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Prelude to the Invasion[]

Located on interstellar crossroads, Earth was viewed as prime territory by many alien cultures. One of these cultures was theSkrulls. Due to the large number of superhumans on Earth, all invasion attempts were thwarted every time. The Skrulls, despite their previous inability to conquer the planet, still viewed Earth as rightfully theirs. After theKree-Skrull War, theIlluminati took it upon themselves to travel to the Skrull throneworld to inform them not to involve Earth in their struggles again. Upon arrival, however, the Illuminati were captured and experimented upon before they were able to escape.^[7]

Their initial homeworld,Tarnax IV was destroyed byGalactus and in the recentAnnihilation Wave, much of the rest of the empire was decimated, destroyed, or overrun by the forces ofAnnihilus. With no home and a long-standing grudge against the super-human populace of Earth, the Skrulls found themselves pushed to the edge. Having slowly infiltrated the planet Earth, their time for vengeance had come.^[8][9]

After experimenting on the Illuminati, the Skrulls replaced various super-humans since prior to the events ofHouse of M, beginning withSpider-Woman (replaced after being lured in by a fake attempt by the Skrulls to restore her powers),^[10]Hank Pym,Black Bolt,^[11]Elektra,^[12] various agents ofS.H.I.E.L.D.,^[10]Edwin Jarvis,^[13]Dum Dum Dugan,^[14] etc. After theCivil War, the Skrulls intended on implanting a Skrull in every50-state superhero team, which they managed to achieve with all but two teams.^[15]

The events of the House of M occurred independent of Skrull intervention, but the registration act and theHulk's return were allowed to play out to "do their work for them".^[13] With theScarlet Witch andThor out of the way,^[10][9] they had plans for theSentry,^[13] threats to their invasion. Reducing the mutant threat, the Skrulls believed that the mutant population could not be combated against by the Skrulls, allowing the House of M incident to occur successfully accomplished their goal. The next target was the superhuman population.^[10][9]

Lyja was successfully recruited back into the Skrull ranks to take out theBaxter Building, the Fantastic Fours headquarters.^[16]

Dum Dum Dugan also met withAgent de la Fontaine around the time ofCaptain America's death. She asked Dugan aboutNick Fury's whereabouts and if he had had contact with Fury. Dugan denied any knowledge and the Contessa stabbed Dugan with claws similar toWolverine's, revealing herself to be a Skrull. The Skrull then assumed Dugan's form.^[14]

After the events ofSecret War, Nick Fury went into hiding. He learned that Valentina Allegra de Fontaine was plotting to extract S.H.I.E.L.D. pass-codes from him and kill him. Fury killed her first, after which she reverted to her true Skrull form. Fury came to the realization that an alien invasion was taking place. He recruited"Spider-Woman" to be a mole inside bothHydra and S.H.I.E.L.D., while secretly reporting to him, and to keep an eye on anything suspicious, after having previously encouraged her to regain her powers from Hydra so as to infiltrate them.^[17][18]

Fury meanwhile assembled a new team, a team he believed to not have been targets of the Skrull insurgency. He began with former S.H.I.E.L.D. agentDaisy Johnson who then went on to recruit;Alexander Aaron (Code namePhobos, the Son ofAres),Yo-Yo Rodriguez, daughter ofJohnny Horton (TheGriffin), thegrandson of thePhantom Rider,Dr. Druid's son,Sebastian Druid, andJerry Sledge, the son of theAbsorbing Man. Ironically, he attempted to have Daisy recruitLayla Miller, but she was already expecting her. Miller claimed that if she joined Johnson's/Fury's team, "it wouldn't work" but without her, they wouldn't fail. She wished to stay with the mutants because they would need her. She stated Johnson would live through this, but was going to lose a lot.^[19]

In theSavage Land, the Skrulls also planted a fake S.H.I.E.L.D. team that eventually engaged theAvengers, but they successfully escaped.Ka-Zar and his people witnessed this, believing that there was something odd happening, but realizing that the Skrulls had infiltrated Earth, while also causing disgruntlement between the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D., they were unable to sound the alarm for fear of who to trust.^[20]

OnceElektra was discovered, it was far too late as the Skrulls had already crippled Earth's main planetary defenses: the mutant population had been cut to only a few hundred, super-humans had been registered, on the run, killed or replaced. Many teams including, theMighty Avengers,^[21]New Avengers,^[10] theIlluminati,^[22] theInhumans,^[22] S.H.I.E.L.D.,^[10]Wakanda's government,^[23] theInitiative,^[24][25] even the Avengers' staff;^[13] had all been infiltrated by Skrulls. Earth was ready for the taking.^[11]

The Infiltration[]

