ok whats this about skrulls??(spoilers)

[ALOR]

ok so i picked up the most recent wizard and it had an article about electra having recently been revealed as a skrull? and they say this is the next big marvel storyline. i admit i'm out of the loop i only by trade paper backs anymore so i'm not savy on everything going on in the marvel verse. but this article goes on to predict other possible skrulls?? this has clone story written all over it. are they going to reveal tony stark as a skrull? is this going to turn into a giant do over for the past several years storylines?? i'm just hoping other people who are reading the comic books issue by issue might shed some light on this for me

[Jerthanis]

So here's the deal. The New Avengers line (which consists of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, and Clint Barton (formerly Hawkeye, dead and came back) as Ronin... perhaps they'd be better named as the Secret Avengers due to their opposition to the SHRA, but the comic title is still "New Avengers") went to Japan to find someone named Echo, who was being held prisoner by the order of assassins known as the Hand, which recently was taken over by Electra.

During the fight, Echo stabbed Electra to death with a sword. Upon hitting the ground, she reverted into the form of a Skrull, meaning she had been a Skrull for an indeterminable time up to that point, perhaps since her "resurrection". The members of the New Avengers discuss the problem in the following issue, detailing how Skrulls wouldn't send an agent to impersonate a single person just to gain control of the Japanese underworld, and they've been trying to invade for like, 46 years of real life comic book publishing, so this is probably the latest attempt by them to kill all humans and conquer earth.

The New Avengers detail how the plan might actually be their first semi-intelligent one*, and Wolverine points out that it's a really convenient way to explain all the out-of-character-ness that's been going on for the last couple years. Bendis (the writer) also uses Wolverine as a mouthpiece to poke some fun at general comic-book silliness, like by mentioning that Wolverine is "everywhere at once" (referring to the fact that they put Wolverine in several teams at once, and have him guest star in other comics frequently to boost sales, even if he's busy in other countries or even on other planets at the same time in-continuity)

Basically the idea is that ANY character in the Marvel U could be a Skrull in disguise, and they're going to try to take over really soon, and that the SHRA and Civil War was their fault, and them attempting to destabilize the Superhero resistance and pit them against each other. However, as far as I'm concerned, there's a lot of simple tests to tell who's a Skrull and who's not... based on how easy their powers are to reproduce. Spider-Woman could be impersonatable pretty easily, but Wolverine's adamantium skeleton would be practically impossible to duplicate. Besides, if the Skrulls had the capability to recreate a variety of superheroes with various high-level powers accurately, or the ability to duplicate Dr. Strange level magics, they could've just done a brute-force invasion and won a LONG time ago. Better yet, they could've stopped Annilus before he frigged up half their civilization.

and yes, it seems like it's going to be a pretty big event, but whether it'll actually undo some of the recent stuff or not remains to be seen.

(*the Skrull's first plan was to impersonate and discredit the Fantastic Four so they could invade with their single warship... and their second plan involved sending the Super-Skrull on his own to just sit in the middle of New York city declaring that the planet belonged to the Skrulls until humankind gave up)

[....]

As the Hulk ravages the planet, a Skrull invasion force appears as several heroes (Probably all the Illuminati) turn out to be Skrulls.

Hulk's ship abandons its attack on earth and the Warbound and Skrulls fight. At the end of the battle, the stone ship crashes and all but a few warbound are killed. Hulk and the (formerly imprisoned) Illuminati make up and the SHRA is done away with as it turns out Nova was also a Skrull and it was all just a big plot to destroy earth.

The End.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Also Captain America orders them all drinks the next day. When asked about why he isn't dead, he says he got better. Everyone has a good laugh. Later, they give star coordinates to Galactus of all the Skrull worlds, saying "They're quite well populated and juicy to boot, go nuts".

High fives all around!

[....]

Also Captain America orders them all drinks the next day. When asked about why he isn't dead, he says he got better. Everyone has a good laugh. Later, they give star coordinates to Galactus of all the Skrull worlds, saying "They're quite well populated and juicy to boot, go nuts".

