 COMICS |  | 'SECRET INVASION' #3 ROUNDUP | | With Marvel's main event here, Wizard Universe brings you THE WRINKLY-CHIN ROUNDUP: a reader's recap of the events from the Skrull-filled miniseries of 'Secret Invasion' | | | By Jim Gibbons and Kevin Mahadeo | | Posted 6/5/2008 | |  | | [BE WARNED, KIDDIES! THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!]
The Secret Invasion has begun.
The shape-shifting alien race known as Skrulls want planet Earth! They've been infiltrating the world's superhero teams and government agencies in an attempt to claim the planet. The New and Mighty Avengers learned of the covert Skrull aggression nearly a year ago and though they've attempted to figure out what to do and how to combat the threat, their efforts have been hindered by questions and doubts that have left old allegiances in shambles: Who's a Skrull? Who do you trust?
The questions still linger, but the time to ponder them is over. Today, the Skrulls have taken actions that cannot be cannot be concealed. The Secret Invasion isn't a secret any longer, it's war!
For more background, check out our roundups of Secret Invasion #1 and #2!
Previously… In Secret Invasion…
The Skrulls' invasion of Earth kicked into high gear as a number of reveals and betrayals occured:
Dum Dum Dugan blew up S.W.O.R.D—the pointier, space-based brethren of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Jarvis infected StarkTech (and subsequently S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers Tower and The Raft) with an alien virus that literally sickened Tony Stark and shut down the S.H.I.E.L.D mainframe.
Captain Marvel attacked Thunderbolts Mountain (we're still up in the air on whether this is a bad thing)
A shape-shifting Sue Storm opened up the Negative Zone gateway, which then proceeded to eat away at the Baxter Building
Both Avengers teams encountered a fallen Skrull ship in the Savage Land, which opens to reveal '70s versions of a number of Marvel Universe heroes—complete with that sense of terrible/groovy '70s fashion!
The '70s'vengers and the New and Mighty Avengers duke it out while Tony Stark went off to fix up his armor. The Sentry went bonkers when a skrull '70s Vision morphed into the Void and '70s Skrull Hawkeye died, which helped the new Hawkeye...er...Ronin realize she wasn't a Skrull (he thinks). This happened before and after a big T-Rex attacked. Again, for more background, check out our roundups of Secret Invasion #1 and #2!
Oh, and did we mention the Young Avengers were in Manhattan when a f—k-ton of super skrulls appeared and starting laying the smack down on NYC...
Secret Invasion #3
Brian Michael Bendis (W) / Leinil Yu (A) | | 
Downed in the Bermuda Triangle, issue #3 opens to that old adage, "S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarriers make better air vehicles than boats," as we see Maria Hill and a bunch of S.H.I.E.L.D. folks scrambling around like ants on a log trying to figure out what went wrong.As they run out onto the deck, they see Jarvis who asks Maria Hill for her full and total surrender. Yeah, things aren't looking good.
Over at Thunderbolts Mountain, Captain Marvel is about to start offing those wieners after chucking Venom a good couple of miles of the peak, but he can't bring himself to execute them. Norman Osborn—a.k.a. Mr. Stable—guesses Catain Marvel isn't exactly who he claims and sees if the troubled hero would like a drink and a chat about what's going on.
Meanwhile, at Avengers Initiative headquarters Camp Hammond, Gauntlet explains that Starktech is out and they don't really have a clue what's going on when Hank Pym (who's a Skrull, don't forget) pops up explaining that aliens are attacking Manhattan and they have to roll out and meet the villains head on! Cue half the Initiative crapping their pants.
Over in Times Square, the Young Avengers are just barely not getting their butts kicked by the massive force of Skrulls that ended last issue...ok, ok, they are ttally getting their butts kicked. Hulking tries to appeal to his fellow Skrulls and is met with numerous lasers, eye beams, electric shocks, etc. and then Wiccan gets uber-punched by a Giant Man Super Skrull. Luckily, the Initiative shows up before Young Avengers loses its entire cast of characters and starts laying a little smack down.
Back in the Savage Land, Spider Woman's being all sneaky when Echo finds her and is immediately attacked by the her former teammate. Echo yells she's not a Skrull, to which Spider Woman replies that she knows and continues the attack until she leaves Echo quite-possibly among the deceased (yeah, we're not quite clear on that).
