Bendis' Master Plan Revealed/Possible '08 Event

[GrnMarvl14]

In the biggest "WTF" moment in the last several years, the newest issue of New Avengers revealed that Elektra was a

Spoiler

Skrull.

Apparently this has been the big plan for the past several years. Prior to House of M, prior to Disassembled. And, apparently, the effects have been/will be seen in New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Illuminati (first issue of the mini-series apparently is the starting point for all the craziness), and...many other places. It also appears as if this is our first real hint at '08's big event.

Bendis Speaks On the Events in Question. Also includes images from the latest issue of New Avengers that spoil the revelation. So...view at your own risk.

 

[Zeta]

Bullshit. This is him trying to dig himself out of the whole Marvel's made for themselves by making half of their entire heroes into "Nazis Lites" while trying to either portray them either as "Republicans" or "serious".

Basically, the deal here is that only aliens could be as evil as a conservative. Excuse me while I go vomit at this half-assed solution to half-assed writing in the first place. It doesn't even make any fucking sense, since the Skrulls are allies of earth for the past 5 years or so. At least they could've made them Dire Wraiths or something. Jeeze.

This is the Clone Saga Part II - only this time for the entire MU instead of just Spider Man.

As someone else put it:

This may have been the plan all along, but surely it is being shoehorned now into solving every plot or character discrepancy which has cropped up of late? It seems the Skrulls invaded the Marvel offices, and weren’t so good at writing certain characters as previous Marvel scribes.

Don’t like decompressed storytelling? It was a Skrull who told those stories.

Don’t like characters written out of character? Skrulls did it.

Don’t like conclusive storytelling by writers who have no feel for a comic’s history? Skrulls.

Didn’t like Cap’s death? He was killed by a Skrull. And he is a Skrull.

Did the Sandman kill Uncle Ben in Spider-Man 3? No. A Skrull did. Who directed X-Men 3? You guessed it.

SKRULL RETCON PUNCH!@

 

[GrnMarvl14]

While I'll admit that it's not a good idea, the plan was put into action back after the Kree/Skrull War, and it's likely that these Skrulls haven't had any contact with other Skrulls (though I do NOT remember them being Earth's allies, unless it happened after the Maximum Security thing).

And Bendis has already said that this won't be used to undo Civil War or House of M (or bring back Cap. And apparently neither Hulk nor Tony Stark are Skrulls).

Don’t like characters written out of character? Skrulls did it.

That is, actually, EXACTLY what they're going to do with it. Though I wonder what this has to do with Slott's final She-Hulk story that supposedly deals with the same problem (and how characters can be in two places at once).

"Captain America is dead, and, as we've shown, if you kill someone, when they plop to the ground they go back to Skrull form," Bendis explained. "So if Cap was a Skrull he would have Skrull-ed up."

Ahhh...the inconsistencies are already starting. Apparently he doesn't remember when Wolverine was replaced by a Skrull. And that Skrull was killed. And he DIDN'T change back until Beast used a device on the corpse. Plus there were several instances when Wolverine sniffed out a Skrull, so apparently these Skrulls are capable of masking their scents...but not staying transformed in death?

Another Bendis interview on the subject.

I just want to know if it's Jessica or Luke that's the Skrull. Cause I never did like the retcon that was/is Jessica Jones.

 

[Zeta]

There's going to be another comic book crash as soon as the movie fad dies out, because all of these "events" are exactly what bankrupted Marvel in the 90s. But they figure "we don't have to worry about longtime readers, the movies will make us a lot of new readers so we can fuck up the universe all we want", and when they screw things up with an event, they write an even BIGGER event to fix it. It's a cycle of extreme sucky writing.

 

[Doctor Oak]

There's going to be another comic book crash as soon as the movie fad dies out, because all of these "events" are exactly what bankrupted Marvel in the 90s.

I'm not sure, but aren't the Ultimate lines still beating all the 616 lines? I'd say they're safe enough with the various Ultimate titles still going strong - and they'd have to actively try to fuck up both lines at the same time. (And since they've ruled out a 616/Ultimate crossover [hopefully forever] we should be safe).

Also... eehhh... I never really liked the whole Skrull/Kree space opera stuff in the first place, so I'm not exactly brimming with thrilledness at the idea of next year being centred around that. Though they should definitely explain away the Elektra movie as "A Skrull did it". God knows no human could possibly make something that awful. Well, ok, maybe one, but it wouldn't surprise me if he was a Skrull too - it'd make quite a bit of sense really...

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Sales figures for April. Scroll down for individual issues. Ultimate ANYTHING doesn't pop up until #26, after Uncanny X-Men, everything Avengers (literally, EVERY Avengers title minus Illuminati), Fallen Son, Fantastic Four, and Dark Tower.

And, yeah, that's almost definitely going to be another crash, but it's more because of the large number of books they're pushing and the huge number of dealer-incentive variant covers (one of the big killers in the 90s). Events actually HELP to sell things. And while people MAY be getting sick of events...the World War III stuff for DC (in the link above) prove that people aren't sick yet. And Civil War was one of the best sellers of all time.

