Writer Frank Tieri noted that the tie-in comics "provide Marvel with the opportunity to do a lot of different things" that other media do not, including the exploration of non-superhero genres and the reintroduction of older characters.
In the present, Stark's son Tony uses the arc reactor technology to power his Iron Man armor, and after revealing this identity to the world, becomes a public hero.
U.S. General Thaddeus Ross commissions Stark's business rival Justin Hammer to build a single-pilot vehicle to replace Iron Man, who has been interfering with and causing trouble for the military.
agent aboard a Ten Rings-controlled vessel in the Gulf of Aden in an effort to get a live account of Iron Man in action, while Tony Stark is keeping an eye on S.H.I.E.L.D.
[79] Howard Stark, via radio, assists Rogers, remembering when he was recruited by Colonel Phillips to join the Strategic Scientific Reserve, and when he helped Peggy Carter rescue Erskine from Schmidt.
The comic retells the events of The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger from the point-of-view of S.H.I.E.L.D., with extra scenes added to weave them all together.
After 10 months of skirmishes across the world, Rhodey is ambushed in Hong Kong by Ten Rings agents with Hammer Technology, including a nuclear powered tank.
Rhodes manages to get the tank out of the city before the insurgents detonate its power source, and returns to America in time to find the aftermath of the Battle of New York.
Later, Tony reveals to Rhodes his plans for an Iron Legion, and a Ten Rings operative reports to his master, The Mandarin, informing him that they have full scans of the Stark Technology in Rhodey's suit.
When the presumed dead Loki attacks Earth and steals the Tesseract, Odin uses the secret, dangerous power of Dark Energy to send Thor to intervene.
Loki is imprisoned in the dungeons to serve a life sentence, while Thor uses the Tesseract's power to repair the Bifrost and allow Asgard to bring order back to the nine realms and beyond.
The comic was published on January 28, 2014, and sees David set up key themes for Captain America: The Winter Soldier: "Black Widow and Rumlow...They're okay with doing what they're told.
"[32] The Zodiac virus featured heavily in the comic was first introduced to the MCU in the Marvel One-Shot Agent Carter, where it is recovered by the titular character for the SSR, the precursor to S.H.I.E.L.D.
[108] With one Infinity Stone, the Aether, in his possession, the Collector actively searches for the other five, and when he discovers the Orb to be on a desolate planet, he hires the assassin Gamora to retrieve it.
[33] Issue 1 sees Nebula, while searching for the Orb, remembering growing up with Gamora and their father, Thanos, as well as her recent experiences with Ronan the Accuser.
[116] Crossing the Berlin Wall and infiltrating the enemy compound, Pym discovers the plans for Hydra memory suppression technology, and makes his way to a secret lab where the reverse-engineered machine is being tested.
[65] Hydra's interest in and experimentation with memory suppression technology was previously explored in the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
[123] An infinite comic written by Pilgrim, with art by Wellinton Alves and Daniel Govar, Scott Lang: Small Time was released on March 3, 2015.
[40] The Masters of the Mystic Arts – Kaecilius, Wong, Tina Minoru and Daniel Drumm – pursue a woman as she attacks several landmarks around London with a stolen dark sceptre, a powerful artifact.
The one-shot comic, called "The Peacekeepers", follows Nick Fury and Maria Hill between the events of Age of Ultron and Infinity War.
[77] At IGN, Schedeen scored First Vengeance 7 out of 10, calling the issues "enjoyable methods of passing the time until [Captain America: The First Avenger releases]".
[153] David Hawkins, writing for What Culture, gave the series 3 stars out of 5, calling it "a marketing ploy that has moments of tremendous merit", and singled out Luke Ross' artwork for the third issue as particularly praise-worthy.
[154] Fury's Big Week received praise from CJ Wheeler of Den of Geek, who thought the tone of the series was "a perfect fit for the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far and will get you stoked for what's to come.
"[155] Matthew Peterson of Major Spoilers gave Black Widow Strikes a score of 2.5 stars out of 5, and the verdict "An average tale with no major missteps" – he thought that "Writer Van Lente did all that he could to make this feel cinematic, driven and squarely in the Marvel movie universe", but was somewhat disappointed in the final result, and criticized the shifting art styles, before surmising that "In many ways, it's the ultimate example of a movie tie-in, designed to please fans of both the graphic and live-action Widow without irritation or unwanted questions.
"[156] James Hunt of Comic Book Resources found the Iron Man 3 Prelude to be "dull and disappointing", calling the building of stakes around untouchable characters, like War Machine, a mistake, and criticizing the "rushed or phoned in" artwork.
[157] Noel Thorne, writing for What Culture, also found the prelude disappointing, calling it a "cheaply put-together cash-grab" and "not even remotely entertaining", and lamented the lack of actual connections with Iron Man 3.
He criticized the focus of the series for serving as an explanation for "nitpicky questions" rather than being an actual lead in to the story of the film, and he found the artwork to be "awkward", "flat and dull".
[161] Ian Gowan of ComicSpectrum gave the Captain America: The Winter Soldier Infinite Comic a rating of 3.5 out of 5, calling it "fun but also [a] little light on story" and stating that it increased his excitement for the movie.
[163] A columnist for Cosmic Book News gave an almost entirely positive review of the comic, criticizing only its short length, and highlighting the return of writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning to the Guardians of the Galaxy characters as a particularly praise-worthy aspect of the issues.
He had high praise for the artwork as well, calling it "very well drawn, showcasing Wellinton Alves' ability to craft worlds and create distinguishable characters".