Review: Secret Invasion 3 (Marvel)

Talking about this third installment of the Secret Invasion mini-series, I could discuss how incredibly potent the new warskrulls are as they take out the Young Avengers and multiple members of the Initiative. Or I could talk about the official return of Nick Fury and his attempt to turn the tide of battle, with his new Howling Commandos in tow. Or I could even mention how cool Jarvis-Skrull was when he asked Maria Hill for the unconditional surrender of S.H.I.E.L.D., while still dressed in his normal butler outfit.

But I'll leave those things as minor events, at least compared to this little zinger:




Jessica Drew, aka Spider Woman, aka Skrull Queen-in-disguise, coolly and casually performs in what is either the greatest reveal of the series (be it suspected or not by the readers), or what is definitely a solidly destabilizing mind-fuck on Tony Stark.

This totally blew me away. Besides being a great piece of writing, the scene has so many implications, even though the going theory of course is that Tony really isn't a Skrull, since that would be too easy an "out" for everything Tony has been doing from the Civil War onward. He's Marvel's biggest goat right now, the can everyone gets to kick, the jerk people love to hate. To make him into one of the sleeper Skrull agents would sully all the work the writers have done into making him the Marvel U's Greatest HEEL Ever.Even previous weasels like Henry Peter Gyrich have nothing on what Tony has now, and I doubt that simplifying his actions as part of his subliminal sleeper-Skrull programming would be the decision the Marvel bullpen would make to restore his hero reputation among the readership.

No. Tony's road to redemption is going to be hard, painful, and paved with broken parts.

But despite my beliefs, I tip my hat off to the Skrull Queen. A masterful stroke.

Indeed, who can you trust?