Some time after the Superhuman Registration Act, a battle broke out between the New Avengers and the Hand over the fate ofEcho. During the fight, Echo was freed from the Hand's influence, and stabs the Hand's leaderElektra. Moments after her death, Elektra was revealed to be a Skrull. Tensions rose amongst the New Avengers, as no-one was able to detect Elektra's true nature, they surmised any one of them could also be a Skrull.Spider-Woman suggested that they hand over the Skrull corpse toIron Man, but she was rebuked byLuke Cage, who believed Iron Man to be a Skrull as well. During a fight, Spider-Woman knocked out Wolverine and stole the corpse to bring to Iron Man.^[21]

Spider-Woman informed Tony Stark of what had happened inJapan, including the suspicion by his former teammates that he was a Skrull himself. A disturbed Stark accepted this, claimed that his possession and DNA restructuring byUltron verified his authenticity, then demanded to know where Nick Fury was, because he would know what to do. Jessica didn't know. Stark agreed with Wolverine's opinion that this was just the beginning of an invasion, and convinced her to join theMighty Avengers, even though she still absolutely refused to register her abilities under the Superhuman Registration Act, since it would throw the Skrull off guard. Stark assumed that one of the Mighty Avengers was a Skrull sent to kill him, and with Spider-Woman on the team the Skrull would know that the Avengers were now aware of the Skrull threat. Spider-Woman convinced the others that she merely wanted to get back to doing something useful, and did not tell them what happened in Japan.^[26]

Iron Man was shocked by the Skrull corpse, realizing it to be a repercussion of the Illuminati's attack years prior. He reassembled the group for the first time since they splintered shortly before the Civil War, and they debated over whether this meant an invasion had taken place. The group was caught off guard, however, whenBlack Bolt voiced his opinion. It was revealed that he was in fact a Skrull as well, and fought the others over the body. This Skrull showed to not only have Black Bolt's powers, but to have the combined powers of all the members of the Illuminati. AfterNamor managed to kill him, the Illuminati were attacked by two more Skrulls:

• A Skrull that hadCyclops' optic blasts,Nightcrawler's prehensile tail, andColossus' metallic skin.^[22]
• A Skrull that wielded a technological copy ofThor's hammerMjolnir.^[22]

These Skrulls were killed by Iron Man who detonated a small nuclear bomb with his armor. Namor reminded them that any of them could also be a Skrull, and that no one was to be trusted. The five then went their separate ways.^[22]

The returning Captain Marvel battled the villains Cobalt Man and the original Cyclone, both supposedly deceased. He was then confronted by a group of Skrulls posing asKree Soldiers, who attempted to kill him but were quickly defeated by Mar-Vell with the aid of Iron Man. He then went on to confront Ms. Marvel over her identity, and then shared with her his experiences fighting both Cobalt Man and Cyclone. Shortly thereafter, Mar-Vell went to interrogate Cobalt Man, who revealed himself to be a Skrull and stated "You are not Captain Marvel". Meanwhile, Brother McNally, a member of the recently formed Church of Hala (established after the return of Captain Marvel), was revealed to be a Skrull as well.^[27] Iron Man was suspicious of Mar-Vell's true identity and sent men to Titan to investigate his grave. The Skrull impersonating Cobalt Man revealed to Captain Marvel that he was in fact a Skrull sleeper agent namedKhn'nr created to pose as the real Captain Marvel. However, despite his status, Marvel decided to fight against the invading Skrulls.^[28]

Iron Man told S.H.I.E.L.D.Agent David Sum, a member of Ms. Marvel's S.H.I.E.L.D. strike forceOperation Lightning Storm, about the coming invasion and stated that he believed Ms. Marvel was actually a Skrull agent.^[29]. A Skrull namedRl'nnd was found by Ms. Marvel in what she believed was an A.I.M. lair and attacked her, only to escape. Afterward, Ms. Marvel found the body ofWilliam Wagner, a man she had been dating.Agent Sum and the rest of Lightning Storm tried to capture Ms. Marvel under the impression that she was William's murderer.^[30] Eventually both Ms. Marvel and the Skrull impostor were captured by S.H.I.E.L.D. with Rl'nnd following in disguise. After Rl'nnd revealed himself, the Skrull Ms. Marvel told Ms. Marvel that Wagner was a Kree. She also had disguised herself as him to convince Ms. Marvel he was dead, and that he was still alive.^[31]

A Skrull posing as Daredevil met Echo outside of Matt Murdock's office. Echo saw through its disguise since the Skrull's weren't aware of Daredevil's current activities. With Wolverine's help, Echo repelled the Skrull.^[32]

The Invasion Begins[]

Iron Man called in two of the brightest minds on Earth:Doctor Reed Richards andDoctor Henry Pym to examine the body of theElektra-Skrull thatSpider-Woman brought to him. He knew it was just the beginning of an invasion.^[33]

Meanwhile,The Peak,S.W.O.R.D.'s headquarters, hosted a meeting between various world security agencies. As Commander Dugan arrived, a Skrull ship entered Earth's atmosphere and crashed in theSavage Land. Tony Stark got called in byAgent Brand, leaving Reed and Hank to examine the Skrull.

