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Secret Invasion #3: Review

Jun 2008
Brian Michael Bendis, Leinil Francis Yu

Story Name:

(no title given)

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Secret Invasion #3 Review by (August 9, 2016)
Iron Man (2005) #33 showed the helicarrier ditching when all StarkTech was disabled by the Skrull virus. Another helicarrier (without Maria Hill) was functioning later in New Warriors (2007) #15. There Night Thrasher refers to plural helicarriers, and much later there will definitely be multiple copies in action at the same time so presumably that has already begun.

This isn't exactly the 1st time we know Spider-Woman is the Skrull Queen Veranke. Her transformation is described in New Avengers #42 later in the month, but she had already chosen her target in NAv#40.

Nick Fury doesn't call his team the Secret Warriors here - he refers to them as his (Howling?) Commandos. He referred to them as Caterpillars when they were recruited in Mighty Av #13. And in the Secret Warriors series they are actually the Caterpillars Team White. (There's also Team Black and Team Grey.) (But we readers generally call this bunch the Secret Warriors.)


Again there are issues that tie-in to this comic:-

Thunderbolts #122(p16-22) covers the fight between Captain Marvel and the 'Bolts in detail, leading up to the same confrontation with Norman Osborn. Along the way Songbird confuses CM by telling him he's had a 2nd son Genis-Vell. (CM already found out about Hulkling in Young Av Presents #2.)

Av: The Initiative #15 (p8-15:3) duplicates the Camp Hammond scene and then follows as they leave to defend Manhattan (as usual most of the invasion of the world happens there). The secret-Skrull Crusader confirms his suspicion that Yellowjacket is a Skrull. And he remembers the path that led him here, preparing to fight his own people.

SI: Runaways/YAv #1(p9-15) concentrates mainly on the Runaways who have just been zapped by their Skrull Xavin. But it turns out she did it to pretend to some of the invaders that she was on their side - to keep her pals safe. Nico and Victor recover and Xavin persuades them to take the others and leave her. Then we get a brief version of the YAv fight in Times Square. And Skrull Commander Chrell confirms that Hulkling is the Kree/Skrull hybrid prince that Queen Veranke wants killed before he can sow dissent among the troops. Then the Initiative arrive.
Av:I#15(p15:4-22) During the battle Crusader tries to avoid fighting his own race by concentrating on saving bystanders. But he's confronted by a Super-Skrull who turns out to be an old friend Z'Reg. He is forced to fatally wound his foe, but then offers to save his life using his Freedom Ring. But Z'Reg elects to die in battle, and Crusader joins in the actual fighting.
SI:R/YAv#1(p16-22) The Runaways try to escape in their Leapfrog vehicle but run into more Super-Skrulls. Xavin sees Chrell capture Hulkling who she recognises as Prince Dorrek. She rescues him and they escape through the sewers. But Chrell and friends catch up with them.
SI:R/YAv#2 Speed and Wiccan drop in to help Hulkling and Xavin defeat the Skrulls. Meanwhile the Runaways have their own Skrull battle. Chrell sends female Skrull assassin X'Iv to pursue Hulkling, and she recognises Xavin. Chase, Karolina, Klara and Molly are awake, and Kar is angry they've left her girlfriend Xavin behind. The Runaways see Vision blasted in Times Square on TV screens in a shop window. And Chrell, X'Iv and some Super-Skrulls arrive. Chrell intends to use them to capture and kill Hulkling and Xavin.

SI: Home Invasion #3(p10-15.1) Kinsey hears a girl's scream and rushes to help. She and Ethan see giant Stature being beaten up by a giant Skrull. Then they see a lot of teen heroes defeated, Vision shot through the head and Proton being executed. The giant Skrull grabs Kinsey, but just then Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors/Commandos arrive.

