Secret Empire Review

Finished reading Secret Empire, spinning out of the pages of both of writer Nick Spencer's Captain America series the Marvel event sees Steve Rogers reveal himself as the new Hydra leader leaving all of the heroes in shock and in a difficult position. The book opens with Captain America as the current head of S.H.I.E.L.D. coordinating the heroes around the world as a group of villains are attacking New York, while the heroes in space are defending against a Chitauri wave heading towards the planet as they wait for the new planetary shield to be activated, and S.H.I.E.L.D. fighting against Hydra forces in Sokovia. This leads to the American president to call for a state of emergency which puts Steve in temporary leadership of the country and when the day is seemingly won with the planetary shield working along with the Hydra and the villains in New York retreating, Steve reveals himself to the world as the leader of Hydra. This is when Baron Zemo who has Darkhold with him along with the villain (Blackout) are able to shut off New York by putting a dome around it trapping its population within a different dimension and with the planetary shield up and running, stopping any of the heroes on the Alpha Flight Space Station from getting home to stop Steve, while also being a target for the constant wave of Chitauri coming towards Earth. This causes the AI Tony Stark to call all the remaining heroes of the world to converge at Washington DC with the hope that they might be able to beat Hydra. However the heroes lose to Captain America and his Hydra forces which leads to them hiding out in a secret base just outside of Las Vegas while Hydra has taken over the country unopposed as Inhumans, the Mutants who didn't go to New Tian and anyone who disagrees with Hydra's regime has found themselves in a Hydra prison. When news of the remaining heroes current hiding near Vegas, Hydra plans an attack on the city with the hope to reinforce their power and prevent any opposition to them, only for this to lead to the heroes splitting up with two different plans in stopping Hydra as Black Widow finds herself being joined by the Champions as she plans on assassinating Steve Rogers. Meanwhile a different group of heroes follow Tony Starks plan in trying to find the scatter parts of the Cosmic Cube with the hope that they can use it on Steve to turn him back to normal as it was Kobik, the sentient Cosmic Cube that turn Captain America into a Hydra agent with the group's first stop being to recruit a reluctant Sam Wilson to bring down Hydra as their plan soon comes to the attention of Hydra. Overall this was an amazing book as writer Nick Spencer crafts a story that pits the heroes of the Marvel Universe again a common enemy in the form of a Hydra version of Captain America who has taken over America leading to some great interactions between characters from thanks to the way that the heroes argue with one another with their views on how to beat Hydra which leads to them splitting into different group even after the whole superhero community has already been fractured. To the way that the book is able to make time to put some focus onto the way that Steve Rogers and his allies within Hydra by show how being in charge of America along with being a influence to the rest of the world is affecting them especially with the threat to the remaining heroes. The book also does an amazing job in being able to jump between several different storylines within the book at ease by giving each group of heroes and Hydra enough time to develop their own story and some great character development along the way while still having room for twists and surprises leading to an epic conclusion that feels extremely worthwhile. The art throughout the book is amazing throughout the book as the entire art team does an incredible job in bringing to life the action set pieces that makes every hit cont while also being very effective thanks to the way the art put the focus into these scenes. Additionally within all of the character driven moments the art works greatly in the way it's able to show each character's emotions and reactions to the books events and conversations with one another. 9.5/10.