This week, in a tie-in to in Marvel's mega-crossover event "Secret Invasion", the infiltration of Earth claims it's first A-list superhero.
Editor note: Sorry to all the Hank Pym fans out there, but c'mon - Yellowjacket? B-List all the way. -Ed.
Over the last five issues of the Captain Marvel miniseries, nagging questions have surfaced regarding his apparent return from the dead and in the course of the final issue a Skrull is revealed... but not quite the way we thought.
Mighty Avengers #12
Marvel's 2004 series "Secret War" marked the end of Nick Fury's career at S.H.I.E.L.D. as he took an elite team of Marvel superheroes into Latveria, toppled the government there, and then brainwashed them all into forgetting it afterwards. The resulting backlash nearly killed Luke Cage, as well as revealed the event to the world, forcing Fury into hiding.
Mighty Avengers #12 picks up from that point, showing us a glimpse of Nick Fury's life since that day. Incognito, he meets Valentina Allegra deFontaine for a romantic rendezvous and discovers the shocking truth that she is a Skrull agent. Unfortunately, he only learns this AFTER sleeping with her. Ewwww.... *shiver*
Of course, after trailing her and discovering her secret, Fury wastes no time in putting a bullet through her skull, tracking her companions, breaking into current S.H.I.E.L.D. commander Maria Hill's private quarters aboard a top secret helicarrier and hacking into her files (with her in the room), and making a daring escape by parachuting off the helicarrier and cloaking himself halfway down using top level S.H.I.E.L.D. technology. Basically... he just does what he always does. He may be gruff, but goddamn is that man one hell of a superspy.
He then tracks down Jessica Drew, aka Spiderwoman, and asks her to once again rejoin S.H.I.E.L.D. in order to spy for him. It's then revealed that he was the shadowy figure waaaaaay back in New Avengers #3 that paid her to funnel information from the newly formed team. He tells her to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, and she agrees to be a triple agent for him.
On his own and aware of the plot far ahead of anyone else, Nick Fury slowly starts to gather intelligence and track the Skrull agents, and if I know Nick Fury... he has a plan.
Ms. Marvel #26
In this Secret Invasion tie-in, Ms. Marvel is accused of being a Skrull and tracked down by her own special ops team, Lightning Strike Force (which may be the lamest team name since the Great Lakes Avengers). After fighting a Super Skrull with the combined powers of the X-Men, Ms. Marvel races across town to find the new man in her life dead. The Lightning Strike Force (ugh, it gets worse each time I say it) finds her standing over the dead body and wastes no time in capturing her with help from an unlikely source: Ms. Marvel herself!
Unsure of which Ms. Marvel is the real Ms. Marvel, they take both Misses into custody, while a shadowy Skrull infiltrates the accompanying soldiers and gains access to the helicarrier. Ms. Marvel is brought in for interrogationby Agent Sum and asked to prove herself by stating her S.H.I.E.L.D. access codes. Ms. Marvel realizes that Agent Sum wouldn't know the codes in the first place to verify them against, and attacks him. The real Agent Sum arrives and the Skrull impersonator drops his disguise and reveals himself to be the X-Men Skrull. Ms. Marvel kills him, forcing the other Ms. Marvel to drop her disguise as well.
The Marvel-Skrull begs to be let go alive, and reveals that the new man in Ms. Marvel's life is not only still alive (it was the Marvel-Skrull impersonating his dead body) but he's actually a member of the Kree alien race (sworn rivals of the Skrulls).
Two tie-in issues this week, but unfortunately, not a single new Skrull reveal.
Nick Fury kills the Skrull impersonating Valentina, but as we saw in Secret Invasion Prologue, another Skrull takes over that identity and kills Dum-Dum Dugan, taking his identity as well. There may be clues in the last panel of Mighty Avengers #12, as certain heroes are circled in either red or blue, but just what does that indicate? Are the red circled heroes confirmed Skrulls? Are the blue ones confirmed humans? Or vice versa? Or does it even mean anything at all? Meanwhile, Ms. Marvel fights the X-Men Skrull and a Skrull impersonating her, but it's never revealed who the X-Men Skrull was impersonating on the team, nor who the Miss Marvel-Skrull was impersonating previously (as the real Miss Marvel has been around this entire time and was never "replaced").
Which keeps our current tally at:
Elektra - revealed in New Avengers #31
Black Bolt - revealed in New Avengers: Illuminati #5
The Revolutionary - revealed in Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1
Cobalt Man - revealed in Captain Marvel #3
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine - revealed in Secret Invasion Prologue
Dum Dum Dugan - revealed in Secret Invasion Prologue
Edwin Jarvis - revealed in Secret Invasion #1
Henry Pym - revealed in Secret Invasion #1
Captain Marvel - revealed in Captain Marvel #5
Who do you think the next Skrull will be? Post a comment below and let me know!
Marvel's 2004 series "Secret War" marked the end of Nick Fury's career at S.H.I.E.L.D. as he took an elite team of Marvel superheroes into Latveria, toppled the government there, and then brainwashed them all into forgetting it afterwards. The resulting backlash nearly killed Luke Cage, as well as revealed the event to the world, forcing Fury into hiding.
In this Secret Invasion tie-in, Ms. Marvel is accused of being a Skrull and tracked down by her own special ops team, Lightning Strike Force (which may be the lamest team name since the Great Lakes Avengers). After fighting a Super Skrull with the combined powers of the X-Men, Ms. Marvel races across town to find the new man in her life dead. The Lightning Strike Force (ugh, it gets worse each time I say it) finds her standing over the dead body and wastes no time in capturing her with help from an unlikely source: Ms. Marvel herself!
