Secret War #2
Secret War #2 is the confirmed first appearance of Daisy Johnson — the vibration-powered S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who would later take the codename Quake — making it the birth certificate of one of the most consequential new Marvel characters of the 2000s. The issue deepened a geopolitical spy thriller that planted the seeds for nearly a decade of Bendis-era Marvel storytelling, directly feeding into New Avengers, Secret Invasion, and the Secret Warriors series. It also marked an early showcase for Gabriele Dell'Otto's fully painted style in the American market, a striking aesthetic departure from mainstream superhero comics of the era that influenced how Marvel packaged prestige events. The fallout dramatized in this issue — a furious Captain America confronting Nick Fury over Luke Cage's coma — encapsulated the theme of hero accountability that would define Marvel's mid-2000s editorial identity.
In "Secret War Book Two," a year after Nick Fury secretly assembled a team of heroes and sent them undercover in Latveria to dismantle a shadowy network of tech-based villains, the fallout begins to unravel. Now, Captain America confronts Fury over the consequences of that mission—especially after it left Luke Cage in a coma—forcing the truth of their covert war into the open. With art by Gabriele Dell'Otto and a cover by the same, this 2004 Marvel issue delivers a tense, character-driven escalation in Brian Michael Bendis’s espionage-driven saga.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The five-issue Secret War miniseries was written by Brian Michael Bendis and fully painted by Italian artist Gabriele Dell'Otto, with the series conceived in part from real-world intelligence concepts told to Bendis during his childhood, giving the spy thriller an unusually grounded premise for a superhero event. Although originally planned as a bimonthly publication, the series suffered significant production delays attributable in no small part to the demands of Dell'Otto's labor-intensive painted artwork, stretching from April 2004 all the way to the final issue in December 2005. Issue #2, cover-dated July 2004, was edited by Andy Schmidt and lettered by Cory Petit, and each issue came padded with bonus material including Dell'Otto cover sketches, design notes, and in-world S.H.I.E.L.D. file transcripts — a format that attracted criticism from contemporary reviewers even as it distinguished the book as a premium package. The series served as one of Bendis's first extended opportunities to write mainstream Marvel characters like Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Captain America, whose dynamic chemistry here rehearsed the New Avengers roster he would soon assemble.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Daisy Johnson (later known as Quake), created by Brian Michael Bendis and Gabriele Dell'Otto; she is the daughter of the villain Mister Hyde and possesses seismic vibration powers.
- Written by Brian Michael Bendis; fully painted interiors and cover art by Gabriele Dell'Otto; lettered by Cory Petit; edited by Andy Schmidt — Secret War #2's cover date is July 2004 (on-sale May 2004).
- The story structure alternates between a 'one year ago' mission in Latveria — where Nick Fury led a secret, memory-wiped covert team of heroes against Lucia Von Bardas — and the present-day fallout, in which Captain America physically confronts Fury over Luke Cage being left in a coma.
- Core cast of heroes in this issue includes Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Daredevil, Black Widow, Luke Cage, and Nick Fury, along with cameo appearances by Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Mary Jane Watson.
- Daisy Johnson's visual design was reportedly modeled after actress Angelina Jolie's appearance in the 1995 film Hackers.
- The character of Daisy Johnson / Quake was later adapted as the central protagonist of the MCU television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (portrayed by Chloe Bennet), with the show's producers confirming from the outset that the character 'Skye' was always intended to evolve into Daisy Johnson.
- The series was collected in hardcover and paperback trade editions alongside Secret War: From the Files of Nick Fury (a handbook-style one-shot by Mike Raicht) and The Pulse #6–9, which ran as a parallel tie-in storyline.
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (video game) adapts the Secret War storyline as its opening act, and Spider-Man's all-black Secret War costume appears as an alternate outfit in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Marvel's Spider-Man.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Marvel Méga #19 (2005), Secret War #[nn] (2006), Secret War #[nn] (2006), Die offizielle Marvel-Comic-Sammlung #33 (2013), Marvel. Официальная коллекция комиксов #18 (2014), Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars: Battleworld #[9] (2015), Secret War by Brian Michael Bendis Omnibus #[nn] (2024)
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