New Avengers #40

March 22, 2024 Nick Peron

Years Ago[2]

The Illuminati have just fled the Skrull world of Satriani, causing great destruction in their depature. When Emperor Dorrek is given a status report all he cares about is if they gathered all the information they needed. When his subordinate confirms that they have, he tells them to unravel the secrets about these Earthlings, no matter how long that takes.

Dorrek is then visited by Princess Veranke of the Tyeranx Seven Province. She tearfully pleads with Dorrek to heed the words of her prophets. They warn that the Skrull home world will be devoured and that their only salvation is finding a “world of blue” to claim as their new home.[3] Having no patience for this, Dorrek orders Veranke and her followers subdued.[4] However, Wor’Il, the War Council Delegate warns Dorrek that to kill her will make Veranke a martyr.

Dorrek defers the matter and begins conferring with Dro’ge, his lead scientist. Dro’ge states that they were able to collect generous samples of human, Inhuman, and mutant DNA. He plans on using this data to experiment, clone, dissect, and reverse engineer them totally. However, he warns that this will take a great deal of time. Dorrek orders Dro’ge to conduct his work on another planet away from the home world. With that, everyone bows to their ruler.

Later, Veranke wakes up and finds herself on the desolate world of Skrullos. After the ship that dumped her off leaves, she gets down and prays to her god repeating the phrase “He loves me” over and over.

Time passes, and one of the first clones created is that of Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) of the Fantastic Four. He wakes up on a stage set to look like a hospital room on Earth surrounded by his family. These are actually Skrulls disguised as the Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing. They start asking him what he knows about Galactus. Before he can answer, the “nurse” gets fed up and pulls a Skrull weapon and blows his head off. The nurse turns out to be Emperor Dorrek himself. He lashed out in anger because Richards was the one who turned one of his cousins into a cow.[5] When he is told that they can make another cline, Dorrek tells them to continue their work and leaves.

Time passes again, and Veranke’s warnings come true when Galactus destroys the Skrull homeworld.[6]

A few years after this, a team of Skrulls return to desolate Skrullos to tells Veranke that their throne world has been destroyed and their empire is in shambles. She tells her people that she will lead them to the promise land she has always preached would be their new home: The planet Earth. They then take her back to Satriani where she is installed as the new ruler of the empire.[7] She later makes a trip to Tarnax X to learn how Dro’ge’s experiments are going. He explains to her that he has unlocked all of the secret of human, mutant, and Inhuman genetics. Their priests have mastered Earth’s mystic arts, and scientists have reversed engineered their greatest technologies. He then shows her the fruits of his years of labor: A new breed of Super-Skrull that that can imitate the power sets of any Earthling at a biological level.[8] Not only that, this new breed can become undetectable by any means available on Earth, making them the ultimate infiltrators.

To demonstrate this, they call on a warrior named Siri to discuss her infiltration on Earth. Having taken on the guise of Elektra, she reports that evaded detection from SHIELD Director Nick Fury, the enhanced senses of both Daredevil and Wolverine, and the ninja cult known as the Hand.[9] Veranke is pleased to hear all of this, but tells them all that if they are to push ahead with this infiltration plan ahead of an invasion, she wants to be part of it as well. She then asks who is the one human that could prove the most disruptive to things on Earth. Wor’ll pulls up the profile on just such a person: Jessica Drew, aka Spider-Woman.[10]

…This story continues in New Avengers #42

Recurring Characters

Veranke, Dorrek VII, Dro'ge

Continuity Notes

This issue’s cover pays homage to Avengers #1.
This scene begins following the events of New Avengers: Illuminati (vol., where the secretive group found themselves held prisoner by the Skrulls to gather intel. This itself takes place after the Kree/Skrull War of Avengers #89-97. Per the Sliding Timescale, this flashback takes place roughly 9 years prior to the present day.
This prophecy comes true when Galactus consumes the Skrull home world in Fantastic Four #257.
Veranke also warns of a destructive wave that will come. This is referring to the so-called Annihilation Wave, a massive swarm that comes from the Negative Zone to decimate the positive matter universe. The Skrull Empire is left in shambles after this. See Annihilation: Prologue #1, Annihilation: Super-Skrull #1-4, Annihilation: Silver Surfer #1-4, Annihilation: Ronan #1-4, Annihilation: Nova #1-4, and Annihilation #1-6.
When the Skrulls attempted to invade Earth for the first time (during the Modern Age), Reed Richards ended up hypnotizing the invaders and tricking them into thinking they were ordinary cows, as seen in Fantastic Four #2.
Not that Dorrek would have known because he was assassinated in Fantastic Four #202. Per the Sliding Timescale, Fantastic Four #257 takes place roughly 6 years prior to the main story.
The Annihilation event would have happened the same year as the present day, so this would have been a few months prior to the present day.
Mentioned here is Kl’rt the first Super Skrull, who used technological means to copy the powers of the Fantastic Four, as seen in Fantastic Four #18.
When exactly Siri operated as Elektra and made these encounters is (as of this writing in April, 2024) not been told. Per Mighty Avengers #16, she will be killed by the real Elektra. Elektra would successfully be replaced by Pagon, who is the Skrull spy we previously saw in New Avengers #11-13 and 27-31.
We will see how Veranke swaps places with Spider-Woman in New Avengers #42.

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