High fives all around!

You forgot that after they tell Galactus the coords, Bucky shows up in his old costume and says something foolish, Cap responds in a kind but vaguely condesending way, and all the gathered Superheroes share a hearty chuckle as the camera fades to an ad for Delicious Fruit Pies.

[Rob Knotts]

Spider-Woman could be impersonatable pretty easily, but Wolverine's adamantium skeleton would be practically impossible to duplicate. Besides, if the Skrulls had the capability to recreate a variety of superheroes with various high-level powers accurately, or the ability to duplicate Dr. Strange level magics, they could've just done a brute-force invasion and won a LONG time ago. Better yet, they could've stopped Annilus before he frigged up half their civilization.I'm not entirely sure, but I believe the current situation in the MU is that they can replicate high-level powers accurately with "War Skrulls", which seem to be mass-production cyborg versions of the Super Skrull.

In the Super Skrull Annihilation series, it's made pretty clear from the begining that Annihilus was able to do so much damage to the Skrull culture because the empire has fallen apart and lacks any central authority that could unite enough forces. This would also explain why the Skrulls can't use new technology and powers to stage massive new invasions, they don't have enough unity to organize one.

[ALOR]

So here's the deal. The New Avengers line (which consists of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Spider-Woman, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, and Clint Barton (formerly Hawkeye, dead and came back) as Ronin...

1st off thank you for explaining what is going on.
now for my take. This really sounds like a horrible idea. it just seems like the powers that be at marvel got scared and now want to make things all better by erasing all this civil war history with skrulls. bah.

[Emperor Tippy]

The fact is marvel needs to erase Civil War. And from a business point of view they have to do it without dumping whole lines of comics/heroes (such as FF and Ironman). So they have to either say it was a dream, bring in some weird timetravel, let Wand Deus Ex Machina again, or provide some plausible reason for why half of marvels hero's have been **** faced stupid.

Time Travel causes to many other problems, it being a dream is very cliched, and everyone would recognize Wanda or the like as Deus Ex Machina. So they are left with Civil War (and possibly chucking the Hulk into space) as the work of some alien entity.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

I'm pretty fine with it. Bring out the heroic side of these old heroes again instead of trying to apply preschool politics. I think we'd all be satisfied if the Hulk is presently beating up and capturing Skrulls, having discovered their plot. Hell, it'd be a decent twist that could lead to one big-ass showdown in the end between Earth and the Skrulls, with the newly freed Illuminati and the Hulk taking the vanguard. Maybe not the best storyline ever, but it fixes a whole lot.

[Chaos Perfected]

And at the end Hulk has to sacrifice his newfound intelligence to destroy their 'intelligence beam' so that everything is back exactly the way it was before.

[Emperor Tippy]

And at the end Hulk has to sacrifice his newfound intelligence to destroy their 'intelligence beam' so that everything is back exactly the way it was before.

Nah. You could have some real good storyline's with War Hulk staying around. He is about the only good thing to come out of the whole thing.

[Chaos Perfected]

I was being sarcastic because thats probably what they'll do. Or they'll just forget Hulks smart now and never mention it again.

[Jerthanis]

In the Super Skrull Annihilation series, it's made pretty clear from the begining that Annihilus was able to do so much damage to the Skrull culture because the empire has fallen apart and lacks any central authority that could unite enough forces. This would also explain why the Skrulls can't use new technology and powers to stage massive new invasions, they don't have enough unity to organize one.

I guess I just don't see why a quiet invasion, with sleeper cells of rogue hero agents secreted away on earth in key positions such that they can manipulate public sentiment and politics requires any less (if not FAR more) logistical and centralized support than an honest invasion. Unless the Skrulls are operating like terrorists, in which case, usually, the goal isn't really conquest.

Particularly if they manufacture the War Skrulls that are doing it. If they can give them the specific powers of Marvel Heroes, and can do it reliably, why couldn't they make 10,000 Magnetos and take over everything ever? Or 10,000 of ANY hero really, except the lame ones... or if they could just make ONE Squirrel Girl...