Iron Man ordered the Avengers to assemble, but only Spider-Woman was currently available. She contacted theNew Avengers and told them about the crashed Skrull ship.

The two Avenger teams met up in the Savage Land near the crashed ship, each side ready to fight. AsLuke Cage pried open the Skrull ship, S.W.O.R.D. was receiving live video feeds from Iron Man's armor. BothCommander Dugan andEdwin Jarvis, the Avenger Tower butler, upon seeing Cage pry open the ship, decided to take "action".

Commander Dugan set off an explosion that destroyed S.W.O.R.D. headquarters, saying "He Loves You" just before the blast. Jarvis had uploaded a virus into the Stark computer mainframe, saying "He Loves You" causing Iron Man's armor to malfunction and disable Tony Stark and infecting the entire Stark computer network with an alien virus from satellites to defense systems.Ms. Marvel called theHelicarrier, but no one responded.Commander Hill ordered everyone to abandon ship as the Helicarrier had lost all power and control, falling down toward a city.

The Raft, Ryker's Maximum-Maximum Security prison lost power, freeing every single villain that was being held there likeArmadillo,Answer,Doctor Doom,Mandrill, andShockwave. Similar events happened atThe Cube, where the wardenNoh-Varr decided it was time to go. TheThunderbolts headquarters, Thunderbolt Mountain, was simultaneously attacked byMar-Vell himself.

Meanwhile at theBaxter Building, a Skrull disguised as a tourist changed intoSusan Storm, entered the lab, and opened a gateway to theNegative Zone, again saying "He loves You", and creating a massive vacuum within the Baxter Building that began to engulf the building and the surroundings.

In the Savage Land, Iron Man slipped into a seizure as the Skrull ship opened, revealing its cargo:Beast,Thor,Spider-Man,Phoenix,Iron Man,Wonder Man,Scarlet Witch,Susan Storm,Captain America, Wolverine, Mockingbird,Power Man,Hawkeye,Emma Frost, and Jewel, claiming that they had made it back to Earth. "Wolverine", who emerged from the ship, asked the gathered Avengers who exactly they were.

In orbit, Agent Brand and her team were safe in stasis gel. She called for help only to realize that a massive Skrull invasion fleet had just arrived on Earth's doorstep.

At the lab, Reed realized how the Skrulls became undetectable and turned to tell Hank. Pym pulled out a laser weapon and shot Richards which destabilized him. As Hank transformed into a Skrull, he said "He Even Loves You".^[33]

Despite the urging of Ares that their confrontation was merely a distraction from the true battle, the assembled heroes from the ship and their counterparts on Earth began fighting, both sides convinced that their opponents were the Skrulls. In the ensuing battle, the Spider-Man and Hawkeye from the ship were both killed and reverted into Skrulls, while Mockingbird insisted she was not an impostor, as she and the real Clint Barton made a tearful reunion.^[34]

Mockingbird also stated that the Captain America from the ship may, in fact, be the genuine article. While Spider-Woman disappeared into the jungle and Earth's Ms. Marvel headed back to the States, Earth's Iron Man (still suffering from the Skrull virus) started to build himself a new suit from the wreckage of a nearby lab. Not being able to combat the power of theSentry the Skrulls decided the best way to deal with him was to make Reynolds have a psychotic episode.

WithSentry believing that a Skrull posing as the classic Vision told him, opted to stay out of the fight. TheVoid creating an equal and opposite reaction showed up battling Skrulls and saving Lindy Reynolds promising to do all that The Sentry wouldn't do.^[13] In Manhattan, meanwhile, the first wave of Super Skrull shock troops bearing the abilities of Earth's super-humans arrived, as witnessed by the Young Avengers^[34] and the Runaways.^[35]

The Invasion: Front Lines[]

Meanwhile, Britain was also attacked by a Skrull armada and a wave of empowered Super Skrulls. The Skrulls had infiltrated the ranks of the British government, though they were exposed byJohn the Skrull (a Skrull turncoat loyal to MI:13 and who had taken the form ofJohn Lennon). The Skrulls' target was theSiege Perilous. To protect this source of magicCaptain Britain attacked a Skrull missile head on, sacrificing himself.^[36]

Athena gathered all Earth gods to prepare a "God Squad" to fight the Skrull Gods.Hercules,Snowbird,Tecumotzin,Amatsu-Mikaboshi, andAtum the God Eater were chosen as the team. Mikaboshi later asked Hercules if his sister's eyes had always been green. This could be hinting that Athena was a Skrull and was trying to get rid of the heavy hitters.^[37]

