15 FUN SECRET INVASION FACTS WITH BRIAN BENDIS

[MattBrady]

In mere hours questions about Marvel’s Secret Invasion #1 will be answered. Who’s a Skrull (or at least, who are the first Skrulls to be revealed)? What will the first strikes be? How deeply rocked will the Marvel Universe be once the revelations start rolling out thick and fast?

You’re going to have to read the book for yourself to find out, but in the meantime, together with SI writer Brian Bendis, we’ve got a list of 15 final points to consider when going in to Secret Invasion.

1) Yes, the Skrull in “Avengers: Disassembled” was supposed to be there.

“It was not a mistake,” Bendis says. “In the history of comics, and there have been very good comics, and very bad comics when have you seen a random character walking around for no reason? Does he play a role in Secret Invasion? A very minor role, but yes. It will all be explained."

2) The bigger story started in New Avengers #1, and someone should tell David Finch.

“That was the first place I said to Tom [Brevoort], ‘Okay, that’s a Skrull, and that’s a Skrull.’ Literally, that was just me and Tom. The artist was not told.”

3) You’re going to have to read the book to find out who the oldest Skrull is in the storyline, though.

“Can’t say who it is,” Bendis says.

4) Nick Fury = big role in Secret Invasion.

“You should buy Secret War,” Bendis says. “It’s out now, and it’s gorgeous. Nick Fury retired from mainstream comics at that story’s end. It’s also the first appearance of Maria Hill and the start of her ascension in SHIELD. All of the elements are important, including a conversation Maria Hill had with the President of the United States. All of it was written in context with this storyline that is coming up, and Nick Fury is part of this story that is coming.”

5) Nick’s whereabouts over the past few months will be revealed – by Alex Maleev.

“We will be turning back the clock in Mighty Avengers #12 and #13. #12 is the best thing Alex Maleev has ever drawn. It’s stunning. There have been many artists who’ve drawn many outstanding Skrulls over the last few months, and Alex wins best Skrull ever in Mighty Avengers #12. And also for people who are looking forward to the Spider-Woman series that Alex and I have been promising for a couple of years, that issue is very close to what that will feel like.”

6) Fury will bring new friends with an old name.

“Nick Fury will be coming back with friends – a slew of new characters,” Bendis says. “It’s not breaking news, I know, but Nick has put together a new team of Howling Commandos. All of them are new characters, or fresh characters, and its part of his response to what he knows is a growing threat.”

7) The Secret Invasion Saga rocked.

“That was the best ‘Saga’ book that Marvel has ever done,” Bendis says. “Some of those ‘Saga’ books I’ve felt, were a little light when they could have been heavier, but this was on the one where they knocked it out of the park. I wish I would’ve had it before I went back and did all my f’n research for this story. Would’ve made my life easier.”

Newsarama Note: Many comic shops may still have free copies of the issue, and it’s also available as a Digital Comic at Marvel.com.

8) The Skrull Kill Krew? (created by Grant Morrison and Mark Millar) Not so much.

“The Skrull Kill Krew won’t be around as much as people want,” Bendis says. “I know they want them to show up, but they’re not going to be there as much as people are hoping, I think. That said, I did have an evil plan to connect Grant Morrison’s work on that series to Final Crisis, whether he liked it or not, but I felt that was ill-advised on my part. I thought it would be pretty funny to find out that the Skrulls are also behind Final Crisis, and that he actually planted the seeds for it back when he wrote that with Mark [Millar].”

How? “Darkseid’s a Skrull. He’s not really trying that hard to disguise it, but there you go. But no, we're not doing it.”

9) Maybe the Illuminati aren’t the Illuminati…besides Black Bolt.

“Did all of the Illuminati members come back from the Skrull throne world after that ill-fated mission that took place after the Kree-Skrull War? I can’t answer that right now. But that will be very illustrated in upcoming issues.”

10) Secret Invasion does have ties to Annihilation.

