Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #27
Secret Invasion, Part 3
Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Operation: Lightning Storm have prevented Skrull infiltrators from taking her place.[1] Having taken one of the Skrulls prisoner, Carol learns that William Wagner — the man she had been dating until recently[2] — was apparently a Kree spy sent to uncover the Skrull invasion. She is also told that William is still alive and has been taken to Orlando by Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM).[3]
Carol really wants to kill the Skrull, but resists the temptation since they don’t know the full scope of their current plans. When speaking to Agent Dave Sum in private, he apologizes for trying to arrest her earlier when they all thought she was a Skrull. Carol tells him not to worry about it as she would have done the same thing had the roles been reversed and says that’s when she wanted him on his team.[4]
Soon, Machine Man (Aaron Stack) is able to track down the truck that is transporting William to Florida and they set course for its last known location.[5] The catch up with the shipping truck on Interstate 95, but when Carol tries to stop it, the vehicle harmlessly passes through her. Catching up with it again, Machine Man’s sensors reveal that the “truck” is actually a sophisticated hologram used to throw them off the scent. Losing William devastates Carol, but Agent Sum assures her that they’ll find him, no matter what.
Ms. Marvel returns to the mini-carrier where she angrily confronts the Skrull prisoner about this. When she demands the Skrull reveal the truth, all she will say is that “He loves you” before activating an explosive inside her body. The blast is powerful enough to send the Lightning Storm mini-carrier crashing to the busy highway below. Among those who are seriously injured are Sleepwalker’s human host, Rick Sheridan. As Ms. Marvel recovers from the crash she goes to find the mini-carrier’s medic in the hopes he can help, but discovers that he is dead.
The next day, Carol pays a visit to Wonder Man (Simon Williams) at his apartment. She tells him how they were able to help the injured within a few hours and Sheridan was stabilized and is expected to recover. The destruction of Operation: Lightning Storm, on top of a string of other defeats have gotten Carol doubting herself. Simon tries his best to convince her that she is trying to do the right thing, and that’s when she reveals that she allowed the Puppet Master to die when she could have saved his life.[6] Simon knows that Carol is trying to tell her that she is a bad person but refuses to do it. The tension gets so thick that she eventually kisses Simon. The two then spent the night together. The following morning, Simon wakes up to Carol in her Ms. Marvel costume. They are getting a priority Avengers alert as a Skrull ship is entering Earth’s atmosphere.[7] She tells him to get dressed as they have a job to do.
…. Secret Invasion continues in Secret Invasion: Prologue #1.
Recurring Characters
Ms. Marvel, Operation: Lightning Storm (Agent Dave Sum, Machine Man, Sleepwalker/Rick Sheridan), Skrulls (corpse of Rl’nnd), SHIELD (voice of Tony Stark)
Continuity Notes
This scheme is part of a larger invasion of Earth that will kick off in Secret Invasion #1-8 and various issues that are listed below.
Carol and William first met in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #9. After a few dates, her agent — Sarah Day — investigated him and threatened to reveal some secret about his past in issue #16. He was seemingly killed in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #25. His ultimate fate is left up here, but Carol is convinced that he is dead in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #36.
The Skrull states that the Kree stole William Wagner’s identity, that the real Wagner is dead. She states that this is similar to when Mar-Vell first came to Earth. Indeed in Marvel Super-Heroes #12, Mar-Vell took the identity of Doctor Walter Lawson when he seemingly died in a car accident.
As seen in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #24-25, Tony Stark informed Sum that Carol might have been replaced by a Skrull, prompting him to try and arrest her.
The robot who appears to be Machine Man is, according to Marvel Comics #1001, an impostor who posed as the real Aaron Stack after he left Earth in X-51 #12. He started posing as the hero in Nextwave #1. As of this writing (June, 2024) the impostor’s purpose for doing so has yet to be revealed.
Carol goes into all of her recent failures of late. They include:
How she managed to stop a Brood invasion of Earth by sheer luck, that was in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #1-3.
She mentions how she betrayed friends during the civil war and was put in charge of the Avengers and training recruits in the Initiative. The Civil War event saw the superhero community split over the passage of the Super Human Registration Act, a law that would require superhumans to register with the government, as primarily told in Civil War #1-7. Carol was on the pro-registration side. She took on training Araña in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #6-8 as well as arrest Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter). She was made field leader of Tony Stark’s Avengers team that was formed in Mighty Avengers #1.
