The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week

The Avengers Prelude: Fury's Big Week, or just Fury's Big Week, are a set of eight comics which are a prequel to The Avengers. It was written by Christopher Yost & Eric Pearson with art duties covered by Luke Ross & Daniel HDR.

Plot
It starts off seeing The Destroyer after Thor. It is taken away by Phil Coulson and S.H.I.E.L.D., and a year later (around the time Captain America is found), Coulson checks in with the research team to find that they can actually control the Destroyer. The level of control they have isnt specified, whether they can just turn it on or actually choose its targets. Coulson tells the scientist he wants them to "Dismantle the thing and make it about a hundred times smaller...And put a trigger on it."

The Leader is also shown in the series. After we see him mutating on the floor in The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow shows up and organises a team to seize all of the property. The Leader begins to give a speech about he will take over the world, at which point Romanoff shoots him in the leg. He is taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D.

Black Widow is sent to run interference by Fury at Culver University but ultimately fails and Banner is taken in by General Ross. It is at this point we see Fury looks at Ross as more of an enemy and goes to speak to him about his actions.

Characters

 * Nick Fury
 * Phil Coulson
 * Tony Stark / Iron Man
 * Captain America
 * Bruce Banner / Hulk
 * Thor
 * Natasha Romanoff
 * Clint Barton
 * James Rhodes / War Machine
 * Ivan Vanko
 * Justin Hammer (mentioned)
 * Senator Stern (mentioned)
 * Loki
 * Jane Foster
 * Darcy Lewis
 * Erik Selvig
 * Jasper Sitwell
 * Thaddeus Ross
 * Emil Blonsky / Abomination
 * Samuel Sterns
 * Betty Ross
 * Agent Jackson
 * Agent Delancey

Locations

 * Arctic Region
 * Greenland
 * New York City, New York
 * S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters
 * Stark Expo
 * Hammer Industries Headquarters
 * Malibu, California
 * Tony Stark's Mansion
 * Los Angeles, California
 * Randy's Donuts
 * Mojave Desert
 * Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility
 * Puente Antiguo, New Mexico
 * Roswell, New Mexico
 * Willowdale, West Virginia
 * Culver University
 * Maryland
 * Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
 * Rocinha
 * Stalingrad, Russia  (mentioned)
 * Wormhole
 * Wormhole

Events

 * Battle at Stark Expo
 * Battle of Puente Antiguo
 * Battle at Culver University
 * Duel of Harlem
 * Battle in the Valkyrie (flashback)

Items

 * Infinity Stones
 * Tesseract
 * Captain America's Shield
 * Captain America's Uniform
 * Iron Man Armor: Mark II
 * Iron Man Armor: Mark IV
 * Iron Man Armor: Mark VI
 * War Machine Armor: Mark I
 * Whiplash Armor: Mark I
 * Whiplash Armor: Mark II
 * Arc Reactor
 * Palladium
 * Tony Stark's New Element
 * Hawkeye's Bow
 * Hawkeye's Quiver
 * Mjølnir
 * The Destroyer
 * Hammer Drones
 * Destroyer Armor Prototype Gun (mentioned)

Vehicles

 * Valkyrie
 * HYDRA Parasit
 * Humvee
 * Cadillac Gage Commando

Organizations

 * S.H.I.E.L.D.
 * World Security Council
 * HYDRA (flashback)
 * Roxxon Corporation
 * United States Armed Forces

Trivia

 * Volume 1 shows 1943 as the year when Captain America was frozen in the Arctic. The movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier confirms this to be a mistake.