Friday, June 27, 2008

Whatever Happened to Hank Pym?


Well into the middle of the Skrull Invasion of Marvel, we are finally getting a chance to catch up to everything that has gone on behind the scenes for the past few years with Skrull activity. Who was replaced? And how? Last month, we saw the master plan to take down Sentry, Marvel's favorite schizophrenic superhero. For some reason, he's supposed to be the key to defeating the Skrulls, and yet Marvel has never used him effectively in any way since he killed Carnage in New Avengers #2. At any rate, we ended Mighty Avengers 14 with the Sentry in space and now replaced by a strange "dark" version of himself. Ready to see what happens next? Well, keep waiting.

Marvel has jumped on the DC bandwagon of storytelling by giving us several individual issues of stories that start but never end. This month in Mighty Avengers #15, we are treated to the background info on how (and why) the Skrulls replaced Marvel's other resident schizo: Hank Pym. To be honest, it's a good story for the most part. I've always enjoyed Ant-Man and hated his Yellowjacket phase. I have to admit a certain satisfaction at the flashback Marvel did to the very first issue of New Avengers to show us how the criminals escaped The Raft, and why. Of course, the question has to be asked: "Where are the heroes who have been replaced?" No doubt, Marvel is going to answer that soon. If nothing else, at least they're honoring their major crossover story by having it tie into other titles for a reason.

So what's the score so far? Hank Pym and Spider-Woman are both Skrull agents. Tony Stark? Nope (even though it was the popular vote of choice when the whole "Civil War" started). Dead Captain America? Nope (again, Marvel ignored the popular ideas and just plain killed the guy). Nick Fury is back too with his own little group of soldiers determined to take down the bad guys. Will he succeed where others have failed? You won't find out next issue, because Marvel's taking the focus on the first Skrull reveal: Electra. Why would they do this in "Mighty Avengers" since Electra was never even an Avenger? Because it's Marvel Comics and they can.

Major Skrull reveals still ahead, I'm sure. Any ideas?

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