Carol tried to kill a variant from another reality in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #9-10.
She tried to kill the Doomsday Man but couldn’t bring herself to do it. That was in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #11-12, after he seriously injured Araña.
She also didn’t care of MODOK died if it meant saving lives. The AIM cyborg was rigged with a DNA bomb as seen in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #15-17.
Carol did nothing to stop the Puppet Master from blowing himself up because he was using his puppets to enslave women, as seen in Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #18-20. Although he is believed to have died then, he turns up again in Fin Fang Four Return #1.
This Skrull ship ends up crash landing in the Savage Land as we’ll see in Secret Invasion #1.
Topical References
It is stated here that Machine Man is using Google Maps to track down the AIM truck. Google Maps is a GPS based navigation system that assists users get to their destination on the best possible route. Its reference here should be considered topical as this is a real world product.
There is a billboard outside Wonder Man’s apartment that reads “Colbert ‘08 (And so can you!)”. This was a phony Presidential campaign being run by comedian Stephen Colbert. At the time, Colbert was portraying a right-wing news commentator on the Daily Show a comedic news show. His character became so popular it was spun off onto a new series called the Colbert Report in 2005. During the 2008 Presidential Election, Colbert ran a fake bid as a third party candidate. Since Colbert plugged Marvel a number of times, they got in on the joke. That said, this should be considered a topical reference since this is portraying the 2008 Election as though it was happening at the time of this story.
Secret Invasion Reading Order
New Avengers #31, Mighty Avengers #7, New Avengers #34, New Avengers: Illuminati (vol. 2) #5, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #25, 26, 27, Secret Invasion: Prologue #1, Secret Invasion #1, Mighty Avengers #12, New Avengers #40, Secret Invasion #2, Mighty Avengers #13, Captain Britain and MI-13 #1, Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #1, Mighty Avengers #14, Incredible Hercules #117, New Avengers #41, Secret Invasion #3, Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust? #1, Captain Britain and MI-13 #2, Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #2, Incredible Hercules #118, Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #1, Avengers: The Initiative #14, Mighty Avengers #15, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #28, New Avengers #42, Secret Invasion: Front Line #1, Captain Britain and MI-13 #3, Secret Invasion #4, Mighty Avengers #16, X-Factor (vol. 3) #33, Incredible Hercules #119, New Warriors (vol. 4) #14, Avengers: The Initiative #15, She-Hulk (vol. 2) #31, New Avengers #43, Thunderbolts #122, Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four #3, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #29, Black Panther (vol. 4) #39, Secret Invasion: Front Line #2, Secret Invasion: X-Men #1, Secret Invasion: Inhumans #1, Secret Invasion: Thor #1, Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #2, Captain Britain and MI-13 #4, Secret Invasion #5, Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #4, X-Factor (vol. 3) #34, Incredible Hercules #120, Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man #1, New Warriors (vol. 4) #15, Nova (vol. 4) #16, Avengers: The Initiative #16, Mighty Avengers #17, She-Hulk (vol. 2) #32, Black Panther (vol. 4) #40, New Avengers #44, Thunderbolts #123, Secret Invasion: Front Line #3, Deadpool (vol. 4) #1, Secret Invasion: Inhumans #2, Secret Invasion: Runaways/Young Avengers #3, Secret Invasion #6, Ms. Marvel (vol. 2) #30, Secret Invasion: Thor #2, Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #5, Mighty Avengers #18, War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #33, Deadpool (vol. 4) #2, Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man #2, Nova (vol. 4) #17, Avengers: The Initiative #17, She-Hulk (vol. 2) #33, Black Panther (vol. 4) #41, New Avengers #45, Thunderbolts #124, Deadpool (vol. 4) #3, Secret Invasion: Inhumans #3, Secret Invasion: Front Line #4, Guardians of the Galaxy (vol. 2) #6, Mighty Avengers #19, War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #34, Secret Invasion: Amazing Spider-Man #3, Secret Invasion #7, New Avengers #46, Thunderbolts #125, Secret Invasion: X-Men #3, Secret Invasion: Thor #3, Nova (vol. 4) #18, Avengers: The Initiative #18, Punisher: War Journal (vol. 2) #25, War Machine: Weapon of SHIELD #35, Secret Invasion: X-Men #4, Secret Invasion: Inhumans #4, Secret Invasion: Front Line #5, Secret Invasion #8, New Avengers #47, Secret Invasion: Dark Reign #1, Avengers: The Initiative #19