This week the Secret Invasion goes international, crossing over into the UK with Captain Britain and MI-13 #1. Honestly, what's not to like about a superhero team consisting of a magical flying superhuman, a snarky British agent with blades of light, a vampiric superspeedy girl from WWII, and a Skrull that looks and talks exactly like John Lennon?
Then, in the first of the 3-part "Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four" miniseries, we see Marvel's first family begin their grudge match against the Skrulls (remember - Reed Richards turned the first Skrull invaders into cows back in the 60s), and for one of the team, it gets even more personal than that.
Captain Britain and MI-13 #1
The issue starts off with a bang by revealing the British Joint Intelligence Committee Chairperson, Sir Mortimer Grimsdale, to be a Skrull agent (thanks in part to Skrull John, a John Lennon lookalike and ex-member of the infamous Skrull Beatles). After the revelation, Pete Wisdom (who you probably don't know unless you read Excalibur or his Marvel MAX series) is given control of the UK's premier superhero agency, MI-13.
Along with Captain Britain and Spitfire (fresh from a battle with an awesome looking classic Avengers Skrull - picture below) they uncover a plot by the Skrulls to invade and conquer Avalon, the mystical realm from which Captain Britain gets his powers, and a large source of magic. The Skrulls launch a full scale attack, and at the end of the issue, Captain Britain sacrifices himself in a huge explosion to save Avalon.
Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1
Man, Johnny Storm has some serious "Fatal Attraction" mojo working.
In the prologue of this issue, we learn that Susan Storm is surprised at her hotel by Reed, who turns out to actually be a Skrull agent in disguise. The Skrull uses her own powers against her, pushing against her cerebellum until she passes out. The whole thing would be slightly less disturbing if the Skrull wasn't shirtless throughout the entire thing. Who is he, the Skrull Matthew McConaughey?
After the events in Secret Invasion #1, in which the Baxter Building is sent into the Negative Zone by a Skrull posing as Susan Storm, The Thing finds himself beset by insectoid attackers (inhabitants of the Negative Zone), while the Human Torch goes after the Susan Skrull to get some answers.
At first, the Susan Skrull tries to mess with his head and tells him that the Thing is actually the Skrull agent and that she put the Baxter Building into the Negative Zone to keep them safe. Johnny sees right through it though, and that's when it's revealed that the Skrull agent is none other than his ex-wife, Lyja.
For those of you who don't know, Lyja was part of the last Skrull attack, in which the Skrulls attempted to infiltrate the Fantastic Four by seduction. Lyja kidnapped and assumed the identity of Alicia Masters, the Thing's girlfriend. After The Secret War, the Thing opted to stay behind rather than return to Earth, so Lyja turned her sights on Johnny Storm, eventually marrying him. Once her deception was discovered however, she helped the Fantastic Four rescue the original Alicia Masters, mostly out of her love for Johnny, who she'd unitentionally fallen for during her mission.
She was killed later in a battle against Paibok the Power Skrull, and Johnny thought she was lost. However, those tricky Skrulls brought her back from death and gave her new powers, which she used to attack Johnny, but eventually betrayed her Skrull allies out of love for him, once again rejoining the team. Do you start to see a pattern here?
After returning to the FF, she claimed to be pregnant with Johnny's child, but the whole thing turned out to be yet another Skrull plan, and the "baby" was nothing more than a Skrull biological weapon, which she destroyed after it hatched. Johnny, hurt once again by her deception, broke things off with her again. She's come and gone a few times since, but the same scenario keeps happening: she sneaks into his life, she attacks him, they make up, she helps him, she lies to him, they break up. I have no doubt that will happen again here.
With just one Skrull revealed in Captain Britain and MI-13 #1, our tally stands 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
Cyclone- revealed (then killed) in Captain Marvel #4
Crusader - revealed in Avengers the Initiative #12
Spider Woman (unverified) - revealed in New Avengers #40
Skrull Ship Spiderman - revealed in Secret Invasion #2
Skrull Ship Hawkeye - revealed in Secret Invasion #2
Sir Mortimer Grimsdale - revealed in Captain Britain and MI-13 #1
Who do you think the next Skrull will be? Post a comment below and let me know!
The issue starts off with a bang by revealing the British Joint Intelligence Committee Chairperson, Sir Mortimer Grimsdale, to be a Skrull agent (thanks in part to Skrull John, a John Lennon lookalike and ex-member of the infamous Skrull Beatles). After the revelation, Pete Wisdom (who you probably don't know unless you read Excalibur or his Marvel MAX series) is given control of the UK's premier superhero agency, MI-13.
Man, Johnny Storm has some serious "Fatal Attraction" mojo working.