People complain about all the events NOW. In the 90s, you had about 3-4 every year ALONG WITH the big event. But that was the early 90s. Bob Harras came in and really cut down on the number of events (and then killed most of the non-mutant heroes or generally turned their books to crap) and made the X-stuff the key books.

And I bring...yet ANOTHER Bendis interview. This one just SAYS this is leading to the '08 event, not even questioning it.

I bet Hawkeye's a Skrull.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

I hate double-posting, but...too much stuff to not be posted, yet too little to deserve its own thread.

More select quotes from here.

At a panel earlier in the convention, Bendis warned that any character with a “wobbly resurrection” could be a Skrull. A fan asked “Isn’t that pretty much the entire Marvel Universe?” to which Bendis said “Yes, and many other comic companies, too.”

I still say Hawkeye's a Skrull.

When asked if the teams in Mighty Avengers and New Avengers might ever be on the same ideological page, Bendis said that the “big threat that might unify some people,” speaking of the Skrull story.

Wonder Man's a Skrull, too.

“We’re not using this to do undo anything,” with Bendis further reiterating that “Nothing is being retconned,” and you won’t see grieving Stamford incident mother Miriam Sharpe pulling off a mask and being Dr. Doom.

Dr. Doom's a Skrull.

“Will there be a new Captain America?” Rosemann: “Read Fallen Son #5.”

New Captain America's going to a Skrull.

Questions were raised about Lyja, Johnny Storm's Skrull wife, the Skrull saucer explosion Hawkeye had apparently died in, and the possibilities that Jessica Jones' baby was being weaned on milk from the Skrull cows seen in "Fantastic Four" #2. All the questions met with the same non-response, but they kept coming, showing extreme fan interest in the storyline.

I bet Lyja's revealed to be a Skrull. Hence the non-response. Would totally work.

 

[Zeta]

Actually, it looks like the new Captain America is Bucky. Ugh.

 

[Lil Brother]

This is great. XD Honestly, I'm loving it. While I'm not a big fan for retcons, they can be good. Hopefully they don't get too out of hand here. For example, if Elektra's been a Skrull since her first resurection, this will be crap. But if done recently, it wouldn't be.

and the possibilities that Jessica Jones' baby was being weaned on milk from the Skrull cows seen in "Fantastic Four" #2

XD That'd be awesome.

Unfortunately, this is Bendis. As in Brian Michael "QUICK THE INTERNETS NEED TAPE" Bendis. My money's on overhype and a dissapointment. Ah well. He can be a great writer, but... sometimes not so much (Ultimate Mary Jane's a furry Hulk goblin and Gwen Stacy is revived as Carnage with absolutely no explination whatsoever, yay!). I'm also worried that he's playing this so that people will take this seriously. Sorry, but it's gonna take a lot of work to make this serious. 8D My love for this is one because of the "lol" of it all.

[/rant]

'kay, so. Who's willing to bet Aunt May's a Skrull?

 

[GrnMarvl14]

Actually, it looks like the new Captain America is Bucky. Ugh.

At a panel earlier in the convention, Bendis warned that any character with a “wobbly resurrection” could be a Skrull.

Now, yes, while Bucky wasn't TECHNICALLY resurrected, he could still fit the bill. Though, personally, I liked him coming back, and I like the idea of him as Captain America.

'kay, so. Who's willing to bet Aunt May's a Skrull?

If she's NOT a Skull, I'll be pissed. I still hate that they brought her back. It served no purpose, whatsoever.

I bet Norman Osborn's a Skrull. As are the Stacey Twins. Nothing like using a retcon to undo a retcon. Would certainly make their existence more tolerable.

 

[Zeta]

The big question is, why the hell WOULD a SKRULL want to impersonate Elektra of all people? A c-list ninja whose only main tie to the Marvel universe is an on and off relationship with Daredevil, a superhero who nobody in the MU really cares about and whose only power is being not quite blind . . .

 

[Lil Brother]

What!? Don't you know ninjas are vital in the Marvel Universe? Go read Mighty Avengers. You will learn that all Avengers teams need Thor, Wolverine, and (most importantly) ninjas!

Also, Galactus is a Skrull. And so is H.E.R.B.I.E.

 

[GrnMarvl14]

The big question is, why the hell WOULD a SKRULL want to impersonate Elektra of all people? A c-list ninja whose only main tie to the Marvel universe is an on and off relationship with Daredevil, a superhero who nobody in the MU really cares about and whose only power is being not quite blind . . .

Keep in mind, both Bendis and Quesada have a thing for Daredevil. I mean, I've STILL yet to see Daredevil sell well, yet he's getting mini-series after mini-series.

But Elektra's actually become a BIGGER character than Daredevil. She's everywhere. Daredevil's nowhere.