Nova and Super-Skrull’s jungle adventure

After the Annihilation Wave almost destroyed all civilization, the Skrull empire collapsed.  Warlords fought among themselves for control and whatnot.  It happens.  When the Skrull empire gets carefully pieced back together in that fragile manner diplomacy and lasers can accomplish, it’s time for them to show their superiority once more.  They decide to invade Earth.  Secretly.  Hence begins the Marvel event Secret Invasion in which many of our favorite superheroes were secretly replaced with Skrulls over the past few months.  Now, no one knows who can trust — shapeshifters can be sneaky.  But we’re not talking about Secret Invasion today.  Instead, we’re going to take a look at a scene across the galaxy from Nova #16-17, written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning and drawn by Wellinton Alves & Geraldo Burges.

Nova Richard Rider checks out a distress signal on a distant planet.  Nova responsibilities beckon.

So yeah, Skrull ambush.  They might not have super-durability, but they always land the first strike. Also, remember a few articles back when I went on about Nova’s computer Worldmind?  It’s on the fritz, as you’ve noticed, so all the cool energy blast stuff he does must be done vocally and slowly. Nova still contains the full power of the Nova force, making him more powerful than a human atomic bomb, but currently it’s a frustratingly slow bomb.

Ah, there’s our dear supervillain.  After the Annihilation Wave, what else would the Super-Skrull do except rejoin the military?  Even saving hundreds of possible worlds from the Harvester of Sorrow as well as joining the main strike team that brought down Annihilus and Thanos isn’t going to sway the minds of Skrull past.  Old men who do super heroic stuff are still old men.  Plus, as you’ll soon find out, the new Skrull boss definitely isn’t the same as the old boss.  I’m skipping the fight scene, but it ends with this:

Nova and Super-Skrull don’t qualify as friends.  They have been allies briefly (Nova led that main strike team), but superheroes and supervillains can’t get along for long when they disagree on the very moral fibers that justify their existences.  All great relationships between good and bad guys eventually sizzles: Professor X and Magneto, Thing and Sandman, Human Torch and Daken, etc.  On a related note, if you ever google “johnny storm darken” be prepared for a onslaught of creepy fanfiction.  Spoiler alert: the two do a lot of staring into each other’s eyes.

Anyway, the Super-Skrull’s character development during his miniseries continues to hold.  The new Super-Skrull still retains all his supervillainy, but now we can focus on a more philosophical supervillain.

I get Nova’s hesitation.  The Skrulls currently barrage Earth and the Super-Skrull requests that he be allowed to travel to the battleground.  Y’know, as in Nova hand-delivering the most powerful of all Skrulls to help the Skrulls conquer Nova’s home planet.  But we know something Nova doesn’t: this isn’t the same Super-Skrull of the past.  He’s grown as a person.  He lost his son, he lost his protégé, and his reasons for going to Earth don’t involve spearing Earthlings while cackling manically.

He’s lying (sorta) about the daughter part, but that’s for Friday and Monday’s articles.  Most importantly, why shouldn’t Nova trust Super-Skrull?  The supervillain learned quite a bit about the heartbreak of betrayal during the war.  He witnessed firsthand the trauma of his closest ally selling him out and the price to be paid.  As they arrive in Earth’s orbit, of course it’s Nova and Super-Skrull together as a new partnership against the brutality and zealousness of the new Skrull empire.

Oh.

Well, moral righteousness takes more than one bad day to learn, huh?  Though if the Super-Skrull wants to make an entrance, destroying the sole remaining Nova in front of his peers will certainly help bring back some of that lost reputation.  The combined powers of the Fantastic Four doesn’t make someone the Fantastic Four, I guess.  Goodbye, Nova, I’ll miss you.

Aw, the Super-Skrull has become a slightly better person.  Very slightly.  Very, very slightly.  Like the final text box states, we’ll find out in our dramatic conclusion next time within She-Hulk #32-33. Get ready for some green-on-green punching.