The New Avengers Vol. 4

This volume of New Avengers takes place concurrently with the events in the first volume of The Mighty Avengers.  There are references made to the World War Hulk story-arc that happened after Civil War.  So far all of these Avengers titles have been taking place before Brand New Day because Peter Parker is still wearing the black suit.  Luke Cage really shines in this collection he is rapidly becoming a fan favorite of this series I really like the dynamic created by this team of Avengers.  The second half of this collection is the Illuminati mini-series showed how the Marvel Illuminati set in motion the events that lead to the Secret Invasion story-arc.  They even gather the Infinity Gems to prevent another Infinity Gauntlet event.  This leads to Uatu the Watcher to arrive showing grave disappointment in Reed Richards in particular.  The Watcher even states that if Reed uses the Infinity Gauntlet he will destroy everything.  Later on the group confronts the Beyonder in the Asteroid Belt & believed that have convinced him to leave their universe.  It seems very vague on where the Beyonder did go but it provided a little more background to who & what he is.  I really like how Bendis has instilled this idea of the Illuminati in the Marvel Universe it makes sense & I can see the early seeds being planted for Secret Wars which is going on currently.