Avengers: The Initiative #14

Jul 13

Jul 13 Avengers: The Initiative #14

We Have Met the Enemy, and They are Us!

Secret Invasion continues from Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #1…

A Few Months Ago…

The President of the United States was being threatened in Texas by the terrorist organization known as Hydra. When the Initiative interfered with their plans, the group attempted to crash their terror carrier into the President’s vacation home. That’s when Yellowjacket (Hank Pym) grew to giant size and diverted the craft in order to cause it to save lives.

What nobody suspects is that Hank Pym has actually been replaced by a Skrull named Criti Noll. Knowing that Pym couldn’t survive an explosion, Criti uses their Super Skrull abilities in secret to survive the blast. Later, when being congratulated by the President, “Yellowjacket” makes up a story about shrinking to sub-atomic size to ride out the shockwave of the exploding ship.[1]

In the inventing time, Criti Noll attempted to manipulate the Initiative to suit the Skrulls invasion plans for Earth. However, this involved dealing with the likes of Henry Gyrich and Baron Von Blitzschlag. To his frustration, “Pym” is overruled over the decisions to de-power Armory,[2] and creating clones of Michael Van Patrick.[2] Still, Criti Noll has been taking advantage of the 50-State Initiative that has overseen the creation of superhero teams in every American state. Through this, Criti Noll has been planting other Skrull spies on every team that is created through the Initiative.[3] Two weeks ago, Criti Noll had another brush with death when KIA went on a rampage, but cheated his own demise by once again using his Super-Skrull abilities.[4]

Now

“Yellowjacket” is once more using the “I shrunk to sub-atomic size” excuse to explain his survival to Tigra (Greer Grant), while they are in the commissary. When Greer talks about how lucky “Hank” has been, he secretly wonders if she might be onto him. They are joined in the food line by new recruits Crusader (Aubrey Thompson), Batwing (Jimmy Santini), and Diamondback (Rachel Leighton). What nobody knows — not even the Skrull invaders — is that Crusader is a Skrull named Z’Reg posing as a human.[5] Missing the taste of T’Manja berries, Z’Reg adds sliced pickles to a bowl of strawberries as this is the closest approximation to the taste. That’s when he notices that “Yellowjacket” has prepared the same thing and is shocked.

That’s when “Pym” notices that Crusader is looking intently at his dinner tray and asks what’s wrong. Fearing that “Yellowjacket” might be a Skrull who can identify him, Crusader says its nothing and turns away briefly so he can use his Freedom Ring to transmute his pickles and strawberries into grape fruit, thus evading detection. “Yellowjacket” and Tigra dismiss Crusader’s strange behavior as nervousness over their status as Avengers.

Meanwhile, 3-D Man (Delroy Garret, Jr.) is en route to Hawaii where he is to lead the newest Initiative Team, the Point Men. Along with him on a the trip is a graduation gift from Chuck and Hal Chandler that was given to him when he graduated from the Initaitive.[6] Deciding to open the gift now, he is shocked to discover it is the original flight suit and and goggles worn by Chuck when he was first bombarded with the tri-force energy. Although he has his own 3-D Man costume, Delroy decides to wear the goggles to honor his predecessors. When his plane lands at Point Men Hydro-Base headquarters he is greeted by his new teammates Star Sign and Paydirt. While given a tour of the facilities he is also introduced to Devil-Slayer (Eric Payne) who is standoffish because he senses portent of doom. Entering the facility, they summon Magnitude, the last member of the team. However, when he comes in to greet 3-D Man, Delroy sees right throug his disguise — thanks to the Chandler goggles — and discovers that Magnitude is a Skrull. With his cover blown, “Magnitude” attacks his teammates.

Back at Camp Hammond, the Crusader has become increasingly concerned that there might be Skrulls on base that he books an appointment to see Trauma (Terrance Ward), the base councilor. However, when Terrance is done with his current patient, Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady), Crusader abruptly decides against the session saying that he forgot about a physio appointment for his hand.[7] This leaves Terrance wondering what Crusader might be afraid of.

