Avengers: The Initiative #16

Jul 13

Jul 13 Avengers: The Initiative #16

Skrull-$%#@ers!

Secret Invasion continues from Nova (vol. 4) #16…

The Earth is under invasion from the Skrulls. Believing the Initiative have been compromised, 3-D Man (Delroy Garret, Jr.) headed to Arizona to find Hal and Chuck Chandler, who have had a past history with the aliens. However, en route to their location a Skrull computer virus shut down his Quinjet causing him to crash land in the New Mexico desert.[1]

The first responder on the scene is She-Thing (Sharon Ventura), a member of the local Initiative team known as the Mavricks. Little does she know that she is being observed by two others from behind. When Sharon investigates the crash, 3-D Man calls out for her help since he is pinned under wreckage. When Ventura does as told and Delroy gets a good look at her, his goggles reveal that she has been replaced by a Skrull. However, before the Skrull spy can kill him, someone fatally shoots her from behind.

His two saviors are gun toting Ryder and the creature woman known as Riot of the Skrull Kill Krew, a group dedicated to wiping out Skrulls on Earth. They are happy to hear that Delroy has the ability to see through Skrull disguises because this new breed are harder to detect and more powerful than any they have faced before. They also don’t really know who they can trust anymore, but 3-D Man knows where they can go and agrees to take them there if they behave themselves.

Meanwhile, back at Camp Hammond, the alien virus has shut down the facility. Trauma (Terrence Ward) and Physique go looking for information on what’s going on. In the lab, they find Baron Von Blitzschlag using his electrical powers to recharge War Machine. His armor has not been effected by the Skrull computer virus because it was built using absolete Stanetech.[2] They all head outside where they find Yellowjacket and a team of SHIELD agents locking the place down. Unaware that Yellowjacket was replaced with a Skrull, War Macine is about to explain how his armor is still running when he gets a secret recorded message from Iron Man (Tony Stark).[3] It tells Jim that if he hears this, he is dead and needs Rhodes to avenge him. The message instructs him to tell nobody anything and head to a set of coordinates. Jim follows these orders without question, annoying “Hank” when he says his mission is on a need-to-know basis.[4] With War Machine gone, “Yellowjacket” orders Trauma, Physique, and Blitzschlag to get the infirmary back up and running.

Once they are gone, the Skrulls posing as SHIELD agents ask what they should do next, dropping their disguises in the process. He orders them to report this back to Skrull command so they can figure out how to deal with Rhodes. Little do they know, the cowardly Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) is sneaking around at ant-size and overhears the whole conversation!

By this time, 3-D Man, Ryder, and Riot have arrived at the home of Hal and Peggy Chandler. There they speak with Hal and his brother Chuck about the Skrull invasion of Earth that is currently happening. This lead to Hal and Chuck telling Ryder and Riot how they became thew original 3-D Man int he 1950s. It happened when Chuck was test piloting a new plane for the military and was bombarded with an alien crystal before he crash landed. When his brother Hal came to rescue his brother, Chuck ended up imprinted onto his glasses, divided into the red and green spectrums. Hal could then project his brother as the 3-D Man whenever there was danger. They had the innate ability to see through Skrull disguises and defended Earth from the alien menace during the Cold War.[5] Delroy then explains that he got his own similar powers by being exposed to the same Tri-Force crystal that gave the Chandlers their powers during his time as a member of the Triune Understanding.[6]

They then ask about Ryder and Riot’s origins and they talk about the Fantastic Four’s first encounter with the Skrulls and how their leader Reed Richards hypnotized the Skrulls into thinking they were cows in order to imprison them on Earth. These cows ended up into the food supply and slaughtered like normal cows. Ryder and Riot had the unfortunate luck of eating some of these Skrull tainted burgers and gained super-powers. They and their friends (others tainted by Skrull meat) dedicated their lives to wiping the Skrulls out as the Skrull Kill Krew.[7] However, despite their fantastic abilities, Ryder and his friends have started getting sick, already claiming their friends Moonstomp, Dice, and Catwalk and is why Riot is stuck in her alien form. Ryder then tosses the severed head of the Skrull they just killed, explaining that whenever they eat more Skrull meat they also are capable of seeing through their disguises. Delroy is understandably disgusted by this, but Ryder doesn’t offer any apologies since they are at war.

In Times Square, the Initiative had been deployed to stop the Skrull invasion there. Unfortunately, the raw recruits were no match for the alien horde. Now Crusader (Z’Reg, a Skrull himself that learned to love the Earth)[8] watches in horror as his comrades are being prepared for execution. His fellow recruit Gandolf — aka Proton — is the first to die.[9] When all seems lost, Nick Fury and his Secret Warriors — Quake (Daisy Johnson, Druid (Sebastian Druid), Hellfire (J.T. Slade), Phobos (Alex Aaron), Slingshot (Yo-Yo Rodriguez), and Stonewall (Jerry Sledge) — arrive to turn the tide of battle. Crusader is spotted by Fury, who heard about him through Captain America and orders him to get on his feet and join the fight. This reinvigorates Crusader in his decision to side with Earth and he rejoins the battle.