Av:I#16(p1-8) In New Mexico 3-D Man is rescued from his downed quinjet by She-Thing of the local Initiative team Mavericks. But 3-D Man's goggles identify her as a Skrull. The Skrull is then killed by Ryder and Riot of the Skrull Kill Krew, who invite 3-D Man to join their team. In Camp Hammond Blitzschlag has kept War Machine alive long enough for a backup system he didn't know he had to kick in - it's old StaneTech so isn't affected by the Skrull virus that's switched off all StarkTech-based systems. He gets a recorded message from Tony Stark telling him to follow a beacon to a secret site. After he leaves secret Skrull Yellowjacket contacts Skrull command to warn them.
IM#33(p3-4) repeats that War Machine scene.
Av:I#16(p9-22) The Skrull Kill Krew go to the original 3-D Man Chuck & Hal Chandler in Los Alamos for advice. In Times Square Crusader witnesses the execution of Proton and the arrival of Nick Fury's Commandos. Fury tells him to help them and he jumps to it. In Phoenix the Krew detect a Skrull in the Desert Stars Initiative team for Arizona. When they attack he turns Super-Skrull and incapacitates all the Initiative except Komodo. She and the Krew defeat him. Before they kill him the Skrull confirms that there's a spy in every Initiative team. Komodo wants the Krew to take her to Las Vegas where her boyfriend Hardball is part of the Nevada team. Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady) went tiny and hid while the rest of the Initiative trainees were sent to New York. Now he sees Yellowjacket invite loads of Skrulls to make Camp Hammond their base.

SI:HI#3(p15.2-14.5)-4(p1-10) Fury shoots the giant alien and he drops Kinsey from a great height. Initiative trainee Batwing saves her from falling, but then he gets shot and drops her. But he grabs her again and breaks her fall. Nick Fury sets her broken arm and she faints mumbling about being a Skrull. He takes her and Ethan to a convent to be cared for. But when she wakes he wants to know why she thinks she's a Skrull. She tells him about her now-green brother who has been acting weird for 2 weeks. Fury says he's probably been replaced by a Skrull, but wants to know why Hank is important. She tells him he's a science student at ESU working under Prof Mustek. Nick recognises him as a guy with a particle accelerator and strange ideas. Fury now takes them to a subway where SHIELD is organising evacuation trains.
IM#33(p5-22) War Machine follows the beacon out into space. On the way he sees the Skrull armada and is attacked by a Super-Skrull. The enemy is winning until Rhodey throws him into the path of a Skrull ship - 2 for the price of 1. Then he limps to his destination - an armoured satellite. Inside he finds Suzi Endo who Stark's automatic message has called in for her cybernetics expertise. Another recorded message from Stark explains that this satellite and War Machine's armour run on StaneTech as a backup in case StarkTech is ever compromised. Skrull warships have followed WM. His low power makes Suzi suggest an alternative. She hooks him into the satellite's systems, and it transforms into a really big robot.
IM#34(p1-9:3) James Rhodes in his Transformer space-satellite frags a load of Skrull ships. 1 escapes into the atmosphere where the satellite can't follow it. So Rhodey returns the satellite to normal mode and prepares to give chase in his repaired and repowered War Machine suit.




 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Secret Invasion #3 Synopsis by Rob Johnson
This issue shows us scattered parts of the ongoing Invasion.

The SHIELD helicarrier has been downed in the ocean in the Bermuda Triangle. The Skrull-Jarvis appears on the deck and asks Deputy Director Maria Hill to surrender (presumably for the whole of SHIELD).

The Skrull-Captain Marvel is attacking Thunderbolts Mountain. (But he's actually on our side, and is attacking the 'Bolts because by his lights they're really villains.) He defeats them but then Norman Osborn asks him for a chat, guessing that he's not really CM.

In Camp Hammond Gauntlet is leading the Initiative trainees to their quarters for safety when Yellowjacket turns up. With the Avengers missing and SHIELD unreachable he needs the trainees to go into action.

In Manhattan the Young Avengers are fighting Super-Skrulls. Their Vision can't contact any other groups. Half-Skrull Hulkling tries to communicate with the invaders but it does no good. Then the Initiative trainees arrive to help.

In the Savage Land Spider-Woman approaches the ruined Mutate base. She sees Echo and fires a blast at her. Echo shouts that she's not a Skrull. But SW continues attacking and appears to kill Echo. Then she enters the base where Tony Stark is trying do something about his Iron Man armour that has been crippled by the Skrull virus.

She starts to praise him for his work on Earth - turning heroes against each other, and rising to a position of high power. She tells him he's a Skrull conditioned to believe he's a human. And she is his Queen.

Back in Manhattan the Young Avengers and Initiative are defeated (including Vision getting shot through the head and trainee Proton getting killed). Then Nick Fury makes a last page appearance with his Secret Warriors.



Leinil Francis Yu
Mark Morales
Laura Martin
Gabriele Dell'Otto (Cover Penciler)
Gabriele Dell'Otto (Cover Inker)
Gabriele Dell'Otto (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

> Secret Invasion: Book info and issue index

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