The Usual Skrullspects

With a title that cheesy, you know this post has to be good. With the Secret Invasion ramping up in the recent New Avengers and upcoming Mighty Avengers, I wanted to do a quick roll call on the potential Skrull suspects. Some will be tongue in cheek while others are fairly serious contenders. The next New Avengers: Illuminati issue is solicited as one member not being what they appear and the issue is slated to tie directly into the upcoming Skrull event. This leads me to believe one will end up being a Skrull. But which one? Iron Man? Black Bolt? Namor? And are there other Skrulls throughout the Marvel Universe? Secret Invasion is generating massive hype with its "Who Can You Trust?" tagline and Brian Bendis has planted a lot of seeds in his New Avengers and Illuminati books. In a world of clones and robots and shapeshifters, everyone is a suspect. Hit the jump to find out who my money's on in The Usual Skrullspects.

Illuminati Members – It is rumoured one of them is a Skrull. Which one is it? You be the judge.

Iron Man – Bendis has stated numerous times that Iron Man will not be revealed as a Skrull and that there will be no retcons for Civil War or any other long time character’s histories. He did head up the ‘evil’ side on Civil War though and is partially to blame for Cap’s death, so he gets a place on the Skrullspects list despite Bendis' claims.

Odds – 100:1

Reed Richards – Reed has lots of experience with Skrulls as a member of the Fantastic Four, but similar to Iron Man, I cannot see the retconning of his actions in Civil War being placed on a Skrull. Easy powers to duplicate, as evidenced by the Super Skrull, and previous experience with Skrulls puts Reed on the list, but an outside chance. Hard to see a Skrull being responsible for his Civil War deeds or even coming close to matching the intelligence of the smartest man in the universe.

Odds – 50:1

Xavier - He's crippled. He can walk again. He's crippled. He can walk again. He has his powers. He doesn't have his powers. This guy bounces back and forth so often it is hard to keep track of what he can do at any given time. His powers are quite easy to duplicate and a psychic makes a great infiltrator, especially for secret cabal meetings like the Illuminati. He recently came back to the X-titles after being missing for a year or so and he could miraculously walk again, but had no powers. Seems Skrully until you factor in he travelled across the universe to the Shi'ar quadrant of space and nearly died before being thrust into the M'Kron Crystal and regained his powers. This seemed to validate his identity and I cannot see him being a Skrull after those events. Still, he looks very suspicious at the end of Illuminati #2 in the last panel on the final page. While maybe not a Skrull right now, there is a chance he was one at one point or during certain meetings of the Illuminati.


Odds - 20:1

Namor – He constantly flip flops from good guy to bad guy and routinely tries to take over the surface world. Easy powers to duplicate and no major appearances or actions that would need to be retconned if he was recently replaced as a Skrull. Setting up sleeper cells that ran all through Civil War, despite his apparent anti-registration stance, as seen in New Avengers: Illuminati, and the fact he is rumoured to die in his mini-series seem to point to Namor as a potential Skrull, although I doubt anyone, Skrull or human, could pull of the arrogance or sheer awesomeness of the King of Atlantis.

Odds – 10:1

Blackbolt – He is the only Illuminati member heavily shadowed on the cover to New Avengers: Illuminati #5, which was a technique used in the Scarlet Witch reveal for Bendis’ Avengers: Disassembled. He rarely ever displays his powers and, depending on the placement of the events in World War Hulk and Silent War, he could easily be a Skrull. His powers could be duplicated by sonics or vibrational methods and his inability to make any sounds could be covered up by simply shape shifting into his form without vocal chords. This, of course, all comes down to how Marvel fits the two mentioned events into the timeline. Currently, Blackbolt is imprisoned by his brother on the Moon and the storyline seems to point to it being the real Blackbolt. Either way, he is a Kree descendant and it would be bitter irony if the Skrulls used a Kree based hero as their infiltrator.

Odds – 5:1

Dr Strange – Conspicuously sat out during Civil War, opting to meditate in the mountains while everyone fought it out. The Watcher appearing with him in such a remote location could be a sign that he was replaced as a Skrull at that point and it was a major turning point. Typically, The Watcher only shows up for key events and sitting on a mountain is far from a key event.

Surprisingly, he returned after the war ended and offered to join the New Avengers, something he has never done before, and even gave them a place to hideout in his own home. While his excuse that he is merely helping them out as he feels guilty for not choosing a side in Civil War, it seems all too convenient at this point in time.

During his adventures with the New Avengers, his powers have been highly suspect. When asked if he could teleport the team to Japan to help Echo, he stated he could not do that, when in the NA: Illuminati #1, he teleported the entire cabal to the Kree capital ship and out to a space ship on the ground. This was a much younger Dr Strange, at least 10 years, and with all this new experience as the Master of the Mystic Arts, he could not accomplish the same feat on Earth with all his relics and mystic artifacts in his home? Also, the final page with the Skrull ruler has him asking if they found what they needed before the Earthlings escaped. He mentions the priests will be able to figure it out and he has all the time in the world to wait for them. During the examination of all the Illuminati's powers earlier in the issue, they mention Dr Strange's are quite hard to comprehend and that the priests are coming to examine him personally. Very unique choice of words with the priests that seems to imply they will be seeking his power set in the future.

