Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #5

Nov 9

Nov 9 Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #5

Secret Invasion continues from Nova (vol. 4) #17 …

Kinsey Walden and her boyfriend Ethan have been caught in the middle of the Skrull invasion of New York City.[1] This was after she discovered that her brother Hank had been replaced with a Skrull who tried to kill her.[2] This has brought them to a lab at Empire Statue University where Hank worked. However, when Ethan tried to open the lab door, he was electrocuted by some kind of defense system.

Kinsey calls out for help, and this brings someone out from inside the lab. It is Professor Mustek, the scientist his brother has been working for. He tells the children that they shouldn’t have come but brings them inside nonetheless. He tells her that the rigged door knob was a security measure to keep the Skrulls out of his lab. He then uses some smelling salts to revive Ethan, who were merely knocked out by the jolt. Ethan wakes up screaming and in a state of shock and Kinsey calms him down by kissing him on the lips.

After Mustak reminds them that he’s standing right there, Kinsey explains that she’s the sister of Hank Walden and that her brother was replaced by a Skrull. When they asks Mustek why the Skrulls would be interested in Hank’s work, the scientist tires to lie to them and claims he has no idea what they are talking about. However, Ethan sees right through this deception and demands answers from him. Mustek decides that if this is truly the end of the world, they should at least know why. He takes them down to his lab where the eccentric scientist goes into a long winded explanation of the work he was doing down there.

He introduces them to “Archibald” the particle accelerator that he and Hank have been working on. In fact, Hank’s contributions to the project is what got them funding from Reed Richards to continue their research. They have been trying to use wormholes to view other locations in the universe without the need of a telescope. They succeeded one day, and had been observing the wreckage of an alien conflict somewhere in deep space. Mustek couldn’t figure out who the combatants were or what they fought about until the invasion started. That’s when he noticed that one of the ruined warships on his screen was a Skrull ship.[3] Mustek explains that Hank had been obsessed with studying the ship and was learning how to reverse-engineer its technology.

That’s when Kinsey realizes that some of these weapons — a blaster that looks like a clarinet and a pair of wristbands — were the product of this reverse-engineering. This leads Kinsey to wonder if her brother was a superhero in his spare time. Mustek didn’t mother Hank and believes it was certainly possible that he did so, and recalls that sometimes he’d be out all night. However, very recently, Hank stopped these late nights out. Ethan wonders if the reason why Hank stopped was because of the recent Super Human Registration Act.[4]

Whatever the case, Hank’s abilities mean that he can be tracked and Professor Mustek has modified a Geiger counter so that they can find the Hank impostor and figure out what he has been trying to accomplish. However, before they can start, the power suddenly goes out in the lab. That’s when the tracker starts registering a hit in their proximity.

… Secret Invasion continues in Avengers: The Initiative #17.

Recurring Characters

Kinsey Walden, Ethan, Professor Mustek

Continuity Notes

This story takes place during the Secret Invasion event. The primary tale is told in Secret Invasion #1-8, and the various crossover issues. See below for a full listing.
Brother Hank was replaced by a Skrull in Secret Invasion: Home Invasion #1.
It is unclear what the conflict viewed by Mustek was about. It could be anything from one of the many battles in the centuries long hostilities between the Kree and the Skrulls (See Avengers #133-134), or the more recent Annihilation Wave that decimated the Skrull Empire (Annihilation #1-6).
The SHRA was passed in Civil War #3 and required all super-humans to register with the government. This also led to the Initiative (formed in Civil War: The Initiative #1/Avengers: The Initiative #1) to train newly registered heroes. Many heroes chose not to register and became outlaws. This law will remain on the books until Siege #4.

Topical References

Some of the computer monitors in Mustek’s lab are depicted as CRT models. This should be considered topical as this is now an obsolete technology.
Mustek asks Kinsey and Ethan if they ever seen photos of Afghanistan that show the broken Russian tanks. He is referring to the Soviet-Afgan war of 1979 to 1989. Before America made it cool, the Russians tried their hand at controlling Afghanistan only to have their asses handed to them, just like America did some 30+ years later. This should not be considered a topical reference as Mustek is referring to a historical event.
When given the tracking device, Ethan says it is just like the 1986 sci-fi film and the 2nd in the Alien franchise. The story is about space marines who go to an alien colony that has been overrun by deadly xenomorph creatures. The story features a similar tracking device as a means of tracking the monsters. When Ethan says “Game Over Man” he is quoting a line from the film. This would be a topical reference because you could easily replace the reference with a more contemporary example.