Avengers: The Initiative #19

Jul 13

Jul 13 Avengers: The Initiative #19

V-S Day

Secret Invasion continues from Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1….

The Earth has been invaded by the Skrulls. With the planet’s heroes pushing back the invaders, the Skrull high command are preparing the doomsday scenario contingency. Having taken control of Camp Hammond, a Skrull posing as Dum Dum Dugan is preparing to activate every Negative Zone portal in America in order to destroy the Earth in the event the Skrull Empire loses the war.[1] Incidentally, “Dugan” got the idea from SHIELD Director, Iron Man (Tony Stark) during the Hulk’s recent attack on the planet.[2] There is just one hitch: 3-D Man (Delroy Garret, Jr.) and his Skrull Kill Krew have split up to take down the last six Initiative bases.[3] “Dugan” orders the Hive Protocols to be activated at once.

This involves all of the Skrull spies to cease their disguises and fight to keep the Negative Zone portals up and running. In Arkansas, the Battalion’s spy — posing as Razorback — battles Tigra (Greer Grant), Cloud 9 (Abby Boylen) and Ryder of the Skrull Kill Krew. While in Kentucy, the Action Pack’s Vox and Prima Donna are assisted by Hardball (Roger Brockridge) and the SKK’s Moonstomp fight the Skrull posing as Frog-Man. In Wisconsin, home to the Great Lakes Initiative, that team — Mister Immortal (Craig Hollis), Big Bertha (Ashley Crawford), Doorman (DeMarr Davis), Flatman (Val Ventura), Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green), and Tippy-Toe the squirrel — are assisted by Gravity (Greg Willis) and Catwalk (Kimberly Dee) against the Skrull pretending to be the Grasshopper. In Florida, Komodo (Melati Kusama) and Riot (Heidi Sladkin) help Aquarian (Wundarr) and Jennifer Kale against the Skrull posing as the Conquistador.

It’s not all simple brawls, as Jocasta and Dice (Rob Fortune) learn in Washington. As Earth Force’s Skrull impostor (posing as Skyhawk) takes advantage of those humans who have actually started supporting the Skrull take over. While in Texas, 3-D Man and Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) helps the Rangers —Texas Twister (Drew Daniels), Shooting Star (Victoria Star), Firebird (Bonita Juarez), Living Lightning (Miguel Santos), Phantom Rider (Hamilton Slade), and Red Wolf (William Talltrees) — against a Skrull who took the unassuming form of Red Wolf’s wolf, Lobo. This is an easy kill, but another mob of Skrull supporters soon begin rioting. Delroy notices that some of the people in the crowd are Skrull infiltrators. However, before he can start pointing them out, a rock thrown by the mob hits and shatters his Skrull detecting goggles.

Meanwhile, in New York City, the final battle is being fought in Central Park. Among all the gathered heroes is the Crusader (Z’Reg), who is secretly a Skrull defector fighting to defend his adopted home.[4] Lastly, three speedsters — Nonstop, Spinner, and Whizkid[5] — are racing against the clock to plant explosives at every Initiative base and blow the Negative Zone portals.

Back in Texas, 3-D Man radios Hal and Chuck Chandler — the original 3-D Men — to ask how he can differentiate the Skrulls from innocent people. The two men point out that the goggles he wore were a conduit of the Tri-Force power that resides within Delroy and he needs to channel that power now. Despite the chaos all around him, Garrett stops fighting to focus his mind. Suddenly, the Tri-Force powers focus making his eyes glow — one red, one green — and now he can see the Skrulls without the aid of the shattered goggles. Killing some of the Skrull agitators causes them to revert back to their true forms. When the mob sees that they have been duped, the riot quickly comes to an end. When 3-D Man asks Hal to contact Devil-Slayer (Eric Payne) and have him teleport them back, he is informed that both Eric and Jocasta have gone radio silent, making the final job of taking down the Negative Zone portals that much harder.[5]

In Central Park, the battle has been won and the heroes who have been captured and replaced by Skrulls have been freed. As everyone is distracted, the Crusader spots Criti Noll, the Skrull who has been posing as Yellowjacket for months, trying to escape.[7] Using his Freedom Ring to give himself super-speed, Z’Reg chases after “Yellowjacket”.