When the team first has trust issues before heading to Japan, the good doctor casts a glorified light show that seemed to do nothing and he somehow determined that everyone was trustworthy based on that spell. Later, after finding the Skrull Elektra, Strange casts a second spell, similar to the first, which simply shows the inner self as each individual sees themselves. Another glorified light show that only showed images of each hero from better times in their publicized lives that anyone could find out about with little effort. Some even seem off, such as Jessica Jones wanting to be her costumed Jewel persona again, despite such horrible experience with it and her encounter with the Purple Man. Suspiciously, Wong and Luke Cage’s baby have no ‘inner self’, despite having been present for the spell. Both spells could very easily be replicated with Skrull technology or elementary magic and mental abilities.

During the Japan trip while fighting Skrullektra, Dr Strange, the team’s powerhouse and Sorcerer Supreme is completely ineffectual and a non-factor in the entire fight until he gets stabbed by a ninja. This is a man trained by Wong to be a capable martial artist and that is before we factor in his supreme magical abilities. He could have ended the fight before it began, yet remained out of combat until injured, where he could conveniently sit on the sidelines and not have to reveal his lack of magical abilities.

On the trip home from Japan, the New Avengers are discussing the Skrull threat and the plane suddenly stops functioning due to Ultron’s EMP attack in Mighty Avengers, which the team did know about at this time. During the free fall, Dr Strange is completely useless. Apparently, his cape, which he uses to levitate and fly with ease and is one of his most basic abilities, does not work under these conditions. What conditions are these? Falling to your death? Or not wanting to reveal you have no such abilities? Very Skrully. When asked if he can do anything to help the team, he also states there is nothing he can do, despite his teleportation abilities years earlier with the Illuminati on the Skrull home world. Finally, the plane crashes and Dr Strange, who has a serious impalement wound, survives the crash with nary a single injury despite not being able to cast rudimentary spells and being a normal squishy human. He walks away from it perfectly fine.

His only appearances that serve to show him as not being a Skrull are the World War Hulk appearances. However, all he does in his initial assaults are mental based attacks using his arsenal of magical artifacts to help him. Even his final transformation in WWH #3 has him using a powerful demonic artifact to power himself up. Having Hulk conquer Earth would probably be a bad thing for the Skrull invasion and it would possibly be worth the risk to try and stop him now instead of later. Also, if the new Skrulls are sleeper agents that truly believe they are the person they are imitating, this could be in character for the impostor. Still, this is the only refutable evidence for Dr Strange being a Skrull and the book was not written by Bendis.

Skrully. Very Skrully if you ask me.

Odds – 2:1

Other Marvel Skrullspects

Hawkeye – Mysteriously returns from the dead. While not a huge feat in the revolving door that the afterlife is in the comic world, Clint has been very suspect since coming back. His using the Ronan persona and surprising display of martial arts and weapons abilities post-death seem very out of character for the former bowman. Very good chance of a Skrull here.

Odds – 5:1

Echo – Continuing the death and return trend, Echo ‘died’ in the Japan arc and was reborn by ‘magic’ used by the Skrull Elektra, who was in control of the Japanese underworld. Echo has been depicted, and these might be artist errors, as responding to sounds that the deaf character should not be able to hear. Things like a knock on the door in the Chicago hotel or random character discussions where she would not be able to read their lips. My guess is artist mistake, but it is also very Skrully-like. Brought back from the dead by a Skrull does not inspire trust in me either. I think the plan might have been to have the Skrull Echo lure the team to Japan to rescue her and have a plant on the team, but it went wrong and the Skrull Elektra died. Very high chance at a Skrull here.

Odds – 2:1

Government Official – Someone fast tracked the Super Hero Registration Act and caused Nick Fury to go underground. That someone is probably responsible for Maria Hill being appointed to Director of SHIELD. She, herself, comments that she was not the best person for the job and that she probably got it simply because they think she would enforce the government’s policies or tow the line unlike Nick Fury. There is even speculation she believes it might be because they expect her to fail at the job. Either way, some high ranking official is most likely a Skrull, maybe even the President. Heck, it could even end up being Maria Hill at this point.

Odds – 2:1

Danielle Cage - Luke and Jessica Cage's baby girl. Just look at that image that came at the end of the big Skrull Elektra revelation. Obviously a Skrull baby. My guess is that it has something to do with not breast feeding the baby that was mentioned in this issue. As you all know, way back when, the Fantastic Four hypnotized several Skrull's into shapeshifting into cows and acting out their lives as said cows. My theory is that the baby milk is derived from those Skrull cows and it is affecting the baby, turning it into a new Skrull loyal hybrid. Ya. I got nothing on this one.

Odds - 100000:1

Mary Jane Parker – Quesada wants her gone and the marriage annulled. When she disappeared all those years ago and came back into Peter’s life knowing he was Spider-Man seems like a great spot to make her a Skrull. With Joe Q pushing this One More Day on us, this ridiculous idea almost seems plausible.

Odds – 100000:1

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