Infiltration
It’s on. The Skrulls are in full invasion mode, and their goal of eliminating the Avengers is moving along well. The team has been reduced to only Captain America, Hawkeye and Wasp. One problem though, this Captain America is a Skrull agent!
Ms. Marvel follows the trail of a Skrull ship to Wakanda. The Black Panther left the Avengers to focus on the protection of his kingdom and Wakandan law forbids any foreigners to set foot on their soil, alien or human.
What comes next is a great payoff for those that have been keeping up with the show. The Skrull ship opens and the entire Avengers line-up steps out. This group claims they have been trapped by the Skrulls since immediately after their adventure in Asgard. They claim all the Avengers currently on Earth are Skrulls and they are pretty convincing in their argument.
This group makes its way to the Wakandan capital, only to be stopped in their tracks by Wakandan soldiers, led by their king, Black Panther. The Skrull-ship Avengers claim that this Black Panther is a fake and is after the Wakandan Vibranium mines.
Tensions are high and the fuse is finally lit when Hawkeye and Wasp show up, accusing the Skrull-ship Avengers of being fakes. From this point it is everyone versus everyone. No one trusts the other, until finally the greater skill of the true Hawkeye and Wasp reveal the fake Avengers for the Skrulls they are. Ms. Marvel has had enough and unleashes on the enemy, with the aid of the real Black Panther.
While this massive battle takes place, Dr. Doom makes his move. Not the kind you were expecting though. He has been studying the Skrulls, since his earlier appearance on the show. He confronts Iron Man and in a manner only Doom could pull off he offers his help. He has developed a method to detect the Skrulls, but he needs Iron Man to complete this tool.
As if that wasn’t enough, Nick Fury is putting together the pieces of who is a Skrull and who is not with sheer investigative skill and gut instinct. However, his revelations come too late, as the Skrull Queen pretending to be Mockingbird strikes. Fury calls Iron Man with his information, but Tony Stark arrives only to be defeated by the Skrull Queen, who implanted a virus in his armor which freezes him.
At this point the Skrull invasion is looking well on its way to success.
This is a huge payoff episode. It ties together all the previous episodes, even ones that you may not have thought would have a direct impact on the Skrull invasion. And it all makes sense.
The appearance of Dr. Doom is spot on characterization. The heroes disbelief and mistrust of each other is incredibly believable and has been established perfectly. What really makes this so convincing is that it feels smart.
I read the Secret Invasion comic series. I thought it was good, but this was an even better version. It upped the action and made the motivations clearer. Much of the clutter of the comic series has been eliminated and yet we still get great character moments.
Crom's Craic 