That the two primary Avengers books have become the prequels to Secret Invasion is well-known, even trite. Many among us are saying that these books would have been great - six months ago. I might agree, but as I get used to flipping back and forth in time from the near-past to the present, I am enjoying this more and more. Some of the books have been better than others - Mighty Avengers #18 is fantastic.

I can't write this review without spoilers, because it is so shocking. The plot is straightforward. Nick Fury is providing his new Secret Warriors team (I swear that they were called his New Howling Commandos just a few books ago) a crash course in high-intensity combat. How does he do this?

1) He plans a kidnapping of SHIELD boss Maria Hill, by telling his team that she is a Skrull. The team barely gets it together (Dr. Druid is just at the edge of his magical powers on this one) to bring Hill in, only to find that it was one big lie - the kidnapping was just an exercise.
2) We see a flashback to combat sessions. Nick beats the crap out of the team's resident strong guy, Stonewall. Stonewall asks, "How--how did you do that?". Nick answers, "'Msmarter than you. Get up"."But my powers. I can lift a car."."And today you learned that means exactly @#&%".
3) He uses LMDs to abduct Yo-Yo, another team member, and pretends to be Madam Hydra and her lackeys to torture information from her. When she resists, he reveals the truth.

So, in this baptism of fire, Nick has deceived, used, and tortured his own team. We now understand that by the Battle of New York (hopefully that is coming in Secret Invasion 25 or 26), this team will be ready.