Posts Tagged ‘ Secret Invasion ’

I’m not the only one thinking that people aren’t thinking about Secret Invasion in the right way, am I?

I read Erik Larsen’s latest column over at CBR where he talks about Skrulls and how he wanted to write off Elektra as a Skrull years ago when he was working on Nova.

Along the way, he says this:

Is Jarvis really a Skrull? Well, no he wasn’t — not when those issues featuring him were written anyway.
….
Take the recent Secret Invasion yarn. Readers are supposed to believe that numerous characters were secretly Skrulls all along and that there are clues along the way that prove it.

Nonsense.

And it’s nonsense because the writers who came before didn’t think that they were writing stories about Skrulls and so they weren’t planting clues — or rather they weren’t planting real clues (and if you believe they were, I’ve got some yellow cake
uranium from Iraq I’d like to sell you). But hey, maybe they can artfully undo some more stories. Maybe Hank Pym was a Skrull all along and he didn’t hit his wife or maybe the dead version of Betty Ross was a Skrull, making it possible to bring that character back to life. Maybe Aunt May was a Skrull and the real Aunt May had secretly replaced the actress who secretly replaced her and she’s really dead after, subbing a lousy ret con of a poorly conceived story which contained a sloppy ret con with an underhanded cheesy copout!

In any case, thanks to a plot that an editor had cut out of one of my stories, Elektra was revealed to have really died after all. Thanks to that idea being dusted off and run up the flagpole and saluted by the assembled faithful followers Marvel can go back to trying to maintain the illusion that they respect the work of certain creators.

It’s not just me thinking that Larsen – amongst other commentators – have got the wrong end of the stick, is it?

It’s not that these Skrulls have been Skrulls all along – they replaced people along the way. In some cases, they simply replaced them while that person was somewhere else – such as the Sue Richards Skrull in SI#1 while Sue’s off in Vancouver or wherever, or the Contessa Skrull in Mighty Avengers #12 (the Contessa that later cropped up in Union Jack was likely the real thing), or, hell, the Daredevil Skrull in New Avengers #39.

As for Elektra, well – we’ve yet to see when she was replaced. I suspect it was after her resurrection (again) in the Enemy of the State arc over in Wolverine, because at that point Elektra had died and didn’t turn out to be a Skrull. Maybe she’s been around longer, though, which could explain away the Elektra-as-dancer phase… In any case, the real Elektra may be around somewhere, or in Skrull captivity – or dead, like poor old Dum Dum Dugan seems to be.

But then being dead never seems too permanent for her anyway.

And then there’s Jarvis – there are a couple of times he could have been replaced easily enough in recent history; during the destruction of the mansion in Avengers Disassembled (meaning that wasn’t Jarvis that Cap pulled out of the rubble) or during Civil War when he was injured in the attack on Stark Tower.

He wasn’t a Skrull all along. Again, I’m hoping the old fella’s not taking a dirt nap – because I like him way too much from the Jarvis solo issues, such as Avengers #280 and #298…

And there’s no way Pym has been a Skrull too long either. Maybe since Disassembled…if only because it woud explain his working against the Avengers in Thunderbolts and his wussiness in Civil War.

I’m not sure who’s reading things wrong here – me or them, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough. Like maybe tomorrow…

So, the last part of the returnees – are these guys the originals?

Given her role in Avengers Disassembled, I seriously doubt this is the original – unless, of course, the real reason that that Wanda lost the plot was because she couldn’t reconcile her Skrull sleeper agent self. Or maybe Skrulls can’t handle magic too well.

That would revamp Wanda and allow her to be used again.

So, maybe again.

Jewel

Okay, given Alias I think that this is highly, highly, unlikely to be the real Jessica Jones. That said, if anyone could do this it’s Bendis – she was his creation, he’s written most of her appearances so if he wants to do this then he certainly can.

But still, I’m going say no, this Jessica is a Skrull.

Mockingbird

Interesting one. Mock died years ago – and IIRC has actually been seen in hell, helping Patsy Walker out – but her reveal as a Skrull would make some kind of sense.

There was a point where Mock and Hawkeye split up and she suddenly turned up as a governmental spy (in Byrne’s West Coast Avengers run) so that would certainly be an easy time to point to a change in her. It would also play havoc with the real Clint’s life to have her back.

So I’m going out on a limb and saying yes, this Barbara Barton is the real thing from roundabout that time.

Captain America

No.

How gullible do you think we are?

Ms Marvel

Also no – unless the Ms Marvel that Rogue absorbed memories and power from was actually a Skrull, because she ditched this costume way before that.

On the other hand, this would have been a perfect time to replace her…

But still, no.

Wolverine

With this mask?

That would mean virtually every single appearance of Wolverine was actually of a Skrull.

And that at one point, a Skrull replaced another Skrull to pose as him.

Right…

So…some definite maybes in the returners but none we can say for sure (even if I think yes).

But what about the Avengers on the ground?

Now where were we? Oh yeah…

No. Sue Storm gave birth not to long ago, and I think between that and the whole Reed-Sue marriage stress, its unlikely that the Sue running around is a Skrull – otherwise they wouldn’t have needed to replace her to blow up the Baxter Building, would they?