“The Annihilation Wave was a disaster to the Skrull Empire, so it’s all connected to that event. It’s already seeded – it was worked within the context of Secret Invasion when that happened. I’ve been working with the Annihilation office the entire time. It was always part of the goal of the Annihilation series to get things closer and closer and closer to home, and this was the way to do it.”

11) Tony Stark = target

“Tony Stark has put a big old target on his ass is what Tony Stark has done. He made himself the top cop of the world; put himself in a little tin can with a sign that says, ‘Come Get Me!’ Hell yeah, he put himself in this position. And I can’t say he’s not a Skrull.”

12) Tony Stark did not know the Invasion was coming.

“But it doesn’t mean he’s not a Skrull.”

13) Not all Skrulls on earth know that they are, in fact, Skrulls.

“It’s something else for the internet to hate me over.”

14) The “Daredevil” appearing in the Daredevil title? Not a Skrull.

“The Daredevil in New Avengers #39 was a Skrull….but…Daredevil in Ed’s [Brubaker’s] book is not a Skrull. I will not torture Ed any more than he’s been tortured. Even when I was writing Daredevil, there’s very little room for him to make it into these events, just by the nature of the stories that are told with him. The character does show up in Secret Invasion though.”

15) These Skrulls? Not your daddy’s Skrulls.

“These Skrulls are much more powerful than what’s been seen before. There have been giant leaps in genetic and scientific engineering as far as how the Skrulls are doing what they’re doing, and what they can do. That is a direct relation to things we’ve already shown. We’ll also rewind and show exactly what moment it was when they figured out how to do better stuff and where they got it from, but yeah, they’ve got their shit together. They came with a plan, and the plan is being executed, and it’s being executed well. They knew there were things they had to do to get past things where shape shifting won’t work – like Wolverine. He smells Skrulls. Or used to. They’ve improved on every level.”

Check back tomorrow for more from Bendis on Secret Invasion #1.

[Sam Little]

I!
Am!
PSYCHED!

Go Bendis!

[outride]

1) Yes, the Skrull in “Avengers: Disassembled” was supposed to be there.

“It was not a mistake,” Bendis says. “In the history of comics, and there have been very good comics, and very bad comics, when have you seen a random character walking around for no reason? Does he play a role in Secret Invasion? A very minor role, but yes. It will all be explained."

AHA!

This moment of absolute and total satisfaction after three to five pages of discussion on the topic yesterday (see the last SI thread) is brought to you by...

[bigdaddyhub]

All skrulls don't know they are skrulls?

Rats....It makes for great drama, but too bad about BSG getting there first.

Really does get everyone around Dr. Strange's spell, though...

Still, today is the day! I am excited.

[SpaceButler]

That Grant Morrison planting the seeds for Final Crisis in Skrull Kill Krew thing was hilarious. I'm pretty excited about hitting the comic book shop tomorrow morning.

[Userama]

This read like a Wizard article

[De Martini]

I!
Am!




MOSTLY UNDERWHELMED!




But I'll give it a look-see nonetheless. I'm more excited about the return of Nick Fury than anything else, really.

[Fecal Yeti]

C-rate villains posing as B-rate characters.

And who gives a ____ about Nick Fury????

[Phries]

Good building of secret continuity

[NTapalansky]

Sounds interesting - I made the mistake of buying into EVERY SINGLE Civil War tie-in of my own accord and wasn't exactly thrilled with the 100+ issues, which soured me on huge events (last time I did that was House of M and I felt similarly). I think this might have just enough fun 50's paranoia sci-fi to it to make it a good, fun read though. I'll probably end up picking up the main series for this one.

Glad to hear Bendis has done his sleuthing too, not that I expected any less. I love his New Avengers and Ultimate Spider-Man, though Mighty Avengers is a bit of a miss for me.

[SpaceButler]

Originally Posted by Fecal Yeti

C-rate villains posing as B-rate characters.

And who gives a ____ about Nick Fury????

I care.

[Binker]

Really, literally, up in the air in getting this. The Marvel Universe following Civil War, and what Joe Q did to Spider-Man, I've been really hating Marvel. This does sound interesting, but I don't even know. I mean as of now, I only get three Marvel books. But one of those three might be dropped as the arc and run is finished now.

