This Ronin-focused story bridges the Civil War/Initiative gap. And “Ronin focused” (spoiler alert!) has a double meaning.
The war is over and The New Avengers are now a street-level, underground team led by Luke Cage and consisting of Iron Fist, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Doctor Strange, and Echo. Issue #27 offers some backstory for Maya, including how she became Ronin, before she is kidnapped by Elektra and The Hand.
They are trying to brainwash her. The NA team shows up to save her.
From here, we get the typical Bendis time jumping. We go back in the past where The New Avengers go to rescue a man they THINK is Captain America from the super-prison The Raft, but it turns out to be a trap set by SHIELD—the prisoner is a skrull. The team escapes, but Iron Man’s “Mighty Avengers” team tracks the New Avengers back to Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum, which is disguised as an under-construction Starbucks.
But they can’t fool Tony Stark so easily. Tony returns with Brother Voodoo, who can overcome the Strange’s cloaking spell, so Dr. Strange teleports the group away.
Before they go, though, they are reuinited with Clint Barton.
They offer to let him join the team, but he says he can’t be Hawkeye anymore so they give him the Ronin gear.
Once in Japan, it’s the big battle against Elektra that we were promised at the start of this arc.
And a tribute cover.
Lots of Hand ninjas.
Strange gets stabbed. Elektra gets stabbed…Only it’s not Elektra…
The team collects Maya and goes back to Strange’s sanctum so the Doc can heal. Once there, we see that Elektra wasn’t the only skrull…
Oooh! Creepy!
This write-up only scratches the surface of this arc, which was about as crowded with storylines as a Claremont X-Men tale. Nothing wrong with that when it’s done well, which this most definitely was.