Secret Invasion: The End - SPOILERS!

[Hermiod]

So, here's how it ends.

* Janet begins turning in to a biological weapon, making human and Skrull alike violently ill. Thor is forced to kill her to stop her.

* With their final weapon defeated, the Skrulls panic, not realising that what they'd done to Janet would only serve to anger them. Wolverine charges Veranke and is about to kill her when Norman Osborn shoots her through the head.

* Stark arrives back in the fight in an old armour not connected to any computer system.

* The Skrulls are left in disarray. The humans who are able to fly, along with Ares start attacking their warships, forcing the Skrulls to surrender.

* The last warship is brought down and is found to contain Hank Pym, Elektra, Mockingbird, Spider-Woman, Dum Dum Dugan and everyone else the Skrulls had captured and replaced.

* Jessica Jones notices Jarvis amongst the prisoners and realises what she had done. She desperately returns to Avengers tower to find Jarvis and her baby gone.

* The Hood's gang are allowed to leave quietly for their efforts in defending New York.

* Thor tells Stark that he meant it when he said he would never fight alongside Stark again.

* In the aftermath, the President begins a review of events. He removes Stark as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., disbanding the entire organisation and ordering that the US military is not to use Starktech any longer. An investigation is to be begun and Stark faces criminal charges.

* Stark's replacement is Norman Osborn as head of the Initiative. Osborn goes to Avengers Tower and meets with some people...

Dr. Doom, Loki, The Hood, Emma Frost and Namor - the Dark Reign has begun...

[coolghoul]

spoilers about the group below.....
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I haven't read up on the Marvel events since Civil War. So I am not entirely sure what's going on. I saw the last page with Norman and the group. And had a couple of questions - Why is Loki female? (or was he just badly drawn?) Why is Emma Frost there? My q is because Emma now is with Scott (in current continuity and is not evil - or is she?) or am I wrong in assuming that the Group is necessarily evil-doers based on the presence of Doom and Loki?

[FPAlpha]

As to Loki now being female you have to read the current Thor series.

After the last Thor run ended, Ragnarok happened and killed all the gods yet somehow Thor survives and through much mystical mumbojumbo and spiritwalking he brings back many Asgardian gods including Loki who comes back in female form.

It's a very good series.. one of the few Marvel has currently that warrants reading.

[Mr Light]

I really enjoyed Secret Invasion (I only read the main series) as a whole. Yu's art was absolutely gorgeous, colorful, packed full of characters. I just want to wallpaper my walls with all the panels of this comic. The story was huge, epic, and action-packed with so many shocking plot twists.

My only complaint is that more heroes should have died. The Wasp was a prominent death to be sure but did ANY other major character die in the entire run?

The ending twist was pretty cool as well. I don't read any other Marvel comics but I read articles about them, but this is a very promising lead-in to future stories.
I was very confused to see Namor and Emma Frost in there, I thought they were good guys.

I think the nicest thing about the ending though is making Iron Man into the pariah. It's about time he got his comeuppance for the Civil War. And if the US military refuses to use any Stark Tech, wouldn't that bankrupt his entire company?

One thing I never felt was sufficiently explained was the Skrull's motivation. "He loves you", God loves you... I felt like this was leading to some huge revelation that never happened. I think read somewhere that in the Hercules tie-in they found the Skrull God and killed him... is that what the entire "he loves you" thing was based around? There wasn't any mention of this in the main series.

Also as a Marvel newbie, how the hell is Norman Osbourne a member of fine standing in the eyes of the US government, that they would put him in charge of the Thunderbolts and Shield-Deux? I just read a recent Bendis comic called The Pulse where Osbourne was arrested and convicted for killing a reporter as the Green Goblin and this was from back in 2004 or so!

[Hermiod]

Mr Light wrote:

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I really enjoyed Secret Invasion (I only read the main series) as a whole. Yu's art was absolutely gorgeous, colorful, packed full of characters. I just want to wallpaper my walls with all the panels of this comic. The story was huge, epic, and action-packed with so many shocking plot twists.

My only complaint is that more heroes should have died. The Wasp was a prominent death to be sure but did ANY other major character die in the entire run?

I don't think so.

The ending twist was pretty cool as well. I don't read any other Marvel comics but I read articles about them, but this is a very promising lead-in to future stories.
I was very confused to see Namor and Emma Frost in there, I thought they were good guys.

Emma is supposed to be, but you never know with her. I do not and never will buy Namor as a hero.

I think the nicest thing about the ending though is making Iron Man into the pariah. It's about time he got his comeuppance for the Civil War. And if the US military refuses to use any Stark Tech, wouldn't that bankrupt his entire company?

Possibly, possibly not. He possibly sells technology to America's allies, and I doubt he only sells weapons these days. Plus, he personally cleaned up during rebuilding after the Civil War.

One thing I never felt was sufficiently explained was the Skrull's motivation. "He loves you", God loves you... I felt like this was leading to some huge revelation that never happened. I think read somewhere that in the Hercules tie-in they found the Skrull God and killed him... is that what the entire "he loves you" thing was based around? There wasn't any mention of this in the main series.

Only in issue #6. Veranke says "He loves you", Fury asks who she means and she says "God". He simply replies that his God (Thor is standing right next to him) has a Hammer and then the fight begins.

Also as a Marvel newbie, how the hell is Norman Osbourne a member of fine standing in the eyes of the US government, that they would put him in charge of the Thunderbolts and Shield-Deux? I just read a recent Bendis comic called The Pulse where Osbourne was arrested and convicted for killing a reporter as the Green Goblin and this was from back in 2004 or so!