And in Hawaii, Spinner arrives just as her 24 hour power cycle completes, causing her to lose her superspeed. With an army of Skrulls protecting the Initiative base there, she makes the hard decision to activate the bomb, hoping that the power she has now is invulnerability. Unfortunately for her, Spinner’s power for the day is flight. Moments later, the bomb goes off killing all the Skrulls there, and seemingly Spinner as well.[8]

Back at Camp Hammond, “Yellowjacket” arrives and orders “Dugan” and the others to activate the last remaining pilons and send Earth into the Negative Zone. Criti Noll has decided that if the Skrulls can’t have the Earth, nobody can. However, moments later he is ambushed by the Crusader who has finally caught up to his target. Although greatly outnumbered, he is joined by 3-D Man and the rest of his team who decided to use the remaining Negative Zone portals to back track to the Camp for a final battle. “Dugan” then unleashes a gas that is harmless to Skrulls but lethal to humans. To counteract this, Whizkid uses her super speed to catch all the gas in a funnel and disburse it high in the air. However, in doing so she exposes herself to a lethal dose and dies in 3-D Man’s arms.[9]

Furious at this loss of life, Delroy eliminates the Dugan Skrull, while Crusader uses his Freedom Ring to overpower and slay Criti Noll. With their leadership now dead, the rest of the Skrulls surrender, only to be mowed down by Ryder of the Skrull Kill Krew. In the aftermath of the battle, everyone celebrates their victory until Crusader is shot in the head by 3-D Man. This shocks everyone until he points out that Crusader was a Skrull. Reverting back to his true form, Z’Reg laments over the unfairness of it all and his dying wish is that things could have ended differently for him. Suddenly, his Freedom Ring activates and Z’Reg vanishes.[10]

Recurring Characters

The Initiative staff: Gauntlet, Taskmaster

Trainees: Annex, Ant-Man, Crusader, Diamondback, Gorilla Girl, Melee, Prodigy

Skrull Kill Krew (3-D Man, Catwalk, Cloud 9, Dice, Jocasta, Komodo, Moonstomp, Ryder, Riot, Spinner, Whizkid), Heavy Hitters (Gravity, Hardball, Nonstop), Action Pack (Vox, “Frog-Man”, Prima Donna), Battalion (Tigra, “Razorback”), Command (Aquarian, “Conquistador”, Jennifer Kale), Great Lakes Initiative (Mister Immortal, Big Bertha, Doorman, Flatman, “Grasshopper”, Squirrel Girl, Tippy-Toe), Rangers (Texas Twister, Shooting Star, Firebird, Living Lightning, Phantom Rider, Red Wolf, “Lobo”), Mighty Avengers (Iron Man, Black Widow, Ares), Thor, New Avengers (Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine), Hal Chandler, Chuck Chandler, “Yellowjacket”, “Skyhawk”, “Dum Dum Dugan”, The Hood, Spider-Woman, Mockingbird, Elektra, Edwin Jarvis, She-Thing, Dum Dum Dugan, Black Bolt, Hydra

Continuity Notes

This story takes place during Secret Invasion #1-8 and its various crossover issues (see below), particularly the final issue of that series.
That was during the events of World War Hulk #1-5 and its related crossovers, specifically Iron Man: Director of SHIELD #20.
3-D Man discovered the Skrull invasion plot in Avengers: The Initiative #14 and has spent every issue since trying to expose all the Skrull spies within the 50-State Initiative.
Z’Reg was originally sent to Earth to gather intel on the Avengers only to fall in love with Earth. He started masquerading as a hero on Earth ever since. See Marvel Team-Up (vol. 3) #20-25 and Avengers: The Initiative #15.
None of these three speedsters are mentioned by their real names. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #5 reveals Nonstops’s name as Madeleine Michaels. As of this writing (July, 2024), the real names of Spinner and Whizkid remain unrevealed.
Last issue, Devil-Slayer collapsed from the strain of using his Shadow Cloak to teleport the Skrull Kill Krew’s growing army. He’ll have survived this and will be seen again in New Avengers Annual (vol. 2) #1.
Yellowjacket was revealed to have been replaced in Avengers: The Initiative #14. Per Mighty Avengers #15 and New Avengers #45, he was swapped out prior to House of M #1.
Although she seemingly dies here, Spinner somehow survives the blast and will be seen again in Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #1. As of this writing (July, 2024), how she survived remains unrevealed.
Both Whizkid and Shooting Star are depicted as being exposed to the gas. While Whizkid dies here, Shooting Star survives and will appear again in Scarlet Spider (vol. 2) #8. As of this writing (July, 2024), Whizkid is still considered among the deceased.
As of this writing (July, 2024), the ultimate fate of the Crusader is unknown.