I must admit though, I didn't really read all of Annihilation, so I might not be super up-to-date with the Skrull situation.

[Rare Pink Leech]

Nah. You could have some real good storyline's with War Hulk staying around. He is about the only good thing to come out of the whole thing.

I agree that War Hulk kicks butt, but I can also see definite problems with him sticking around beyond the crossover. Not only do you have the Hulk being more powerful than he's ever been, but now he also has intelligence and lots of cunning. What are you supposed to throw at him that's going to make for a good story? He'll beat the snot out of any of his old opponents in less than four panels.

However, one reason I can see him sticking around is to provide somebody who can go mano-a-mano with Sentry (incidentally, have War Hulk and Senty fought? It will be very interesting to see who comes out on top). But this leads to a new problem - power creep. Anyway, I doubt War Hulk will exist for very long past World War Hulk.

[....]

Didn't the Hulk used to be smart?

With the personality of "The Professor"?

[Lord of the Helms]

Didn't the Hulk used to be smart?

With the personality of "The Professor"?

The Professor was as smart as Banner, but he wasn't anywhere near as strong as Savage Hulk, let alone War Hulk's concentrated, focused rage.

The only point for having War Hulk stick around is having a Marvel/DC crossover where he then proceeds to beat the snot out of Superman. Just because.

[new1965]

Particularly if they manufacture the War Skrulls that are doing it. If they can give them the specific powers of Marvel Heroes, and can do it reliably, why couldn't they make 10,000 Magnetos and take over everything ever? Or 10,000 of ANY hero really, except the lame ones... or if they could just make ONE Squirrel Girl...


There was a story in X-men where the xmen wound up in a skrull out post that was about to be consumed by Galactus. There, a group of Skrulls was training to replace the X-men.. ALL of the x-men. They were using a combination of shape shifting and technology to duplicate their powers and were so successful that they managed to swap in a fake wolverine with no one realizing it until the fake got killed

[Rob Knotts]

They were using a combination of shape shifting and technology to duplicate their powers and were so successful that they managed to swap in a fake wolverine with no one realizing it until the fake got killedKilling a Wolverine imposter would be the most obvious way of exposing him.

Damn that sounds odd:smallconfused:

[Grod_The_Giant]

And at the end Hulk has to sacrifice his newfound intelligence to destroy their 'intelligence beam' so that everything is back exactly the way it was before.

that's been done, albit in DC with Doomsday. Gog (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gog_%28comics%29) killed Superman, leading to a future where Doomsday (who had evolved intelligence just before) becomes the worlds greatest hero. Eventually, Gog got depressed because there was nothing left to do, and returned an avenging Doomsday to the bast, where he prevented Gog from ever killing Superman.

[Gavin Sage]

There was an interview on Newsarama.com about a month ago after we first saw Elektra-Skrull. Anyways Bendis in it clarified that this is building Marvel's next event, not related to WWH. Nor are the Skrulls behind the SHRA and the whole thing be used to erase CW.

And frankly the whole thing has yet to impress me at all. While it is nice to see the Bendis has had some scheme in mind since starting New Avengers, don't buy the "anyone can be a Skrull" for a second no matter how Marvel tries to scam you with the line. Tony Stark and the rest of the Illuminati are not Skrulls. Nobody spending time around a psychic is likely, so the X-men are collectively just about out. No character with a solo series is a Skrull, nor any that we've seen been inside the head of (IE hear them thinking or otherwise been in more personal scenes with them) can be one. So generally speaking most important characters are not Skrulls.

I'm hoping Marvel uses them to decimate the Initiative teams personally, since it is an easy place to be infiltrated and superheroes shouldn't be mass produced.

[Essex]

Nobody spending time around a psychic is likely, so the X-men are collectively just about out.