At that moment, 3-D Man and his new teammates clash with the Skrull hiding in their midst. This proves to be a challenge as he is a Super-Skrull with the powers of the mutants Havok, Polaris, Sunfire, and Banshee at its disposal. When Devil-Slayer is drawn in by the sounds of battle, Eric tells Delroy to reach into his cape as it has access to many mystical weapons. 3-D Man pulls out two mystic katana blades. However, before he can use them, “Magnitude” unleashes a powerful explosion and seemingly flees. In reality, he has taken on the appearance of Devil-Slayer in order to ambush Delroy, forgetting that he is wearing goggles that reveal Skrulls no matter what disguise they are wearing. Delroy lets the Skrull to get close enough to him to slay the alien invader.

In the aftermath of the battle, 3-D Man tries to warn the Initiative, but “Magnitude” had unleashed an electro-magnetic pulse that fried the Point Man’s communications systems. With the Negative Zone portal down, Devil-Slayer can teleport Delroy to Camp Hammond through his cloak. However, Eric will follow after him as soon as possible after getting Star Sign and Paydirt to a hospital for their injuries.

When Delroy arrives and tries to warn everyone that they have been infiltrated by the Skrulls, Crusader fears that he might be found out before he can tell everyone he isn’t one of the invaders. In order to prevent 3-D Man from exposing him, Crusader uses his Freedom Ring to affect his goggles, making everyone look like a Skrull!

… Secret Invasion continues in Mighty Avengers #15.

Recurring Characters

Initiative staff: “Yellowjacket”, Trauma, Tigra, Constrictor, Gauntlet, Hellcat, Stingray, Taskmaster, (in flashback) Henry Gyrich, Baron Von Blitzschlag

Trainees: Ant-Man, Batwing, Bengal, Crusader, Diamondback, Gargoyle, Geiger, Prodigy, Proton, Red-9, Stature, Sunstreak, (in flashback) Cloud 9, Hardball, Komodo, Ultragirl

Point Men (3-D Man, Devil-Slayer, Star Sign, Paydirt, “Magnitude”), Debrii, SHIELD, (in flashback) Hydra, “Revolutionary”, Chuck Chandler, Hal Chandler

Continuity Notes

This flashback took place during Avengers: The Initiative #2. When Pym was replaced by a Skrull is revealed in Mighty Avengers #15. This story takes place during Secret Invasion #1-8 and various crossover issues (See below).
Armory was de-powered after accidentally killing MVP in Avengers: The Initiative #1. As explained in issue #7, Blitzschlag began cloning MVP, the first of three were first seen in issue #3.
We saw this plot to infiltrate the 50-State Initiative in Avengers: The Initiative Annual #1.
KIA, an insane clone of MVP, went on a rampage in Avengers: The Initiative #8-11.
Z’Reg came to Earth to live as a human and is not part of the Skrull invasion plot. For more on his altruistic mission on Earth, see Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #20-25.
We get some backstory on the new 3-D man here. Let me break it down for you:
- The original 3-D Man was the combined form of Hal and Chuck Chandler after they were bombarded with strange radiation from a Skrull device back in the 1950s. See Marvel Premiere #35.
- In modern times, Delroy is a disgraced Olympic athlete who got caught up in a doping scandal, this was revealed in Avengers (vol. 3) #8. Seeking new purpose he joined the Triune Understanding where he was exposed to a similar energy source and became the hero Triathlon.
- The connections between both 3-D Men was explained in Avengers (vol. 3) #50. When the Chandlers were separated in issue #55, Hal was a middle aged man while Chuck was the same age he was when they were first merged together. How Hal can still be alive in the Modern Age is due to the 3-D Man process slowing his aging process as explained in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12.
Crusader’s hand was amputated batting KIA in Avengers: The Initiative #9. It was surgically reattached in issue #12.

Topical References

While worrying about possible Skrull infiltrators, Crusader worries that by raising the alarm he’ll be found out and laments they they will call in Mulder and Scully to do the autopsy. This a reference to the X-Files a science fiction series that originally ran from 1993 to 2002. It spawned two feature films (in 1998 and 2008 respectively) and a brief revival from 2016-2018. It followed FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigated cases of the paranormal. The series focus was on an ongoing conspiracy involving alien abductions. While a reference like this would usually be considered topical, it would not in this case now that Disney owns both Marvel and the X-Files franchises. As such this would now become an instance of brand synergy.