While all this happened, Spider-Man confronted Ka-Zar and Shanna, accusing them of being Skrulls. However, they were attacked by the ship's Captain America. During the battle, the natives hit the ship's Captain America with a poisonous dart that caused him to regress to a Skrull. That Skrull was killed by Shanna. They did the same for Spider-Man only to find out that he was not a Skrull. Wonder Man and the ship's Beast ended up trapped underground. They managed to get near the exit, but the ship's Beast left Wonder Man there.^[10]

During the evacuation of Helicarrier, the Jarvis Impersonator confronted Maria Hill about surrendering to the Skrulls.^[38]

InTimes Square the Young Avengers tried their best to battle the invading forces.Vision realizing that communications were down suggested thatHulkling being Skrull royalty calm the situation but to no avail. After losingWiccan and Hulkling to unconsciousness theCamp Hammond Staff and Trainees arrived. This did not change the tide of the battle (afterStature and Proton lost consciousness and Vision got destroyed) untilNick Fury and his newHowling Commandos arrived.

Spider-Woman then attacked and knocked out Echo all but solidifying that Jessica Drew had been replaced. After the scuffle the impostor found Stark and congratulated him calling him her lover Kr'Ali and confirming that she was the Skrull Queen.^[38]

During the battle in New York, theRunaways returned from their trip to 1907 to land in the middle of the fight.Xavin, the team's Skrull, knocked out the team and appeared to betray them. After realizing that Hulkling was going to be executed by the Skrulls, Xavin intervened and saved him.^[35]

Khn'nr fought and defeated most of theThunderbolts.Norman Osborn offered him a chance to explain himself, speaking with him in private.^[39]

"Longshot" had met up withDarwin some time after the events ofMessiah Complex and attempted to lead him toProfessor Xavier, due to the fact that Darwin wished to help the Professor. During that time, Longshot stated that his powers were failing him recently, and proceeded to test them and himself on some people, causing those people to turn on Darwin. After Darwin escaped, the crowd attacked Longshot, but he managed to mysteriously get away. He reappeared in an alleyway, unaware he was being tracked by the originalSuper-Skrulls daughterJazinda. He then revealed himself to be a Skrull named Nogor and went to meet up with Darwin as they moved throughDetroit. Later, they were attacked by Jazinda andShe-Hulk.^[40] Darwin "evolved" to the point where he recognized Nogor as a Skrull and defeated him. Nogor was later taken into custody by She-Hulk and Jazinda.^[41]

Delroy Garrett, the3-D Man, arrived inHawaii and was greeted by hisPoint Men team membersStar Sign andPaydirt. He encounteredDevil-Slayer on the way to the base, who stated that he had sensed portents of doom all day. When he met the final team memberMagnitude, the goggles Delroy obtained from the original 3-D Man allowed him to identify Magnitude as a Skrull impostor. The Skrull attacked and severely wounded Star Sign and Paydirt, but Delroy killed the Skrull with a sword magically summoned by Devil-Slayer. Devil Slayer used hisShadow Cloak to teleport Delroy to Camp Hammond, where he announced to everyone assembled that the Initiative had been infiltrated by Skrulls.Crusader (fearing that he would be exposed as a Skrull) used the Freedom Ring. This caused 3-D Man's goggles to make him see everyone surrounding him as a Skrull. Crusader told Delroy Garrett to take his leave. However, Delroy's Quinjet was affected by the same computer virus and it crashed in New Mexico.^[42]

Whilst all of this was happening,Reed Richards was revealed to be held by Skrull forces up in Earth's orbit on an unidentified armada ship, stretched to his physical limits and surrounded by a crowd of Skrull watchers and scientists, helpless against the threats and torture. Agent Abigail Brand of S.W.O.R.D. managed to break through the exterior of another ship and made it into one of the central control rooms, seeing the images of the invasion, death, and destruction the Skrulls were making on Earth, as well as the torture of Mr. Fantastic. A Skrull guard and a youngster found and pointed a gun at her. The Sentry was up in orbit, still being tormented by the false words of the Skrull Void impostor and was unable to help.^[43][44]

Down in the chaotic battle in Manhattan, Nick Fury and the new Howling Commandos showed promises of turning the tide; Ms. Marvel, after being heavily blasted by a group of Skrull soldiers ended up rising in the middle of Fury and his group in Times Square as they fought, shocked by the return of the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. leader. As they quickly headed into the fray,Yo-Yo, the team's speedster, managed to rescue all the downed Young Avengers and Initiative cadets before further execution and casualties. Ms. Marvel proceeded to help, but soon after was shot by Fury, who was unconvinced she was the real Carol Danvers. After being shot back into another street, the Skrull onlookers, led by "Hank Pym" quickly overran her. Fury then called his team to retreat so that they could plan their next move.^[44]

