Secret Invasion: Aftermath - Beta Ray Bill #1

Nov 9

Nov 9 Secret Invasion: Aftermath - Beta Ray Bill #1

The Green of Eden

Secret Invasion continues from Secret Invasion: War of Kings #1…

In deep space, Beta Ray Bill comes to the aid of a space station that is under attack from a massive octopus-like monster. He attacks the creature, making it let go of the space station and chasing him. Bill then lures it into the firing range of his sentient ship, Skuttlebutt, who blasts the monster into oblivion.

Aboard the space station, Beta Ray Bill is thanked by the leader of the Remnants, an ancient race of sentient robots. He explains that their race is devoted to hospitality and welcomed a traveler named the Voidian to their station. They obliged him when they asked that he build the creature — something that the Voidian worshiped as a god — in a pocket dimension. When they finished this task, he then unleashed it into regular space. Luckily, Beta Ray Bill was there to answer their distress call. Now the Voidian is in a cell awaiting extradition to one of the many worlds where he is a fugitive. When Bill learns that the Remnants are mercifully turning him over to the world with the most liberal punishments, Bill wishes he had the strength of their convictions.[1]

This is when Bill is approached by a group of priests who need his assistance. He agrees to hear them out and they take him to a nearby asteroid. They explain that they were in the process of converting it into a holy temple. However, they come from a people whose empire was ripped apart because many chose to follow a false god. Their efforts to build this “New Eden” has since been targeted by those who wish to drag them back into worshiping the old ways that led them to ruin.

When they enter the asteroid, one of the priests sees a laser sight pointing at Bill and takes the bullet intended for him. Using Stormbreaker, his enchanted hammer, Bill flies up to the sniper’s roost and discovers that the shooter is a Skrull! Beta Ray smashes his weapons and orders him to stand down. However, the Skrull refuses to stop pulling weapons and, when they are all wrecked, starts charging up a laser in his cybernetic eye. Bill curses him and slays the Skrull with a single blow of Stormbreaker.

When Bill returns to the priests and tells them what he discovered, he is shocked to see that the priest who took a bullet for him had reverted back to his true form, revealing the priests to be Skrulls as well. With their deception exposed, the rest of the priests assume their true forms as well. After his previous ordeals with the Skrulls, he demands to know what sort of trickery the priests are up to. The Skrulls promise they have no such thing and show him what type of temple they wish to build. Activating a holographic projector, it shows an image of what their finished temple will look like once complete. It includes statues and murals dedicated to Beta Ray Bill.

Bill demands to know what all of this means. The Skrull priests recount how Beta Ray Bill fought against the Skrull empire during their recent invasion of Earth. Upon the Skrull’s defeat, they had become a people without gods, and they decided to worship Beta Ray Bill because he is a god without worshipers.[2] That’s when they are shot at again. Bill has the Skrulls run for cover while he collapses the tunnel to block their attackers and give him a chance to tell the priests what he thinks of their choice of worship. Bill believes the Skrulls are in error to worship him as a god because he is no such thing. In fact, he doesn’t believe in any kind of divinity after his people were wiped out by Galactus.[3] When asked why he still fights, Bill explains that even though he doesn’t see himself as a god, that doesn’t preclude him from doing what is right.

As they debate morality, the other Skrulls on the asteroid head back to their ship and awaken something that will help them win the fight. Bill, meanwhile, is judged for the Skrull lives he ended during the invasion. But, the Korbanite warrior explains that he only kills when absolutely necessary. Moreover, he will not allow himself to be judged by the Skrulls whose people are nearly as extinct as his own, yet still slay one another over religious differences.

That’s when the tunnel is blown open by a Super-Skrull left over from the failed invasion of Earth. This is S’Kaan, a Skrull with the powers and abilities of Asgard’s Warriors Three - Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg. Bill has the complicated task of both fighting this new foe and protecting the priests from their assassins. Ultimately, Bill incapacitates all the assassins and knocks S’Kaan into the holographic projector. This jolts him with enough electricity to leave him vulnerable to a death blow. S’Kaan tells Bill to end his life as his people are but a fading memory. For a moment, Beta Ray Bill contemplates doing just that, but realizes he cannot bring himself to do it. The priests understand and decide to take S’Kaan into their care in the hopes they might rehabilitate him.

Beta Ray Bill leaves the Skrull priests to their fate and once back aboard Skuttlebutt, he heads back to Earth and hopefully some kind of peace.

Meanwhile, the priests return to the space station of the Remnants and discover the Voidian had escaped and left a plague to kill his captors. The Skrulls come to the Remnants aid and when they find another one of the Voidian’s “gods” waiting for them, they have S’Kaan — who has found new purpose — as their protector.

… Secret Invasion continues in Secret Invasion: Requiem #1.

Recurring Characters

Beta Ray Bill, Skrulls, Skuttlebutt

Continuity Notes

It is important to note that Beta Ray Bill is very embittered at the time of this story after a series of tragic events: The apparent loss of his entire race at the hands of Galactus in Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill #1-6, briefly being trapped in Limbo in Omega Flight #6, and more recently, being held prisoner and experimented upon by the Skrulls as seen in Secret Invasion: Thor #1-3.
The Skrulls being a people with gods to worship is actually quite literal. Before the Skrull invasion, their race worshiped Kly’bn and Sl’gur’t, two ancient Skrulls that ascended to godhood. These gods would either destroy or enslave the pantheons of the various worlds that the Skrulls invaded. This happened on Earth as well, but Kly’bn and Sl’gur’t were slain by the so-called God Squad. See Incredible Hercules #117-120.
It is mentioned here how the Korbanite home galaxy was destroyed by demons. This was the work of Surtur back in Thor #337. He eventually got them to a new world called New Korbin in Thor #442. As I stated above, this world was consumed in Stormbreaker: The Saga of Beta Ray Bill #1-6. As of this writing (November, 2024), the Korbanite race has yet to be fully restored if they ever will be.