Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #25

May 11

May 11 Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #25

The Secret Invasion!

Secret Invasion continues from New Avengers: Illuminati (vol. 2) #5 ….

Years Ago[1]

When an alien artifact crashed on Earth, Carol Danvers (head of security at NASA) and Doctor Walter Lawson were called in to investigate. Little does anyone know that Dr. Lawson is actually Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree Empire, who has assumed Lawson’s identity.[2] “Lawson” is convinced that this is a Skrull interplanetary probe but cannot tell anyone this without exposing his true identity.

The probe is taken back to NASA for observation and out of concern that it may threaten a shuttle launch. When Carol later went to see how “Lawson’s” observation was going, she had convinced herself that the probe is nothing more than some old piece of junk left over from the space race. Upon touching the probe, Carol was unaware that it has now scanned her DNA and transmitted the data to a nearby Skrull space ship. Although the Skrulls on board dismiss Carol as a weak female, they decide to keep the data as they are on a mission to gather as many genetic samples from humans as possible.

Now

SHIELD Director Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) has called a meeting with Agent Dave Sum of Operation: Lightning Storm. Stark has reason to believe that Carol has been replaced by a Skrull.[3] Sum finds this hard to believe, but Tony provides some compelling evidence: That someone resembling Carol was recorded inside Stark Tower while the real Carol and Lightning Storm were on a mission to Monster Island.[4] Dave is also told that this other Carol is not Warbird, a variant from another reality that Ms. Marvel fought recently.[5] More troubling is that the real Carol has been in New York for two days now and its entirely possible that the Skrull impostor has already taken her place.

At that moment, Carol is getting ready to spend the day dealing with her personal life since she has a number of things she needs to take care of. Namely, the status of her relationship with William Wagner, dealing with unresolved feelings for her teammate Wonder Man (Simon Williams), and finally sorting out the legal issues her publicist Sarah Day is having with Daily Bugle published J. Jonah Jameson.[6] However, before she begins she decides to follow a lead on her ongoing mission to take down Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM), who have set up a secret hideout masquerading as a laundromat. Her arrival prompts the AIM operatives to try and bug out with equipment in a number of delivery trucks. Luckily, she manages to stop them from getting away. However, one of the trucks is missing from the fleet and she has no idea how long it has been gone. Since there is nothing left to do, she calls for a SHIELD clean-up crew so she can get on with her day.

Years Ago

With the shuttle launch proceeding ahead, “Doctor Lawson” insists on checking things out on board the ship. He is escorted by who he thinks is Carol Danvers, but this turns out to be a Skrull named Rm’Twr in disguise. Once they are aboard the ship, the Skrull assumes their true form and reveals that they know that “Lawson’s” true identity. Mar-Vell is blasted with a stun ray so the Skrull can take him prisoner.

Outside, the real Carol Danvers is checking the countdown to launch when the ship starts moving ahead of schedule. She orders everyone inside and, knowing that “Lawson” was inside the cockpit, races up the elevator to see if he is still there. She manages to leap inside the shuttle as it begins blasting off. The g-forces pin her down but she is luckily able to close the hatch before they reach escape velocity and are sucked out into space. Carol finds “Lawson” unconscious and goes to see who is piloting the ship. She is shocked to see that it has been commandeered by a Skrull![7] While the alien is busy contacting his superiors, Carol manages to snatch away his stun ray and uses it against him. Throughout this ordeal, she thought she needed Captain Marvel to save the day, but is exhilerated by the fact that she was able to regain control of the shuttle on her own.

Now

Carol shows up at the restaurant of William Wagner. There, he quickly ushers her outside to tell her that he can’t handle their relationship with her and ends it then and there, upsetting her. When Carol is gone, he calls Sarah Day to tell her that he finally broke things off and asks if this will keep his secret safe. Sarah confirms that this will be the case and takes her file on him from her desk and hides it in her purse.

Danvers then goes to Sarah Day’s office to talk about things. Sarah says that she is upset that Carol didn’t tell her that she recently defeated the Puppet Master, a longtime Fantastic Four villain. Carol, who killed the Puppet Master because he was enslaving women, says she doesn’t want to talk about that.[8] She actually came to talk about the issue with J. Jonah Jameson. Sarah then tells her the issue resolved itself because Jameson had recently suffered a heart attack and the paper dropped the story about her kissing Wonder Man.[9] This makes Carol think that this was the reason why William ended their relationship and tries to call him to explain things after she leaves Sarah’s office. However, as she gets his voice mail, she spots the missing AIM truck and has to bail on leaving a message to change into Ms. Marvel and go after it.

