same woman who rescued young Steve Rogers from an abusive home and groomed him to become Hydra's greatest soldier. The seemingly immortal Elisa has now resurfaced in the present day, where she's become the latest woman to take up the mantle of Madame Hydra. While the new Madame Hydra looks to be top dog in this villainous organization, she's also been recruting other villains to her cause. Hydra is a many-headed beast, after all.In addition to Madame Hydra and Cap himself, the new Hydra features six leaders:The Kraken - This armored villain tasks himself with helping people "become who they're meant to be." The original Kraken, Daniel Whitehall, was instrumental in helping Steve Rogers become Captain America. Whitehall has been dead for several years now, and during the course of Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors, he was impersonated by Jacob Fury (spying on Hydra for his brother, Nick). The current Kraken's identity is unknown, though it's strongly hinted that he's someone Steve Rogers knows well.
Arnim Zola - One of the early movers and shakers in Hydra, Arnim Zola managed to cheat death by digitizing his consciousness. He now exists inside a series of robotic bodies, free to carry out his twisted science experiments till the end of time.
Viper - This expert martial artist, strategist and poison aficionado has a long history with Hydra, even serving as Madame Hydra herself on various occasions.
Dr. Faustus - Faustus is a master of hypnotism. It was he who brainwashed Sharon Carter into assassinating Steve Rogers in the aftermath of the original Civil War. Now, as Hydra begins its worldwide takeover, the organization relies heavily on Faustus' trickery to keep S.H.I.E.L.D.'s agents compliant and loyal.
The Hive - Once an ordinary agent of Hydra, the Hive is now more monster than man. The Hive can use its tentacled offspring to take control of others and build his own army of faceless drones.
The Gorgon - His fighting skill is impressive enough that Gorgon would be one of the most dangerous men in the world even without his ability to turn others into stone with a gaze. Gorgon is a brilliant tactician who usually leads the charge whenever Hydra's forces enter into battle.One name that's conspicuously absent from this list is Red Skull. This iconic Captain America villain has helped Hydra regain its strength, converting the organization into a sort of grassroots terrorist organization. He believed himself responsible for Steve Rogers' transformation from Avenger to Hydra mole. But Red Skull realized too late that he was merely a pawn in Madame Hydra's grand plan. He was killed by Cap in the lead-up to Secret Empire, with Madame Hydra eager to reclaim her organization from the Nazi tyrant whom she feels corrupted its pure, noble mission.
4. The Marvel Universe Is Divided.
Hydra's resurgence couldn't come at a worse time for Marvel's heroes. The Marvel U. is a badly divided place right now. The Avengers are still feeling the sting of last year's Civil War II crossover, where the team was divided over the issue of whether to use the future-predicting Inhuman known as Ulysses to stop crimes before they happen. Civil War II was quickly followed by Inhumans vs. X-Men, as the two teams went to war over their very survival.Even though both conflicts have ended, there's a great deal of animosity and lingering tensions among Earth's heroes. There's an especially wide gulf between newer heroes like Ms. Marvel, Ironheart and Miles Morales and their older counterparts, as these rookies come to realize that the veteran Avengers aren't the flawless saints they always imagined them to be.Amid all this chaos and uncertainty, Marvel's heroes have come to rely on Captain America more than ever as the one dependable pillar of truth and justice in an uncertain world. Cap was even recently voted in as the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., with his first mission being to build an energy barrier that can protect the planet from an impending Chitauri invasion. Basically, the public granted Cap an unprecedented level of power under the assumption that he's the one person in the world who would never abuse that power. Bad news for them.
As seen in Secret Empire #0, Cap is using the Chitauri invasion and his newfound position to accelerate Hydra's return to power. The invasion itself was little more than bait to lure many of Earth's most powerful heroes into space, leaving them trapped on the wrong side of Earth's planetary shield. Between that and the fact that New York City has been sucked into the Darkforce Dimension, suddenly the world has a dearth of superheroes just as it needs them most.One of the main goals with Secret Empire looks to be forcing Marvel's heroes to cast aside their petty squabbles and get back in touch with their heroic sides. That in turn will set the stage for Marvel's upcoming Legacy relaunch, which is very much about Marvel taking a "back to basics" approach to its books. Just as Siege paved the way for The Heroic Age in 2010, Secret Empire is the final darkness before light reenters the Marvel U.