Watching the battle via news broadcast on live television, theHood decided to take hisrebuilt empire of the New York City criminal roster and battle the Skrulls, as "no more Earth is bad for business". In the Bermuda Triangle, Jarvis tried to get Maria Hill to surrender, but Maria refused and said it was still her ship, but the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with her turned into Skrulls. Back in the Savage Land, Spider-Woman continued to persuade Tony into believing he was a Skrull sleeper agent named Kl'Riki Dulu, and that she would find a way to turn him back to his original form and praised him as the greatest Skrull Warrior to ever live.Black Widow was revealed to be watching the conversation, and proceeded to enter and shoot Spider-Woman. She was temporarily distracted by the Beast and Phoenix heroes from the Skrull ship, who she in turn, opened fire on and killed. Spider-Woman had enough time to escape, and Natasha injected Tony with a dose of adrenaline to keep him going. She convinced him to continue the fight, despite the words of the Skrull Spider-Woman and the possibility of him being a sleeper. Wolverine entered (after being shot by Black Widow and being forced to confirm his true identity through the codeword, "Carrot Sticks") and the trio concluded that Tony had to rebuild the armor quick, and return to New York as soon as possible.^[44]

Meanwhile, after the God Squad was forced to experience their worst fears byNightmare, Snowbird and Hercules made love after she confessed to him that she didn't want to be alone anymore. Later, it was discovered that the Skrull in the group wasKirby the Coyote Pup (who had been with them since the end ofWorld War Hulk) revealed itself and was quickly dispatched by Atum. The issue ended with an impending battle between gods Hercules andKly'bn, the 'he' mentioned in the phrase "He loves you". However, Hercules won the battle after stabbing Kly'bn, giving the Skrulls a huge upset in their war campaign.^[45]

Resistance[]

As the Skrulls comfortably settled inPortland,Oregon, enslaving the population, the Skrulls repeatedly announced that any attempt at resistance would be met with extreme force.Gorilla Man andM-11, disguised as slaves, attacked the Skrulls, freeingNamora who had been captured. The trio captured the regional Skrull commander, taking only his head, bringing it to their underwater saucer whereRobert Grayson andVenus were waiting. They extracted military secrets from the severed head just as they were attacked. TheAgents of Atlas repelled the attack, liberated Portland, set a course forSeattle to secure that city, then intended on securing the country before moving toJapan, but they questioned who they could trust.^[43]

Norman Osborn talked the Skrull-Captain Marvel out of destroying the Thunderbolts, sending him away in anguish. He then declared to U.S. troops that they were at war.^[46][47]

Nick Fury arrived with the Initiative cadets, his new Howling Commandos, and the Young Avengers at his new command post. The Vision survived his attempted murder by the Skrulls, but remained rather disfigured/damaged. He awaited with his team for the Skrulls to announced their plans for Earth and they did. Using generated images of various leaders and pop culture icons includingMagneto,Pope Benedict XVI,Barack Obama,Tom Cruise,John McCain,Eric Cartman,Tony Stark,Namor,Oprah,Doctor Doom,Kim Jong-Il, and others, the Skrulls announced that they intended on assimilating all humans into their culture and way of life, declaring Earth part of the Skrull empire. The only way for the human race to save their planet was to assimilate.^[47]

Meanwhile in space, Agent Brand successfully infiltrated the Skrull ship holding Mr. Fantastic captive where she battled the Skrulls experimenting on them, either killing or disabling them and freeing Dr. Richards. Frustrated, she decompressed the ship, throwing every Skrull out into space. Richards panicked, threatening Brand, demanding the location of his family, believing that she was a Skrull. He revealed that the Skrulls needed him alive to assist in the invasion. Richards tested Brand to prove she was not a Skrull as the ship they had commandeered came under attack. Out of nowhere, Captain Marvel, with a new sense of purpose, engaged and destroyed a large portion of the Skrull fleet. Brand then took the ship and Richards to the Savage Land.^[47]

Back on the Shield Helicarrier, Director Hill revealing to "Jarvis" and the Skrull insurgents that she was using a life model decoy as Fury had suggested to her many months ago. The Skrulls killed the duplicate and Hill on a jet-pack, opened fire on the Skrulls and then self-destructed the carrier.