Not true. When Wolverine was replaced by a Skrull in X-Men Professor X only knew that something was wrong due sensing alien thought patterns for a fraction of a moment. He spent weeks putting the X-Men through grueling high intensity danger room sessions while digging through their minds with all of the power at his command as the world's most powerful telepath and he still didn't know who the imposter was until after the Skrull died and Gambit brought in a doohicky that he got from Mr. Sinister.

[psycojester]

So why exactly do the Skrull have such an overwhelming urge to conquer earth? Given that marvel earth seems to have more superbeings than dentists why the hell wouldn't you just put it in the too-hard basket and try somewhere less insane to invade.

[Scientivore]

Haven't you heard? Earth girls are easy. :smallwink:



That's a pop culture ref, in case anyone didn't get it. I wouldn't want you to think that I'm sexist or something.

[psycojester]

So its another one of those "just because" situations then is it?

[Lord of the Helms]

Nobody spending time around a psychic is likely, so the X-men are collectively just about out. No character with a solo series is a Skrull, nor any that we've seen been inside the head of (IE hear them thinking or otherwise been in more personal scenes with them) can be one. So generally speaking most important characters are not Skrulls.

Erm, Wolverine was a Skrull for like two dozen issues quite a while ago, in plain sight of I don't know how many psychics, with plenty of happenings in his solo series and numerous trips into his head. In other words, all the above criteria for "no Skrull" were fulfilled. So, yes, anyone other than people with practically unimitable skills (e.g. Doc Strange) could be a Skrull.

[Viscount Einstrauss]

So you mean to tell me that there couldn't possibly be any magic using Skrulls? And that, if taken captive, no magic using Skrull would be able to wield Doctor Strange's own artifacts to make it appear as though they have the powers of the Sorcerer Supreme so long as he's not forced to use any large-scale magic?

Doesn't the Eye of Agamotto see through any lie or deception? If Doctor Strange wasn't a Skrull, shouldn't he have seen this coming?

[Essex]

So why exactly do the Skrull have such an overwhelming urge to conquer earth? Given that marvel earth seems to have more superbeings than dentists why the hell wouldn't you just put it in the too-hard basket and try somewhere less insane to invade.

I believe that it has to do with Skrull religion. Supposedly Earth is some sort of Skrull promised land.

[Rob Knotts]

So you mean to tell me that there couldn't possibly be any magic using Skrulls? And that, if taken captive, no magic using Skrull would be able to wield Doctor Strange's own artifacts to make it appear as though they have the powers of the Sorcerer Supreme so long as he's not forced to use any large-scale magic?It's tangential at best, but there is some precedent for Skrulls practicing magic (http://home.hiwaay.net/~lkseitz/comics/Rom/enemies/wraiths.shtml).

[Griemont]

I hope Iron Man will turn out to be a Skrull so people stop hating him :smallannoyed:


The whole Skrull thing does make sense, though (what with all the Marvel people acting uncharacteristically and such), and appears to have been preplanned, not just something that they came up with on the spur of the moment, so I'll just go along with it and see what happens. :smallsmile:

[Grod_The_Giant]

no, wait, I've got it! I know I do! It explains everything!!
The Skrulls have infiltrated and replaced <dumdumdum> the Marvel writers and editors! Thus the explanation for killing Cap and turning Iron Man into a prick is found.

[Artega]

I can very much imagine the end of this next storyline playing out like the end of "The Sopranos" But that's just me.

[ravenkith]

Seriously, the Skrull shapeshifter thing is waaaaaaaaaay overdue.

I mean a shapeshifting race with ability to duplicate via technical means, almost any power?

Yeah, once they get over themselves, they'd be tough to catch and beat...especially if they put a psychic shield in place to replicate the thought patterns of the original being if psychically probed.

Wolverine was supposedly a Skrull for quite some time, while the 'real wolverine' served as Death, for Apocalypse, so, it's conceivable - there's a precedent, at any rate, for bypassing psychic detection.

Theoretically, if the X-men can be infiltrated, nowhere is safe.

