New Avengers #43 - Revelations in the Savage Land

After months of speculation, Marvel finally gives us a powerful reveal in New Avengers #43 (and thanks to my killer Marvel subscription, I got it a day in advance!). At last we get to see the confrontation between Captain America and Spider-Man that was left dangling two issues ago and the truth about this Captain America is revealed...as well as another major question we've had for a while.

The story itself is good. It's more of the same old backstory we've been fed for months in this title and Mighty Avengers, but we got a little taste of the present as bookends in this story. As I speculated last week in my Skrull Scorecard, our spaceship Captain America isn't who he appears to be, but that's hardly a surprise. What is a surprise is where all those heroes came from...and when their brainwashing began.

I've heard how important the Kree-Skrull War was since this all began but it's seemed a relatively minor event in this Invasion. This issue makes it a major one after all. We see the extent of the brainwashing the Skrulls used, and we see why the "heroes" coming off that ship are so sure they're the real thing.

There's no mention of it in the book, but Mockingbird has to be a Skrull too. But I'd have to say it would be a cool plot twist to make her human so we know there were a few heroes captured that got away. Otherwise, it sort of settles things for the spaceship heroes once and for all.

Again, this is mostly a backstory issue, but I'll have to say this story might make you feel sorry for a brainwashed Skrull in the midst of all this. They've got us cheering for Captain Marvel, so who's to say they couldn't turn a few others for the good?