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Secret Invasion Scorecard: Week Seven |
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Wednesday, 21 May 2008 |
Not content with mere superpowered beings anymore, the Skrull Invasion this week aims it's sights a little higher in the Incredible Hercules #117: the entire human pantheon of Gods. From all the corners of the world, the Gods come together to form a team and commit their very own "Sacred Invasion".
Meanwhile, in Mighty Avengers #14, the Skrulls are forced to deal with the Sentry and unwittingly release more than they bargained for in the form of the Sentry's complete and total "lock me in a rubber room" schizophrenia.
The Incredible Hercules #117
 I'm among the many that was concerned when Hercules and his child-genius sidekick Amadeus Cho took over The Incredible Hulk series (even moreso when they kept the numbering - just forget that Hulk was in the last 110 issues or so) but now I'm starting to see a glimmer of hope that this comic might actually be worth my time.
In this Secret Invasion "tie-in" (more like "spin-off") Hercules is brought before the entire human pantheon of Gods by his sister Athena, who has uncovered the Skrull invasion and seeks to end it at it's source: the Skrull Gods. The two major deities in Skrull theology are shown to be Kly'bn the Eternal Skrull and Sl'gur't of the Infinite Names - Kly'bn cannot shapeshift at all and represents the Skrull inside all Skrulls, while Yogurt has no fixed shape and is constantly shifting in and out of forms.
Upon the choosing of each pantheon's champion, the team (affectionately dubbed "The God Squad" by Cho) is formed and their first act is what any large group of religious figures would do: bicker and fight amongst themselves. The battle is finally broken up and the God Squad leaves on their journey to the Skrull homeworld to battle KillBill and Yogurt. As they enter the dreamworld, they see the Skrull armada bearing down on Earth but can't turn back to help.
As they leave, one of the Gods asks Hercules if Athena's eyes have always been so green (cue dramatic music and glaring gopher)...
Mighty Avengers #14
 Over on the Avengers side of the Invasion, things get a little nutty. Not "nutty" as in zany, madcap fun. I'm talking about full on white-coats-and-basket-weaving-loony-bin time.
Jarvis - loveable butler, Aunt May shagger, and Skrull agent in disguise - manages to convince Tony Stark to give him complete access to the entire Avengers database by doing the unthinkable: simply asking. Way to go, Tony Stark! Yet another of your brilliant moves. With the information he finds, he contacts the rest of the sleeper agents and lays out the plan for dealing with the Sentry - arguably the most powerful superhuman on Earth.
The Sentry, who years ago mindwiped the entire population into forgetting his existence only to return and fight with the Avengers, has a little problem: he's totally batsh** crazy. For everything good he does, an evil force rises in the form of the Void, Sentry's archnemesis who just so happens to be a creation of the Sentry's schizophrenic personality. After battling with it for years, the Void seemed to be a figment of the past.
During the events in Secret Invasion #2, The Sentry fights the Skrull Vision (who is revealed to be a Skrull agent using the aforementioned plan), who transforms himself into an image of the Void and convinces The Sentry that all of this - the invasion, the deaths, the destruction - was all because of him and that it was only happening because The Sentry wanted to punish everyone for forgetting him. The Sentry snaps and flees, eventually coming to rest somewhere by Saturn, where he curls up into a ball and blanks out.
Back on Earth, The Sentry's wife is attacked at Avengers Tower, and from out of nowhere a mysterious figure saves her. She turns and realizes that the person that saved her is the Void, not only real - but deadset on doing what The Sentry (his other self) can't do: save the day.
So there you have it. We've got a team of Gods going up against alien Gods, and a total psycho with more power than all the heroes combined. Wonderful.
With another of the Skrull Ship Heroes revealed to be a fake, 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
- Skrull Ship Vision - revealed in Mighty Avengers #17
Who do you think the next Skrull will be? Post a comment below and let me know!
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