Alright, after New Avengers: Illuminati #5, I just have to start with
I CALLED IT!!
Send down the balloons, Mr. Colbert because I CALLED THAT MO’FO’! And I was even sick at the time! Mind you, I do know that this is a little like called who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb, but these days the fickle hand of Marvel fate can take the most logical of courses and send them over the waterfall in a barrel. I called this, it does fix a few things and eases a few fears over inconsistent characterizations.
So, Black Bolt was a Skrull. No ifs, ands or buts about it and if the story is solid, he would have been a Skrull for a long time. I’m going to again say that Black Bolt was probably a Skrull Post-Jenkins Inhumans mini because 1) I really like that story and 2) it’s in this semi-nebulous area of time that doesn’t actually relate to many stories outside of itself (shame, really). In fact, it’d probably be best if we just find where the first really stupid decisions started getting made and take it from there.
Pre-Silent War? Well, yes. Poor leadership positions and a rather aggro attitude towards something that should have been solved in a more thoughtful manner (“Hey, Reed? Medusa here. Yeah, your government got a hold of some lethally dangerous Terrigen Mist crystals because my brother-in-law went crazy. Can you go use your sway as a Very Important Person and our long term ally and help us out? Sure, we’ll watch your kids this Sunday!”) that would have gelled better with previous history. Pre-Hulk Decision? Most definitely; divide and conquer plus Xavier not being there to ratt him out (though, apparently the Skrulls have gotten a recent upgrade according to this issue that makes them undetectable by logical methods) make a well-played move for the sneaky Skrulls that’s done a heck of a lot of damage.
But beyond that? Nothing’s really jumping out at me. This might be because continuity hasn’t been rewritten yet that will totally show us all how incredibly well thought out this invasion is, or we might have reached the moment of switcheroo. In that case… where’s Black Bolt? How did they swap him out? Did they even swap him out or was there a disintegrator ray used and is this a more serious threat than simple body swapping?
The very idea of killing off the people these Skrulls are impersonating sounds like such a bad idea. It’s shooting yourself in the foot to add a level of danger to a plot that, let’s face it, we’ve seen before. It’s like saying superheroes would become enemies of the state if they don’t register with the government and taking vigilantism out of Marvel- … Yeah. It seems like an extra twist of the screw that would make everything more brutal and real and dangerous and that is so up Bendis’s alley right now. It’s why we have two Avengers books, it’s why Tigra got the ever-living daylights beat out of her in gruesome detail on panel.
Who can you trust, indeed?