The various superheroes, Savage Land leaders, and Skrull (or not) impersonators clashed again, about ready to fight. Each one declaring who they were or who they believed themselves to be. Emma Frost stated she could detect who was a Skrull and who was not, accusing Spider-Man of being an impostor. Susan Storm stated she would keep everyone in place with a force field until all was settled. Richards fired into the center of the crowd of super heroes with an odd weapon. When tech dust and brightness receded, the Skrulls and humans were revealed and a battle ensued. Ronin discovered his Mockingbird was a Skrull, grabbed one of Black Widow's guns, and killed her in anger. The Skrull impostors were surprised when their skin turned green and became surprised and disoriented, making them easier to take down by the real super heroes. Ronin, angry and frustrated at the realization his wife was an impostor, declared that every last Skrull must be killed.^[48]

The invasion reachedSan Francisco, new home of theX-Men. Believing the city to be virtually defenseless except for local police, they launched a small scale attack to cause enough damage to instill fear. However, their ground teams encountered unexpected superhuman resistance: each and everyone of the X-Men that were still active. The X-Men launched a counter strike, defending civilians and evacuating badly attacked buildings. The Skrulls were shocked to find the X-Men in San Francisco especially when they took over their command shuttle. As the X-men made a successful gain, the Skrulls launched their super soldiers into the city from an orbiting ship.^[49]

While inWakanda,Brother Voodoo revealed himself to be a Skrull when he attempted to killCannibal, whom he deemed to be a threat. However, the two killed each other in the struggle and the discovery of 'Brother Voodoo's' true form revealed the Skrull invasion toBlack Panther|, allowing him time to prepare.^[50] As many Wakandan warriors died, Black Panther successfully fought off a very intimidating Super-Skrull only to be temporarily defeated by two Skrull subversives within his ranks.^[51] The Skrulls tortured a captured Black Panther and Storm only to figure out they were really the Skrull subversives made to look like King T'Challa andQueen Ororo. Just as the real Black Panther and Storm killedCommander K'vvvr, he sent the entire ship loaded with the corpses of the entire Skrull invasion force back to the Skrull homeworld with a message written in blood saying "This is what happens when you invade Wakanda".^[52]

Trapped in theNegative Zone,Johnny Storm,The Thing,Franklin andValeria Richards, and Lyja turned toPrison 42 to get help to rebuild the destroyed portal generator in order to return to Earth and help repel the invasion. The one they turned to wasPhineas Mason, known as theTinkerer. He told the Fantastic Four that he was forcefully imprisoned even after retiring from super-villain work, revealing that the unregistered super-humans did not receive a fair trial. The Tinkerer then refused to help, but after Franklin pleaded with the man, Tinkerer complied with the child's desire to return to his family. They successfully returned toto the battleground that was New York City, with Lyja staying behind.^[16]

OnAttilan,Medusa received news thatBlack Bolt had been replaced by aSkrull. She tried to getMaximus to take action against the Skrulls, but he refused.^[53] WhenAhura was revealed to have been replaced by a Skrull, Maximus defeated him as the Skrulls began their invasion upon Attilan.^[54] Medusa headed into space to try and getRonan the Accuser to aid them in finding the Skrull ship that had Black Bolt on it. Ronan agreed under the condition thatCrystal became his bride.^[55]

AtAsgard,Thor had just rescuedBeta Ray Bill (who was lacking his hammerStormbreaker) after he escaped from the Skrulls. With theAsgardians thinking Beta Ray Bill was a Skrull, they plotted to attack him while he was recuperating only to be stopped by Thor. Thor proved Beta Ray Bill wasn't a Skrull by throwingMjolnir at Beta Ray Bill who caught it, proving he was not a Skrull by being able to lift the hammer. Beta Ray Bill, healed by holding Mjolnir, joined Thor in his fight against the Skrulls as some of them attacked Asgard.^[56] During the fight with the invading Skrulls, Beta Ray Bill encountered a specially-bred Super-Skrull called a Godkiller who was wielding Stormbreaker.^[57] After tricking the Godkiller, Beta Ray Bill reclaimed Stormbreaker (which was quickly reassembled after breaking) and assisted Thor by tricking the Godkiller into going under Asgard. Thor and Beta Ray Bill then killed Godkiller by dropping Asgard on her.^[58]

3-D Man, crashed his stolen Quinjet after all Starktech went offline, and was discovered byShe-Thing, a member of the Initiative. 3-D Man instantly saw she was a Skrull, but before she could strike a blow, she was killed by theSkrull Kill Krew. The Skrull Kill Krew then recruited Delroy and approachedArizona'sDesert Stars, determiningBlacksmith (Skrull) (Earth-616) to be an impostor. After a brief battle, the Krew planned on going toLas Vegas.^[59] TheShadow Initiative stayed at Camp Hammond while most others at Camp Hammond went to fight the Skrulls in New York. Later the Skrull used Camp Hammond as base which Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady) found out because he stayed behind. Then with the help of Ant-Man, the Shadow Initiative tried to eliminate the Skrull Queen Veranke, but they lost the fight against the Skrulls and were all captured (except Ant-Man).^[60]