Later, in Phoenix, Arizona, the Desert Stars — Blacksmith, Johnny Cool, Komodo (Melati Kusama), Supermax, and the Two-Gun Kid (Matt Hawk) — are helping locals recover after the city infrastructure has been shut down.[10] As they work, they are observed by 3-D Man and the Skrull Kill Krew to determine if there are any Skrulls among their ranks. Sure enough, they identify Blacksmith of being a Skrull impostor. Charging at Blacksmith on a motorcycles armed with gatling guns, the open fire in the hopes of mowing the Skrull down. At first, the Desert Stars are confused by what’s happening until Blacksmith drops his disguise, assuming the the power sets of Beta Ray Bill and Captain America to defend himself. Quickly putting two-and-two together, the Desert Stars join the Skrull Kill Krew in trying to put down the spy in their midst. “Blacksmith” makes the mistake of grabbing Komodo and using her as a human shield. 3-D Man knows that she has regenerative powers and shoots through her chest to hit the Skrull, incapacitating him.

With the battle over, Riot implants a Skrull torture device in “Blacksmith’s” chest and demands to know everything about the Skrull’s infiltration of the Initiative. However, the alien is more than happy to tell them that they have planted a spy among every active team in the 50-State Initiative as part of their invasion plans for Earth. Having got the information they need, Riot then kills their prisoner. As 3-D Man and his new compatriots begin gearing up for their next stop, Komodo insists on tagging along so she can save her boyfriend, Hardball (Roger Brockridge).[11]

While back at Camp Hammond, “Yellowjacket” greets the arriving V’Lrym of the Skrull armada. He tells the arriving official that Camp Hammond will be their central base of operations and later, the heart of the new Skrull empire. This is all witnessed by Ant-Man, who wonders what he should do next.

… Secret Invasion continues in Mighty Avengers #17.

Recurring Characters

Initiative staff: “Yellowjacket”, War Machine, Trauma, Physique, Baron Von Blitzschlag, Gauntlet

Trainees: Annex, Ant-Man, Batwing, Crusader, Proton

Skrull Kill Krew (Ryder, Riot, 3-D Man), “She-Thing”, Desert Stars (“Blacksmith”, Johnny Cool, Komodo, Supermax, Two-Gun Kid), Hal Chandler, Chuck Chandler, Peggy Chandler, Vision, Iron Man, Secret Warriors (Nick Fury, Quake, Druid, Hellfire, Phobos, Slingshot)

Continuity Notes

This story takes place during the events of Secret Invasion #1-8 and its various crossover issues (see below). Delroy received the goggles worn by the original 3-D Man allowing him to see Skrulls who are in disguise in Avengers: The Initiative #14. He crash landed last issue, obviously.
Some thing about Jim Rhodes in this story:
- He needed to be recharged because, as revealed in Avengers: The Initiative #11, Rhodes is now a cyborg. Jim’s body was heavily damaged in a conflict as will be revealed in War Machine (vol. 2) #1. His cybernetics will remain his status quo until issue #12 of that series.
- The reason why Jim’s armor wasn’t compromised was because Tony Stark used Stanetech to build this new suit. Obadiah Stane was a rival business man who made Tony Stark’s life miserable from Iron Man #163-200. His most notable accomplishment was taking over Stark International in a hostile takeover in Iron Man #173.
We learned that “Hank Pym” has been a Skrull impostor in Avengers: The Initiative #14. For more on the real Yellowjacket’s abduction and replacement see Mighty Avengers #15.
Although Iron Man’s recording suggests he might be dead, in reality, Stark is trapped in the Savage Land after the Skrull virus shut down his armor. See Secret Invasion #1-3. Jim is going into space to take control of a space station to fight the Skrulls as will be seen in War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #33-35. He rubs the “need-to-know” line in “Hank’s” face here because Yellowjacket used it on him when he and Henry Gyrich covered up the death of MVP back in Avengers: The Initiative #1.
The origins of the original 3-D Man was first told in Marvel Premiere #35. How the Chandlers could still be alive in the modern age without being much older is explained in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #12. In a nut-shell, the 3-D Man powers kept Hal and Peggy relatively young. Later, when Hal and Chuck were separated in Avengers (vol. 3) #50, Chuck was the same age he was when he was first transformed into 3-D Man.
3-D Man was given his powers to be a superhuman celebrity to promote the Triune Understanding — a religious cult — in Avengers (vol. 3) #8. His connection with the Chandlers was revealed in issue #50 of that series.
The Fantastic Four hypnotized these Skrulls and turned them into cows way back in Fantastic Four #2. The revelation that these cows were part of the food supply was first revealed in Fantastic Four Annual #17. Ryder and the OG Skrull Kill Krew were formed in Skrull Kill Krew #1-5.
For more on Crusader’s masquerade on Earth see Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #20-25 and last issue.
As of this writing (July, 2024), Geldoff is still considered among the deceased.
Johnny Cool and Supermax’s real names are not given here. They’re identified as John Hashimoto and Edward Black Wolf respectively in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5.
Melati and Roger have been in a romance since Avengers: The Initiative #9. The pair have been forced to continue their relationship long distance because they were assigned to different teams in issue #12.

Topical References

Chuck Chandler remarks that he has been fighting Skrulls for over 50 years. This measurement of time should be considered topical. While the original 3-D Man’s early adventures are locked in the 1950s, the length of time between then and the Modern Age will continue to expand due to the Sliding Timescale. As such, the 50 year reference should be considered topical as it is relative to the date of publication.