Spider Woman heads to the location where Tony Stark is repairing his armor and she tells him to relax because he did it...he completed his mission...he helped the Skrulls win. Spider Woman explains that he is a Skrull who had one of the most important missions and that he wasn't allowed to remember any of it...he was trained to believe he was Stark. And, she explains his role in Civil War and positioning himself in such a powerful position was exactly what he was programmed to do as a Skrull sleeper agent. Tony commences to completely freak out. Also, he insists he is not a Skrull...while still freaking out.
Back in Times Square, it turns out the Iniative totally suck at laying the smack down on Skrulls and get taken out by some crazy electrical/laser thingy. Vision is the only one left standing and explains that more heroes will come, before promptly having a laser beam blow his brains out. Yes, Brian Bendis hates androids.
All of a sudden, the ground starts rumbling and one of the super Skrulls completely explodes. It's Nick Fury and his new Howling Commandos, and he's got a big f—king gun and they all look ready to kick some Skrull tail!
You've had a good run... Echo
Oh wait...No you haven't. I mean, you watched your father die, you tried to kill your boyfriend, you discovered your adopted father actually killed your real father, Elektra killed you only to have the Hand raise you from the dead and brainwash you and your current boyfriend just discovered his long-dead wife is actually, in fact, alive. Poor Echo just can't catch a break. Oh wait, she just did. BA-ZING!
Don't F—K with Skrulls: Special Young Avengers edition!
Wiccan
Hulkling
Stature
Vision
Poor, poor Young Avengers. The Skrulls formulated an intricate plan to overthrow the Earth and disable every major hero in the Marvel Universe. Unfortunately, you guys fell nowhere on that list of objectives, meaning the Skrulls figured you posed absolutely no threat whatsoever. Good job proving them right. We get that your relatively recent entrance into the superhero game makes you inexperienced, but holy jeez. Not one of you proved effective in the slightest—expect maybe Hawkeye and Patriot, who both succeeded in not getting their s—t kicked immediately.
Don't F—K with Skrulls... NICK FURY!
In one moment, Nick Fury completely and utterly rules the scene by showing up in the middle of Manhattan after he and his Howling Commandos BLOW UP one of the Super Skrull invaders. And do you see the size of that gun? Forget Super Skrulls. Dude's got super guns that will blow your face off.
Questions...
Captain Marvel...what is this guy's deal?!
Ok...seriously, what is this guy's deal?! Is he pro-Skrull invasion, Anti-Invasion, does he not believe in the death penalty for offenders or is he just a cry baby?! However, where this gets really interesting—and has been touched on a bit—is the divisions between Skrulls. If Captain Marvel is along the same lines as guys like the Initiative's Crusader (a secret Skrull who's pro-humanity) and Hulkling, then it raises tons of other questions and not just who can you trust? But also, who can the Skrulls trust? Can you trust any Skrull? Do Skrulls trust all Skrulls? Is it hard for Skrulls to stay in good relationships because they have trust issues?! Do Skrulls do trust falls at their office morale building sessions?! Guess we'll have to keep reading to find out.
Who is that kid?
We've been reading—and loving the crap out of—Avengers: Initiative, but um, who is this kid who gets his neck snapped. Yeah, it's brutal and shows the Skrulls are merciless, but again...who is he? Maybe we just want a bit more emotional bang for our comics' death buck. That said, Cloud 9 getting killed off would have wrecked us for a good week, so it could have turned out worse!
Tony Stark... a skrull?!
Well, we can't really say we're surprised. Since this mega-event first showed inklings over a year ago, Tony Stark became suspect #1 as far as the whole "Who's a Skrull" question goes. The reveal represents the moment fans both anticipated and dreaded. However, leave it to Bendis to present the discovery in an interesting way. The idea of Tony as a sleeper agent makes the reveal—if in fact true—less of a cop out and much more dramatic and acceptable. Despite which side of the fence you lay on regarding the reveal, this scene raises tons of interesting questions. If Tony is a sleeper Skrull agent, what happened to the real Tony Stark? How far back do Tony's questionable actions go? What does this mean for the future? Is the Iron Man that came out of the ship the real Tony Stark? What if Tony Stark doesn't actually exist—in the context of the Marvel Universe, obviously he doesn't exist in real life. Or does he? What if Robert Downey Jr. is a Skrull? What if I’m a Skrull? We just blew our own mind!
For more, check out our roundups of Secret Invasion #1 and #2!
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