Phoenix

Well…

Ignoring the fact that Phoenix ‘died’ way before Galactus chowed down on the Skrull throneworld, if this was the real Jean, then this would mean either (a) a Skrull disguised as Phoenix actually had the Phoenix power during the Dark Phoenix saga, or (b) the Jean Grey that returned from the dead for the original X-Factor team was a Skrull…both of which seem unlikely.

However, Jean briefly returned to the green and yellow for a time during Steve Seagle’s run on X-Men so she could have been taken then. I’m pretty sure she exhibited some kind of Phoenix effect after this prior to her death at the end of Morrison’s run, but maybe that could have been faked by fancy-schmancy Skrull science.

This would actually be pretty interesting – we’d get a Jean Grey back still in love with Cyclops prior to his leaving her for Emma…and it would also get around the usual Jean Grey resurrection issues.

So…maybe.

Vision

No.

This?

Android, not Skrull.

Iron Man

No. Too much has happened to Tony Stark to make his exposure as a Skrull too easy. So, no.

Unless…this Iron Man is Jim Rhodes, circa Secret Wars. That would mean that all of War Machine’s adventures were the adventures of a Skrull. I could live with that.

So it’s a ‘maybe’ again.

It brings up an interesting question of just when these heroes were taken (if they were) – maybe it wasn’t all in one fell swoop; maybe they’ve been picked up over time. That would make things a little more interesting…

To be continued!

By now pretty much everyone will have picked up and read Secret Invasion #1 that’s going to – and if they’ve not, then they probably read the spoilers anyway…

The crash-landed Skrull ship in the Savage Land opened towards the end of the issue and regurgitated a whole host-load of 70s-style characters…which is pretty odd given that according to the start of the issue, the invasion plans didn’t start until destruction of the Skrull homeworld by Galactus in 1983′s Fantastic Four #257 but hey, why let that kind of thing get in the way?

Anyway, of these returnees, Bendis implies that some are the real deal:

Let’s say that everything is what it seems to be from the get-go – everyone that
comes out of that ship is a Skrull, and everyone we know isn’t – that’s not the
case, though.

That would suggest that at least some of these guys are the genuine article…but who?

Emma Frost

Unlikely to be the real thing – Emma has had so much spotlight over the past few years that it would seem to really not make sense to revert her back to out-and-out villain status. When you add the fact that she appears alongside Cyclops in Ellis’ upcoming Astonishing X-Men: Second Stage, (and why would she if she had never been with the X-Men or Gen X?) I’d say that this Emma isn’t the real Emma.

On the other hand it would get rid of those annoying secondary mutations that Grant Morrison came up with…

Beast

…and the same goes for Beast. It’d get Beast back into his best look – but wouldn’t really achieve much else. It’s not like he’s been integral to anything lately so why does it matter which Beast this is?

Still…I’m tempted to say that this is the real Beast.

Spider-Man

No. Do the words ‘Clone Saga’ mean anything to you? Not to mention that if this was the real Spidey, we needn’t have sat through the One More Day garbage…

Luke Cage

This is an interesting one. Someone gave Jessica and Luke’s baby green eyes, right? And if some Skrulls don’t even know that they’re Skrulls it would be an interesting twist to have the biggest paranoid anti-Skrull character actually turn out to be a Skrull. It would be even more interesting if it hadn’t happened to Tigh, Anders and Tyrol on BSG last year.

Anyway, this reveal would have a couple of added bonuses; Luke would be back in the silk shirt and that 90s series wouldn’t have really happened.

So, maybe.

Thor

Not likely. Given that this Thor would have been abducted before he became Lord of Asgard in Dan Jurgens’ run on the character’s title, before Ragnarok and before his return became a top-seller…well, let’s just say that for this Thor to be the real Thor would be a huge cock-up on Marvel’s part.

To be continued…

Looks like Skrull Cap’s got a headache.

Marvel Online has a nifty internet-only (for now; I’m sure it’ll be reprinted in the trade) prologue to Secret Invasion up, which reveals the identity of a Skrull – or at least reveals who that Skrull has been posing as since just after Captain America #25.

No, I’m not telling, go read it and find out. You need to register with Marvel to read the entire prologue but you don’t need to sign up for the digital comics service.
If the person in the preview is dead, it marks the death of one of the oldest characters in Marvel’s stable – and also sadly nullifies some nice character interaction that this character has had in another book recently.

In fact, I’m tempted to go and re-read those issues to see if this hangs together…and just how much information that was obtained in them – because I’m relatively certain that there was something involving access to the Negative Zone and a method of transporting all of New York there.

That’s not good…

This mock up is Bendis’ sig over on his boards – and I have to say I love it. It has just the right kind of 1950s B-movie vibe  that an invasion by shape-changing aliens needs.

Marvel have just premiered the Secret Invasion double cover variants for Ms Marvel #25 and Captain Marvel #4 by Terry Dodson and damned if they don’t look good.

Is it just me or is Ms Marvel’s 70s costume so much better than her current one? Now if her book was better…

…the new look ones, that is.

Over at Superpouvoir, there’s an interesting sketch (almost a watercolor* really), apparently by Lenil Yu – looks like everyone’s favorite shapechangers are getting a makeover…

And incidentally, if you were a shapechanging alien, wouldn’t you try to change so you don’t look like everyone else on your planet. I’m not saying all Skrulls look alike to me or anything but…

Thanks to David for the link!

*I am bowing to the pressure of my new home country and trying to spell things the American** way.

** Which is to say the wrong way.