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This article refers to the 2004 Secret War comic book limited series. For the original 1984 limited series, see Secret Wars. For other possible uses of Secret Wars see Secret Wars (disambiguation).

Secret War is a five-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics. The series is written by Brian Michael Bendis and painted by Gabriele Dell'Otto.

The storyline involves a large scale super-hero crossover featuring Marvel characters such as Spider-Man, Captain America, Wolverine, Daredevil, Luke Cage and Nick Fury fighting a wide array of super-villains who have received hi-tech armaments from a mysterious benefactor.

The first issue was published in April 2004, and though intended originally as a bimonthly publication, it faced long delays. It was completed with issue five's publication 21 months later in December 2005.

The aftermath of the series was explored in a story arc in The Pulse and Bendis has gone on to use many of the same characters in his New Avengers title.

The storyline in Secret War is totally unrelated to the original Secret Wars and Secret Wars II crossover limited series which Marvel published in the mid-1980s, although its title is clearly inspired by them. Those stories received their own spiritual successor in Beyond!, published in 2006.

In 2003, Nick Fury, Director of the international security force S.H.I.E.L.D., uncovers a secret plot by the Latverian Prime Minister, Lucia von Bardas, to fund B-List Supervillains with advanced technology presumably left from previous Latverian dictator Doctor Doom (who was trapped in Hell at the time) as a means of wreaking terror on American soil. Fury immediately takes his findings to the President of the United States but is denied the authorization requested to overthrow the post-Doom Latverian government, which is sponsored by the U.S. Dismissed, Fury is enraged at what he sees as the same pre-9/11 security complacency inviting disaster yet again.

Fury recruits Captain America, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Black Widow, Luke Cage, Wolverine, and superhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson in a private attempt to covertly overthrow Latveria. The heroes are subsequently brainwashed by Fury to keep the mission secret.

A year later, a mass reprisal is unleashed across New York City, leaving Luke Cage in a coma as Fury and a cadre of NYC heroes face off against Von Bardas and her hi-tech army. It was trap for New York's superheroes when she and the B-List Supervillains were linked to a bomb.

After Lucia Von Bardas was killed by Daisy Johnson, the bomb disarmed, and the B-List Supervillains were defeated and arrested, Invisible Woman and Captain America want answers from Nick Fury about what happened. Wolverine arrived with the X-Men wanting answers from Nick Fury and attacked him until Daisy Johnson told him that was a Life Model Decoy of Nick Fury and the real one already departed. Nick Fury's mind-tampering is revealed by Nick Fury talking through the L.M.D. enraging all the heroes involved with his Latveria Invasion plot (with the exception of the Black Widow and Daisy Johnson, who, as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, were allowed to retain their memories) and tells him that this is the last time anyone will see him hoping the heroes involved with his plot will understand what he had to do. He has been replaced by Maria Hill as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. who had interrogated Daisy Johnson in the present day segment.

Here are the known participants of this event:

• S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • Nick Fury
  • Nick Fury L.M.D.
  • Black Widow
  • Daisy Johnson
• Captain America
• Spider-Man
• Daredevil
• Luke Cage
• X-Men
  • Beast
  • Cyclops
  • Emma Frost
  • Shadowcat
  • Wolverine
• Fantastic Four
  • Mister Fantastic
  • Invisible Woman
  • Human Torch
  • Thing

• Lucia von Bardas
• Boomerang
• Constrictor
• Crimson Dynamo IX
• Crossfire
• Diamondback II
• Eel II
• Goldbug
• Grim Reaper
• Hobgoblin V
• Jack O'Lantern
• Killer Shrike
• King Cobra
• Lady Octopus
• Mentallo
• Mister Fear Iv
• Scorcher
• Scorpion I
• Shocker
• Spider-Slayer XIX
• Tinkerer
• Trapster
• Wizard

In addition to the main five-issue series, there were a few other comics that tied in with the storyline. Secret War: From the Files of Nick Fury was a handbook-style one-off publication that featured SHIELD profiles of all the main characters, written by Mike Raicht. These profiles are presented with the five issues in the Secret War hardback and paperback collections. The Pulse #6-9 featured an original storyline which runs parallel to and intersects with the main series (it was meant to last five issues but when the last two issues of the mini-series were delayed Bendis decided to remove some content from the tie-in in lieu of spoiling the main event). This storyline was collected separately in its own paperback (The Pulse volume 2: Secret War).