Norman Osborn and his Thunderbolts launched a counter-attack on the force invadingWashington, D.C. There,Songbird was attacked by a Super-Skrull combining the powers ofAtlas and herself.Venom andBullseye went rogue, Norman andPenance were psychologically attacked, andMoonstone betrayed the team by shootingSwordsman and seemingly bargained her allegiance to the Skrulls.^[46] They managed to vanquish their Skrull opponents.^[61]

TheNew Warriors were enjoying a day off when the Skrulls' Invasion occurred. Back at their headquarters,Donyell Taylor suspected that theNight Thrasher who was killed inStamford was really a Skrull and wanted to find proof about the remains of his brother Dwayne. Donyell decided to go on his own; but his teammates secretly followed him and later confronted him to find out what going on, when the former New Warriors who were now known asCounter Force, also wanted to know what was the reason the Warriors reformed without some of the founding members. After Donyell revealed his true identity and his reasons to both the former and current Warriors,Justice led all of them to a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier where their teammates remains were stored. Both teams were attacked by the Skrulls and the Warriors fought off a Super-Skrull possessing the founding Warriors' powers.^[62] During the battle; Donyell confirmed that the remains were authenticated and had them removed from the carrier for burial.^[63]

At theDB!,Jackpot was slandered byDexter Bennett. When she arrived at the DB, she was attacked by a Super-Skrull inSpider-Man's form searching for the true wall-crawler. After her refusal, the Skrull changed from Spider-Man form to a composite form showing the powers and the abilities of theSinister Six.^[64] Jackpot battled her Skrull opponent long enough forBetty Brant, Dexter Bennett,Robbie Robertson andVin Gonzales to escape the building. While Robbie drove, Jackpot battled the Super-Skrull on the roof of the car until she was attacked byMenace who killed one of the invading Skrulls and considered Jackpot to be "Spider-Man's Girlfriend."^[65] Their fight took him into the path of one of the Skrulls, with Menace's glider exploding on contact. Menace survived, though badly injured, and limped away from the scene. Jackpot killed the Sinister Six-Skrull by trapping it in a freezer where it froze to death.^[66]

As Hood's syndicate was attacking the Skrulls, it was revealed that they had known there were Skrulls in hiding as Skrull agents had tried to replaceMadame Masque but failed. When advised to use his magic to scan the villains present, Hood discovered thatSlug had been replaced by a Skrull and killed him.^[67]

Punisher got involved in the fight against the Skrulls and easily killed the non-powered ground troops he came across.^[68] In the midst of the invasion,Stuart Clarke learned that the Punisher had killed hisgirlfriend and the Punisher learned that Stuart Clarke killed a cop. This led to Punisher and Stuart Clarke battling each other. The battle was concluded by both being trapped in a room where the Skrulls fired a rocket into, leaving Stuart heavily scarred (in a manner similar toJigsaw) and vowing revenge on Frank Castle.^[69]

While flying away, Noh-Varr came across a damaged Skrull ship. He landed to check it out when Captain Marvel stumbled out. Before he died, Captain Marvel begged Noh-Varr to stop the invasion but Noh-Varr said this wasn't his world. Captain Marvel said it didn't matter and he was here for a reason. He had learned so much from Earth's people and the Skrulls had no honor like the humans or the Kree. Elsewhere, the Skrulls restored the global communication systems and announced their plans. Using the restored systems, they explained the Skrull Invasion with the following talking points:

• They only wanted to improve Earth's culture and add to it, not kill anyone.
• They had attacked organizations like the Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Fantastic Four because they stood in the way of their progress as a society.
• They were part of their problems and they wished to change that.^[48]

After Fury and his Commandos moved on, the view shifted to innocent civilians evading Skrull forces in Central Park. As they were about to be killed by some Skrull soldiers, a blast of lightning struck and killed one. As the civilians look through the light and destruction, the shadowy figure of what appeared to beThor in the New York City sky was seen. Another mysterious figure was shown watching the event from another location with a pair of binoculars; the figure then proceeded to move from his position, and suddenly the shield and costume ofCaptain America was seen.^[48]

Queen Veranke arrived at Camp Hammond while the Avengers headed to New York only to find it burning. Down on the street a group of people wanted to welcome the Skrulls, but were caught between the battle between the Skrulls and Nick Fury and his troops. The Hood and his syndicate of criminals decided to finally help out. Thor made his presence known and met up with the new Captain America. The New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Nick Fury & his commandos, the Young Avengers, the Initiative, the Hood's crew, Thor, the new Captain America,Howard the Duck and the Thunderbolts all assembled. Queen Veranke revealed that "He" was theirGod, and it was an all out war between the Skrulls and the super-humans of Earth.^[48]