Magic is learnable...so they could even cover that aspect of the problem...duplicate psychic powers mechanically, and run a 'copy' from one brain (strange's) to another (a skrull's), switch the gear over, bob's your uncle: instant sorceror supreme.

It's a relatively dirty fix for Civil War, but one that doesn't rehash the old dream/timetravel/dimension swap/deus ex machina roads we know so well.

In addition, let's say they infiltrated the legislative branch of the government...the whole registration act could have been nothing more than a way to find out who the heroes and villains were, gone wrong because of objectors.

I mean, Stark, Pym and Richards are churning out mass-produced heroes in-continuity at the moment, something they never thought of doing before...and something that the skrulls have demonstrated technically capable of in the past.

Now imagine the majority of the newly-minted heros are actually skrulls. Recall that the plan was, officially, to split up the experienced heroes and spread them around with the newbs.

Doesn't bode well for the future of the marvelverse, does it?

[ALOR]

Seriously, the Skrull shapeshifter thing is waaaaaaaaaay overdue.

It's a relatively dirty fix for Civil War, but one that doesn't rehash the old dream/timetravel/dimension swap/deus ex machina roads we know so well.

In addition, let's say they infiltrated the legislative branch of the government...the whole registration act could have been nothing more than a way to find out who the heroes and villains were, gone wrong because of objectors.

I mean, Stark, Pym and Richards are churning out mass-produced heroes in-continuity at the moment, something they never thought of doing before...and something that the skrulls have demonstrated technically capable of in the past.

Now imagine the majority of the newly-minted heros are actually skrulls. Recall that the plan was, officially, to split up the experienced heroes and spread them around with the newbs.

Doesn't bode well for the future of the marvelverse, does it?

now i really like this idea. but i would still like stark and richards to have not seen this coming. Thier perfect ideas turned aganst them. that would be cool.
i like the distrust the civil war started. I can still see iron man and spider man working together to take down a skrull invasion. Then after the fights done, they go at it. That is more interesting than tony having been a skrull. At least to me anyways. I guess really what i don't want is just a quick fix to the marvel universe. I don't want everything going back to normal. I want thier to be repercutions for tony stark and reed richards actions. I would feel cheated if they had been skrulls. However if they were just unknowing pawns in the skrulls ultimate plan now that would be a very good story.

[ravenkith]

Sorry, but they've been acting SO out of character lately, that the whole skrull thing is the most likely explanation.

On the plus side, however, the cushy "oh you're a hero, we totally trust you" environment some of the heroes get would be utterly toast.

I mean, anybody could be a skrull...did we get them all?

That kind of worry could make all sorts of interesting stories happen.

[selfcritical]

As the Hulk ravages the planet, a Skrull invasion force appears as several heroes (Probably all the Illuminati) turn out to be Skrulls.

Hulk's ship abandons its attack on earth and the Warbound and Skrulls fight. At the end of the battle, the stone ship crashes and all but a few warbound are killed. Hulk and the (formerly imprisoned) Illuminati make up and the SHRA is done away with as it turns out Nova was also a Skrull and it was all just a big plot to destroy earth.

The End.

You can pretty much bet anybody on the illuminati was not replaced by a skrull.

[Scientivore]

On the plus side, however, the cushy "oh you're a hero, we totally trust you" environment some of the heroes get would be utterly toast.

I mean, anybody could be a skrull...did we get them all?

That kind of worry could make all sorts of interesting stories happen.

Heh, it would be a great excuse for (even more) hero vs. hero matchups, if nothing else. There'd be "oh no, she's really a skrull! and it's just like fighting the real thing, except that she's not holding back!" Then there'd be "oops, sorry, that was just so out of character that I thought you were a skrull." And finally, there'd be "umm...I uh- *cough* thought you were a skrull. <.< You supercilious hypocrite. Umm. Yeah."

[Grod_The_Giant]

stuff

Brilliant!

[ravenkith]

Thanks.

Anyone know the editors at Marvel? I wouldn't mind writing for them, and I'm pretty sure I could do a better job than some of the folks currently employed over there.... ;)