She hitches a ride on the top of the truck as it heads to Corona Park where there is apparently an AIM hideout under the Unisphere. She is shocked to see that the AIM scientists were secretly transporting a Super Skrull with powers of various X-Men. This Skrull — Rl’nnd, son of Rm’twr — picks up Carol’s scent with his enhanced senses and attacks her. In the middle of the fight, Rl’nnd rips off a swath of Ms. Marvel’s sash and picks up the scent of a Kree, in fact, it is the one he was sent to deal with and teleports away. Carol doesn’t understand how she could have the scent of a Kree on her and wonders if one of the people in her life might secretly be an alien.[10]

She decides to call William to tell him that he might be in danger. He answers the call and is shocked to hear that it is Carol, since Carol is already in his apartment. This is actually the Skrull impostor who quickly figures out who he is talking to. When Ms. Marvel arrives moments later, she discovers William has been murdered in his own bedroom. Before she can fully process what happened, Agent Sum comes into the room. Assuming that Carol murdered the man herself, he orders her to surrender or he’ll shoot!

Recurring Characters

Ms. Marvel, Operation: Lightning Storm (Agent Dave Sum), William Wagner, Sarah Day, AIM, Skrulls (Rl’nnd), (in flashback) “Dr. Walter Lawson”

Continuity Notes

Per the Marvel Chronology Project, this flashback takes place between Captain Marvel #3 and #4, during a period where Mar-Vell was posing as Dr. Walter Lawson. Per the Sliding Timescale, this would place the flashback as having occurred during “Year Two” of the Modern Age. As this story takes place during “Year Twelve” that would make the flashback as occurring roughly 10 years prior to the main story.
At the time of this flashback, Mar-Vell was part of a Kree mission to investigate the Earth. As part of this mission, Marv assumed the identity of Walter Lawson after he seemingly died in a car accident in Marvel Super-Heroes #12. However, many years later, it is revealed that Lawson somehow survived, as seen in Marvel Team-Up (vol. 4) #4.
Tony had become aware of Skrull infiltrators in Mighty Avengers #7. This is a precursor for a planned invasion of Earth that is primarily chronicled in Secret Invasion #1-8 and various crossover issues listed below.
Ms. Marvel and her team went to Monster Island to stop the Brood in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #21-24.
Sum asks if this impostor might be a variant of Carol that she fought recently. He is referring to Warbird, a version of Carol from another reality she fought in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #9-11. This Carol came from Reality-7192, as per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2.
Carol went on a few dates with William after they first met in issue #9. However, in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #16 and unknown to Carol, Sarah Day was able to dig up some dirt on Wagner. Sarah then blackmailed William to get out of Carol’s life. This was also the same issue where Carol was forced to kiss Wonder Man in order to free him from MODOK’s mind control. Things have been awkward ever since. Also unknown to Carol is that the kiss was photographed and sold to the Daily Bugle in issue #18, prompting Sarah to threaten a lawsuit on behalf of her client.
Carol recognizes the Skrulls as having fought the Fantastic Four in the past. She is referring to Fantastic Four #2, as per a footnote in this story.
Ms. Marvel went after the Puppet Master in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #18-20. Although he seemingly died in an explosion, he’ll turn up alive again in Fin Fang Four Return #2. Here it is stated that he is a long time Fantastic Four foe, having first fought the team back in Fantastic Four #8.
Sarah mentions how J. Jonah Jameson suffered a heart attack recently. This was in Amazing Spider-Man #546.
Carol states that the only Kree she had been around was Captain Marvel, but that was a number of days previous. She encountered who she thought was Mar-Vell in Captain Marvel (vol. 5) #1-5. The real Mar-Vell had been dead for years since Marvel Graphic Novel #1, and at the time of this story, everyone believed that a past version of Marv was pulled forward in time in Civil War: The Return #1. However in Captain Marvel volume 5 we will learn that he is another Skrull infiltrator named Khn’nr.

Topical References

The space shuttle used in the flashbacks in this story are depicted as the type used by NASA between 1981 and 2011. These shuttles have since been retired. Their depiction here is congruent with the date of publication (2008), as ten years prior would have been a period when those shuttles were in use. However, due to the Sliding Timescale, both the main story and flashback have been bumped forward in time so that they now take place after 2011. As such, their depiction here would be considered topical.
The cell phones in this story are depicted as “flip” style phones with physical buttons. These were common when this story was published in 2008 but have since fallen out of common use thanks to the advent of smart phones. As such, their depiction here should be considered topical.