5. Hydra Wants to Restore History.
By the end of Secret Empire #0, it would seem that Hydra's power play is almost complete. Many key heroes have been neutralized, and nothing is standing in the way of Hydra overthrowing the American government and installing Steve Rogers as leader of the free world. However, there's a crucial part of Hydra's plan still unfulfilled, one that looks to be one of the driving conflicts in the main Secret Empire series.According to Secret Empire #0, it was actually Hydra and the Axis powers who won World War II. It was only because the Allies created a Cosmic Cube and changed reality that they were able to triumph and overcome Hydra. The reason Steve Rogers has been able to keep his Hydra loyalties secret for all these years is that the Cosmic Cube made him forget. Kobik didn't rewrite his memories and past to make Steve think he was Hydra. She simply restored his mind and made him remember "the truth."It remains to be seen whether Hydra winning World War II is real Marvel history or simply one more layer of all this Cosmic Cube tomfoolery. But the fact remains that Hydra wants to restore what it believes to be the real Marvel Universe. Cap and Madame Hydra intend on using Kobik's power to undo what the Allies did in 1945. The problem is that Kobik has been shattered into pieces and scattered across the globe. As far as we can tell, a big part of the conflict in Secret Empire will involve a race against time as both Hydra and the remaining Avengers compete to find those scattered Cosmic Cube pieces.6. There Are Many Tie-Ins.
As Marvel's big summer event for 2017, it goes without saying that Secret Empire is a massive project with a great may tie-in comics. The core Secret Empire series will span nine issues and ship between May and August 2017 (barring any unforeseen delays). The series is written by Nick Spencer and will feature art by Steve McNiven, Andrea Sorrentino and Leinil Yu and covers by Mark Brooks. The main series will be preceded by two direct prologue chapters - Secret Empire #0 (by Spencer and artists Rod Reis and Daniel Acuna) and Free Comic Book Day: Secret Empire (by Spencer and Sorrentino). Issue #0 is available in stores now, while FCBD: Secret Empire will be released for free in comic shops on Saturday, May 6.The events of Secret Empire will spill out into various other Marvel books. Both Captain America: Sam Wilson and Captain America: Steve Rogers will explore how their respective leads factor into the conflict. Other ongoing series like Amazing Spider-Man, The Avengers USAvengers, Champions and Doctor Strange will further flesh out the crossover, while Marvel will use the events of this conflict as a springboard for the new Secret Warriors series.Marvel will also be debuting several standalone Secret Empire tie-ins. The mini-series Secret Empire: Brave New World is similar to past event tie-ins like Civil War: Front Line and Secret Wars: Battleworld in that it features a variety of short stories focused on various minor players. May and June will also see the release of a trio of one-shots (Secret Empire: United #1, Secret Empire: Underground #1 and Secret Empire: Uprising #1) that depict major confrontations between Hydra's forces and various Marvel heroes.Here's the full lineup of Secret Empire tie-ins revealed so far:
April 2017 ("Opening Salvo" prelude issues)
- Secret Empire #0
- Captain America: Steve Rogers #16
- Thunderbolts #12
- U.S.Avengers #5
- Secret Empire #1-3
- FCBD Secret Empire #1
- Secret Empire: Uprising #1
- Captain America: Sam Wilson #22
- Captain America: Steve Rogers #17
- Doctor Strange #21
- Deadpool #31
- The Mighty Captain Marvel #5
- Secret Warriors #1-2
- U.S.Avengers #6
- The Ultimates 2 #7
- Secret Empire #4-5
- Secret Empire: Brave New World #1-2
- Secret Empire: Underground #1
- Secret Empire: United #1
- All-New Guardians of the Galaxy Annual #1
- Amazing Spider-Man #29
- Captain America: Sam Wilson #23
- Captain America: Steve Rogers #18
- Doctor Strange #22
- Deadpool #32
- The Mighty Captain Marvel #6
- Occupy Avengers #8
- Secret Warriors #3
- U.S.Avengers #7
- The Ultimates 2 #8
- Uncanny Avengers #24
- Secret Empire #6-7
- Secret Empire: Brave New World #3-4
- Amazing Spider-Man #30
- Avengers #9
- Captain America: Sam Wilson #24
- Captain America: Steve Rogers #19
- Champions #10
- Doctor Strange #23
- Deadpool #33-34
- The Mighty Captain Marvel #7
- Occupy Avengers #9
- Secret Warriors #4
- U.S.Avengers #8
- Uncanny Avengers #25
- X-Men Blue #7-8
- X-Men Gold #7-8
As for those who want to do a little catching up before Secret Empire starts, most of the direct setup for Secret Wars has taken place within Captain America: Steve Rogers and Civil War II: The Oath (which basically bridges the gap between Civil War II and Secret Empire). The easiest solution for many readers might be to check out the trade paperback collection Secret Empire Prelude (due out on April 26), which collects many of the more relevant Captain America comics leading into Secret Empire. Between that and Secret Empire #0, you should have everything you need to dive into the main event. Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
