This week in Secret Invasion:
New Avengers #41


Continuing the system of letting the Avengers books fill in the blanks of the main title, New Avengers #41 is set alongside the Savage Land battle seen in Secret Invasion #2. Spider-Man gets tossed by a T-Rex into the jungle, where he encounters Ka-Zar, Shanna and some other of those Tarzanesque people, most notably including either Sauron or a Sauron lookalike.

I know that some people are getting really tired of the “You’re a Skrull!” “No, you’re a Skrull!” stuff, but it hasn’t worn on me yet. I think mainly because 1) it’s what would happen if the Earth were invaded by shape-shifters, and 2) it’s extra entertaining when Spider-Man is involved.

They then flash back to the Ka-Zar family’s discovery of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents enslaving Savage Land inhabitants and mining vibranium, which they are not supposed to be doing. When they discover that the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are Skrulls, Shanna tries to infiltrate the camp but is quickly discovered.

One Skrull S.H.I.E.L.D. agent tells another “The only people that ever come to this part of the Earth are the Avengers and the X-Men … and they’ll come here when we tell them to.” She also says “We have agents inside the New Avengers.” Agents plural. Also, when the eventual Shanna-Skrull S.H.I.E.L.D. battle ensues, agents are ordered not to kill “it” — to mine Shanna for her DNA? Or is Shanna maybe a Skrull now too, explaining why they wouldn’t want to kill her and why she’s sowing so much paranoia. Anyway, Ka-Zar and Battle Cat save the day, and Shanna breaks down the big picture — the Skrulls have infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, so there’s no one they can trust. If they’re going to save the Savage Land, they need to build their own army.

When leading their new Savage Land army to take the fight to fake S.H.I.E.L.D., they witness the events of New Avengers #6 when possibly-real S.H.I.E.L.D., led by Maria Hill, came in and blew the whole thing up.

The peacefulness of the situation ends as both Spider-Man and Shanna start to regain their paranoia, and then Space Ship Captain America bursts in to end the issue. I think, due to respect for Ed Brubaker’s ongoing story, and based on the fact that Cap didn’t turn into a Skrull when he died, we can probably assume this isn’t the real Captain America. As we saw last issue though, Skrull sleeper agents are led to believe that they really are who they’re bred to resemble, so it’s possible this Skrull really thinks he’s Captain America. At the same time, though, we also saw that there are some Skrulls in this space ship gang who know they’re Skrulls. I think the intrigue here will be in watching this Captain America come to terms with who he really is.

Past Implications:
The thing that was suspicious at the time was that the S.H.I.E.L.D. attack in New Avengers #6 killed a bunch of innocent Savage Land slaves and very nearly killed the New Avengers too. Even though it covered up their tracks, it wouldn’t make sense for that to be a Skrull attack, because the Skrull queen, who we now know was disguised as Spider-Woman, could have easily been killed.

I don’t know if it was an error or if there are just multiple pterodactyl people, but in NA #6, Hill thanked the Avengers for helping get Sauron back in custody; there’s a Sauron lookalike with Ka-Zar and the gang in their NA #41 conversation with Spider-Man.

Shanna overheard the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent said they have more than one infiltrator in the New Avengers. Granted, she could be referring to either Avengers team or both together, as it’s not like the adjectives are known or used by characters in the fictional world. But it’s safe to assume she meant the team that exists in the comic book marketed as the New Avengers, because the events that follow this observation happen in New Avengers #6, before the Mighty Avengers even existed.

The New Avengers line-up at that time consisted of Spider-Woman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America and Luke Cage. Wolverine was with them, though not necessarily part of the team.

Thanks to New Avengers #40, we know one of the Skrulls is Spider-Woman. Captain America has since died and not turned into a Skrull. Luke Cage is a definite possibility, as he’s instigated a lot of post Civil War activity. I’d say Spider-Man is safely Spider-Man, because that would just be too cheap of a way to get out of One More Day. Wolverine is probably a red herring, though it would make sense in some ways. Nick Fury seems to suspect him, according to Mighty Avengers #12. Wolverine’s first appearance in New Avengers was in issue #4, where he was conveniently already in the Savage Land. It’s reasonable that a Skrull would take his shape to gain access into the group.

Problem is, he makes his appearance getting the jump on Spider-Woman. The sleeper agent defense doesn’t work, as the only way a Skrull Wolverine would make sense in this situation is if he were knowingly trying to infiltrate at that point. He was acting suspicious in SI #1, but he also saved Echo from a Skrull in New Avengers #39.

That leaves Iron Man and Luke Cage, and possibly Jessica Jones.

Recall the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent said “…they’ll come [to the Savage Land] when we tell them to.” In Secret Invasion #1, Spider-Woman calls Luke Cage in order to get the New Avengers there. At the very least, that implicates Spider-Woman, but it could hint that Luke Cage was part of the scheme to get everyone there. Either that, or she just felt he would be the easiest to manipulate.