I just don't know....

[bigdaddyhub]

Originally Posted by Fecal Yeti

C-rate villains posing as B-rate characters.

And who gives a ____ about Nick Fury????

well, my guess is at least 300,000 paying customers will care.

[izzatrix]

gave me a good feeling that the homework had been done. There are going to be people upset when certain characters are revealed to be Skrulls. I'm sure I won't be happy about
everything but at least this doesn't have the feel of some of the stuff from the 90's where it seemed like they were actively trying to chase long time fans away. I'm sure noone wants to produce another Crossing.

[gypsie king]

Annihilation tie in? Intriguing.

BUT I thought BB has said Tony wasn't a skrull in other interviews...

Also how do you not know you are a super extraterretrial shape changing genetic freak with up to four different power sets?

[cuttingedge]

Originally Posted by Fecal Yeti

C-rate villains posing as B-rate characters.

And who gives a ____ about Nick Fury????

Everybody but you....go read a Spawn comic or something.....

[NTapalansky]

Originally Posted by Fecal Yeti

C-rate villains posing as B-rate characters.

And who gives a ____ about Nick Fury????

Oh, I do - absolutely. Nick Fury is a character with so much to offer, I dunno how they've managed to hold him out of the books for this long. Plus, new Howling Comandos?!

Also glad to read that SECRET WAR is getting pulled out again - I absolutely loved that mini and can't wait to see it in context.

[Moosarama]

Originally Posted by Bendis

“That was the first place I said to Tom [Brevoort], ‘Okay, that’s a Skrull, and that’s a Skrull.’ Literally, that was just me and Tom. The artist was not told.”

Those shadow figures could be anyone. If they're Skrulls, why do they have to be in the shadows? Would the whole twist be to show them as other characters, only to later reveal them in story to be Skrulls?

[Chris Hunter]

Oh well.

Looks like this interview disproves my theory:

http://www.comichacks.com/my-pre-sec...ion-revelation

[Salieri]

I care. I care very much about all C-Listers rocketing to the top. This is what should be happening a lot more.

[Bender-braü]

Two things that are bugging me about this story:

1. Didn't someone detonate a hyperwave bomb years ago that permanently prevented every Skrull, everywhere in the universe, from shapeshifting?? When was that reversed? Did I blink and miss it?

2. It seems that from this article, to truely encompass the whole Secret Invasion story you have to read Avengers: Disassembled, Secret War and The Annihilation Wave. IMHO that amount of cross promotion really irks me.

P.S:

Originally Posted by Fecal Yeti

And who gives a ____ about Nick Fury????

I do.

[tnswman]

I actually picked this up early yesterday ( thanks UPS for being a day early)......I may just be a fan boy but....SPOILERS AHEAD
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Here comes the Spoilers!---
-
-
-When the MODERN heroes are in the savage land...and the 70's Heroes come out of the space ship wondering if they have made it back to earth at last, THAT was a CLASSIC moment!! It makes you go "OH $HIT!!" Now, it is going to get interesting....Have the classic heroes ever really changed? Hmmmmmm.

If this is a re-set button for many stories and characters....color me impressed.

However, Joey Q messes upa bit at the end of the book with his little blurb about Jarvis and Aunt May.....I thought Aunt May would not have remembered Jarvis and her time living in the Tower Joey...Hmmmm???? Which is it?

[outride]

Originally Posted by MattBrady

13) Not all Skrulls on earth know that they are, in fact, Skrulls.

Like I said yesterday:

The Skrulls were created by... someone.
They were Beat Up by the Illuminati.
They Evolved.
They Look
And Feel
Human.
Some are brainwashed to think they are Human.
There are many copies.
And they have a Plan.
...Apparently.

[DocBrass]

how are the "new" Skrulls detected? can't they just have everybody do a blood test? Skrulls can only change their external characteristics and appearance.

[Nas-Vell]

It's funny.
I was totally willing to go into this event relatively "un-jaded" and less skeptical than usual...
till I read this. What someone else said: this read like a Wizard article.