Secret Empire#0

Secret Empire #0

Jun 2017 · Marvel

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

★ Key event — Steve Rogers

About this Issue

Secret Empire #0 is the opening salvo of one of Marvel's most politically charged and culturally provocative event narratives of the 2010s — the culmination of a long-form story Nick Spencer had been building across multiple Captain America titles since 2015's 'Avengers: Standoff!' It executes, in a single issue, the three-pronged Hydra coup that Steve Rogers had been engineering in secret: locking Earth's heavy-hitter heroes outside the planetary defense shield, trapping Manhattan in a Darkforce dimension dome, and seizing command of S.H.I.E.L.D. by orchestrating a national emergency. The issue forced readers to grapple with the unsettling image of America's most trusted symbol as its greatest betrayer — a concept provocative enough to draw mainstream cultural commentary, with reviewers drawing direct parallels to the political climate of 2017. It also served a structural editorial function: Marvel announced that Secret Empire would be followed by an 18-month hiatus from large crossover events, making #0 the prelude not just to the story but to a deliberate recalibration of Marvel's publishing strategy.

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (NM) $9

CGC 9.8 $38

CGC 9.6 $25*

CGC 9.4 $20*

CGC 9.2 $20*

CGC 9.0 $20*

CGC 8.5 $20*

Show all 18 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 $20*

CGC 7.5 $20*

CGC 7.0 $20*

CGC 6.5 $20*

CGC 6.0 $20*

CGC 5.5 $20*

CGC 5.0 $20*

CGC 4.5 $20*

CGC 4.0 $20*

CGC 3.5 $20*

CGC 3.0 $20*

CGC 2.5 $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

Find on ebay

Search eBay for Secret Empire #0 ▸

No confirmed live listings for this exact issue right now — this opens an eBay search.

Read it digitally

Marvel Unlimited Marvel’s subscription reader ▸ Amazon Kindle Buy the digital edition ▸

Opens a search on each platform — digital availability varies by title.

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Secret Empire #0 was released on April 19, 2017, written by Nick Spencer with interior art by Rod Reis and Daniel Acuña, a cover by Mark Brooks, and edited by Tom Brevoort and Alanna Smith under Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso. Spencer had been laying the groundwork across his dual Captain America runs — 'Captain America: Steve Rogers' and 'Captain America: Sam Wilson' — as well as the 2016 'Avengers: Standoff!' miniseries, meaning the event represented the payoff of roughly two years of interconnected storytelling. Alonso publicly stated that a primary editorial goal was to reunify Marvel's superhero line following the divisive fallout of 'Civil War II' and 'Inhumans vs. X-Men,' giving heroes a common adversary. Marvel teased the event with a series of 'Trust the Secret Empire' promotional posters beginning in January 2017 before formally announcing it in February of that year.

Trivia · 9 facts

Released April 19, 2017; written by Nick Spencer, with interior art by Rod Reis and Daniel Acuña, and a main cover by Mark Brooks — also offered variant covers by Ron Frenz, Rod Reis, and Elizabeth Torque.
The issue executes Steve Rogers' three-pronged Hydra takeover plan simultaneously: trapping Captain Marvel and Alpha Flight beyond the Planetary Defense Shield in Earth orbit, sealing half of Manhattan inside a Darkforce dimension dome via Baron Zemo and Blackout using the Darkhold, and seizing S.H.I.E.L.D. command authority during the manufactured state of emergency.
Quasar (Avril Kincaid) suffers an apparent death in the issue when she is swallowed by a living Chitauri Leviathan ship during the space battle — she is later found alive in a coma and becomes pivotal to destroying the Shield in issue #8.
The issue serves as the narrative and publication culmination of Spencer's 'Captain America: Steve Rogers' run, which began with the shocking 'Hail Hydra' cliffhanger in 2016 and traced Rogers' Kobik-rewritten origin as a lifelong Hydra sleeper agent.
The event's groundwork was laid in the 2016 'Avengers: Standoff!' miniseries, also written by Spencer, in which the sentient Cosmic Cube Kobik transformed the elderly Steve Rogers back to his youthful, super-powered self — while secretly rewriting his memories to make him loyal to Hydra.
Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso cited the event's editorial purpose as reunifying the Marvel superhero line after the divisive 'Civil War II' and 'Inhumans vs. X-Men' storylines, giving the fractured cast a common enemy.
A Dan Mora villain-lineup variant cover featuring Magneto alongside Hydra members sparked significant public controversy, as Magneto is a Jewish Holocaust survivor whose hatred for Nazis is foundational to the character — he is not a Hydra ally in the main story.
The 'Agents of Hydra' arc in Season 4 of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. aired concurrently with Secret Empire's early issues and shared the core premise of a heroic character believing his whole life that he served Hydra due to a reality-altering device; both storylines also contain commentary on life under a fascist regime, and reviewers noted the thematic parallels explicitly.
Marvel announced in April 2017 that Secret Empire's conclusion would be followed by an 18-month gap without a major crossover event — described as the company's longest such hiatus in twelve years.