They put him in charge of the Thunderbolts, which as you may know, is a group of supervillains kept on a short leash. He's very skilfully made them look decidedly heroic at the expense of real heroes (like Spider-Man recently) in several incidents. Killing the Skrull leader has done his image no harm at all.

[Mr Light]

So they know he's a convicted murderer but they put him in charge of the superhuman military anyway? Here I was thinking his name was miraculously cleared through accusations of mind control or something

If their entire motivation was their God you'd think that they would actually mention his murder in the main series, that's weird. Fury et al could have taunted them with this information, leading Veranke to attack them in a rage, something like that.

Also, was this the entire Skrull Empire or just a terrorist faction? I know that they were pretty much wiped out in the recent Annihilation crossover.

[Leroy]

I'm tired how Iron Man keeps going back to his classic armor when there are dozens of non-extremis armors that are far more advanced, heck he should be able to whip up a non-extremis armor in the span of a few panels!

[Hermiod]

Mr Light wrote:

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So they know he's a convicted murderer but they put him in charge of the superhuman military anyway? Here I was thinking his name was miraculously cleared through accusations of mind control or something

Osborn was well placed to lead the fight back in New York given that he'd based the entire Thunderbolts operation on Oscorp technology, leaving them fully operational despite the virus attack on Stark's technology.

Osborn's team have nanotechnology implanted in their bodies to keep them under control. Given that the team is made up of Venom (Mac Gargan), Bullseye, Songbird, Penance, Radioactive Man, Swordsman and Moonstone, Osborn is the least of their problems.

If their entire motivation was their God you'd think that they would actually mention his murder in the main series, that's weird. Fury et al could have taunted them with this information, leading Veranke to attack them in a rage, something like that.

Also, was this the entire Skrull Empire or just a terrorist faction? I know that they were pretty much wiped out in the recent Annihilation crossover.

This was largely explained in New Avengers while Secret Invasion was going on.

After the Illuminati escaped from their captivity, Princess Veranke (who eventually took Spider-Woman's place) warned their King (Dorrek VII) of the prophecies stating that their Empire would soon be destroyed and they would only be able to seek refuge on a "world of blue". She believed that Earth had been promised to them.

Veranke is banished for this, but true to the prophecy, Galactus destroys the Skrull homeworld.

The survivors turned to Veranke, knowing she was right all along, and made her their Queen. (In fact, the Young Avenger Teddy "Hulkling" Altman - whose real name is Dorek VIII - was the real heir to the throne)

She began a plan to take the world promised to them by God by force, secretly infiltrating Earth's military and superhuman organisations as we see in Secret Invasion. Two things happen after the events of the House of M that strengthen her resolve.

First, news that the Annihilation Wave has destroyed much of the Empire arrives. Billions are dead, but what they believe to be a gift from God also happens - the complete devastation Earth's mutant population caused by the Scarlet Witch. This was the major obstacle to their planned invasion. Millions of mutants with superpowers would make it impossible for their invasion to be a success, and now they've been reduced to just 198.

[Turbo]

Yikes. What's with the Armageddon kick in both DC and Marvel lately?

[Hermiod]

^Annihilation was in 2006.

[blaXXer]

Hermiod wrote:

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^Annihilation was in 2006.

And it didn't (directly) affect earth.

Also, I love how all of Marvel's events lead into another rather logically instead of being a huge clusterfuck like DC's "Crisis" crap.

[Hermiod]

blaXXer wrote:

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And it didn't (directly) affect earth.

Also, I love how all of Marvel's events lead into another rather logically instead of being a huge clusterfuck like DC's "Crisis" crap.

To be fair, Bendis and Quesada have been planning this for years.

My understanding is that coming out of this there will be a new Avengers team in a title called Dark Avengers. Mighty and New Avengers will continue, however, along with Avengers: The Initiative. Captain America (Bucky) may become a New Avenger also. Iron Man's solo title will be retitled "Iron Man: World's Most Wanted".

Ms. Marvel's prominence as a character will be increased. The current events in her solo title which show her before she became Ms. Marvel are somehow linked to Osborn. Uncanny X-Men Annual #2 is listed in the Dark Reign tie-ins and as such I would guess it's going to focus on Emma Frost.

The events in the recent Namor mini-series make more sense (Atlantis being destroyed and its people becoming sleepers throughout the world), now. Also in Thor, there were early signs that Loki and Doom were working together.

[Misfit Toy]

Hermiod wrote:

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* The last warship is brought down and is found to contain Hank Pym, Elektra, Mockingbird, Spider-Woman, Dum Dum Dugan and everyone else the Skrulls had captured and replaced.

Wasn't Sue Richards in there too? Has it been revealed yet when those people were taken?

[darkwing_duck1]

Hermiod wrote:

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To be fair, Bendis and Quesada have been planning this for years.

Yep...running Marvel into the frakkin' ground! JoeyQ is finishing what Jem-ass started...

[Mr Light]

What is the Dark Avengers premise going to be? I thought it was going to be set up in the end of SI but it wasn't. Perhaps some of the heroes will learn about the Dark Illuminati and go renegade to track them down, the way the New Avengers went after the Skrull Infiltration?

Or would it actually star the Dark Illuminati?

And Nick Fury will be getting his own separate comic as well, right? The Secret Avengers? So there will be FIVE Avenger teams now?