The Skrulls had moved quickly to takeNova Prime out of the equation before he could return home and help defend his own planet. Luring Nova into an ambush on a remote planet under the ruse of an isolatedPhalanx infestation, a group of Super-Skrulls launched an ambush. In the battle, one of the Super-Skrulls turned on his fellows, revealing himself to beKl'rt, Nova's ally from theAnnihilation War. Together, Nova and the original Super-Skrull defeated the attackers and traveled by stargate directly to Earth where Nova intended to assist in repelling the invasion. Upon their arrival, however, Kl'rt attacked Rider declaring his loyalties to the Skrull Empire. His attack on Nova revealed to be a charade, as Kl'rt shielded Nova from the view of the Skrull invasion fleet, allowing Rider to return to his home world undetected.^[70] However where his true loyalties lie remained to be seen as while he helped Nova, he later targeted his own daughter Jazinda and fought She-Hulk at the same time. Yet while he defeated both women, he found he couldn't kill Jazinda and left.^[71]

The Skrull Kill Krew and their Initiative allies moved on to other Initiative bases, killing the Skrull impostors. Delroy Garret's goggles also identifiedEquinox as a Skrull who was then killed byCloud 9, while they added Cloud 9 andGravity to their group. The Skrulls then sent a broadcast throughout the Initiative bases, telling their sleeper agents to activate themselves, which sowed even more distrust among the remaining heroes. While inPhiladelphia, theRevolutionary was revealed as a Skrull and defeated by Gravity andHope. When they came across a fight betweenThor Girl andUltragirl, Delroy's goggles identified Thor Girl as a Skrull. With help from Gravity, Delroy used Thor Girl's own replicahammer to kill the Skrull impostor. Ant-Man managed to escape the Skrulls on the back of a Shock Trooper, and revealed to the Kill Crew the Skrulls' last resort plan; to use all the Initiative bases to create a massive Negative Zone portal that would take the entire country. With six bases left, the Crew split up, and used the still-living heads of Kill Krew members,Moonstomp,Catwalk andDice, to help point out Skrulls. Devil-Slayer teleported them to the bases, but collapsed under the strain.^[15]

Despite the vast number of super-humans involved in the fight, briefly reunited under a single purpose again, the battle was still locked in a stand-still, until theWatcherUatu appeared, signaling that an event of cosmic relevance was unfolding, and the resolution of the obstacles was near. As Tony Stark was forced to retire because of damages received on his rebuilt armor,Jessica Jones and Noh-Varr took his place on the battlefield. The presence of Noh-Varr, claiming his victory in name of Mar-Vell and the Kree, was enough to give the assembled heroes back their resolve. Clint Barton, using the bow and the trick arrows of the woundedHawkeye (Kate Bishop), slayed several Super-Skrulls before hitting a clear shot on Queen Veranke.Criti Noll got up long enough to activate the new growth serum in theWasp which had been given to her by the originalCriti when she still thought he wasHank Pym, turning her into an explosive trap. The Skrull Jarvis, while holding Jessica andLuke Cage'sdaughter, watched from Avengers Tower as the energy washed over hero, villain, and Skrull alike, commenting to the child that it didn't matter if the Skrulls won or lost, so long as "God's" will was done.^[72]

The Initiative members combated their Skrull opponents who had received their mission to activate themselves to start distrust amongst the teams. At theBattalion's HQ,Tigra), Ryder, and Cloud 9 fought a Skrull posing asRazorback.Harball and Moonstomp helpedAction Pack fight a Skrull posing asFrog-Man. Gravity and Catwalk helped theGreat Lakes Initiative fight a Skrull posing asGrasshopper.Komodo and Riot helped theCommand fight a Skrull posing asConquistador (who transformed into a Skrull version ofDevil Dinosaur). Dice andJocasta fought their way through activists to get to the Skrull posing asSkyhawk who succeeded in his part of the mission. Delroy Garrett and Ant-Man joined theRangers in fighting a Skrull that posed asRed Wolf's wolf companionLobo. After it was shot byShooting Star, a crowd uprising occurred when Delroy's goggles identified some of the crowd members as Skrulls. Delroy's goggles were hit by a thrown rock giving Delroy's allies a hard time figuring out who was a Skrull and who wasn't. During the struggle, Delroy discovered that he could see who was a Skrull without his goggles. This turned the tides against those Skrulls disguised as crowd members. During the fights across the USA, the speedstersSpinner andWhiz Kid both apparently died in various fights. At the final fight at Camp Hammond, Crusader killed Criti Noll and then 3-D Man shot Crusader (who hid his Skrull heritage from the others), but was fighting for Earth. Before his body disappeared, Crusader stated that it could have ended differently.^[73]

• At thefirst stages of the Invasion, that situation was stated to be anOmega Level Threat byGauntlet,^[42] and the global failure of Stark Tech was considered as well as an Omega Level Threat byIron Man in his pre-recorded message.^[59][75]

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