Story by Joshua Fine & Christopher Yost
Damocles Base detects a ship dropping out of warp, right into the atmosphere, and Ms. Marvel pursues it all the way to Wakanda. All of SWORD's scanners identify it as a Skrull ship so she contacts the Avengers for help and investigates. The ship's boarding ramp opens to reveal... the Avengers, having apparently escaped from captivity aboard a Skrull prison ship where they were taken shortly after saving all of reality. They only just escaped and have come back to help root out the Skrull infiltrators, who have come to take control of Wakanda's Vibranium mound. The only thing standing in their way is Black Panther and the Wakandan army, who attack despite Ms. Marvel's attempts to mediate.
Carol is in a bad situation; she doesn't know who to trust and the arrival of Hawkeye and Wasp complicates things even further. Finally the issue is settled when Thor takes a hit from a Wakandan tank and is revealed to be a Skrull infiltrator. Ms. Marvel and the other Avengers square off against their false counterparts and defeat them all but the Iron Man Skrull remains defiant, maintaining that Earth is the new Skrull homeworld as written in their prophecies. The Avengers try to persuade Black Panther to come back with them and defend New York but he refuses, citing his responsibility to his homeland and inability to trust them at this stage.
Tony Stark does not responding to Ms. Marvel's signal. Instead he is tinkering with a device that is supposed to analyze and identify disguised Skrulls when he is paid a visit by none other than Doctor Doom. After a brief battle, Doom hands over a chip that will help Stark complete his device and expose any disguised Skrulls. Of course, the only reason Doom is helping is because the Skrulls cannot be allowed to conquer his world. Only Doom may do that. Iron Man goes to pay Nick Fury a visit.
For his part, Fury has been hard at work trying to isolate the Skrulls through deduction and investigative techniques. Quake uncovers secret SHIELD files detailing Captain America's duplicity and Fury sends Black Widow to fetch Iron Man. He reveals that he has uncovered the Skrull within the Avengers, as well as a traitor within his own cell — Mockingbird, who takes out everyone in the room. Finally revealing her true colors, the Skrull Queen activates a virus secretly uploaded to Iron Man's armor and paves the way for the invasion to begin.
The story continues in "Secret Invasion"
Tropes:
- Alien Invasion: "Iron Man and Nick Fury have been dealt with. Commence with invasion."
- Badass Boast: Hawkeye manages to catch his impostor's arrow and immediately throw it back to hit a miniature Skrull Wasp.Skrull Hawkeye: No! No one's that good.
Hawkeye: Guess what? I am! [pow] - Big Damn Heroes: Hawkeye and Wasp's sudden arrival saves Black Panther from being executed.Wasp: Avengers, assemble... but only the human ones.
- Brick Joke: At the beginning of the episode, Ms. Marvel calls the Avengers with a very professional-sounding "Avengers Assemble". Later on, when the real Wasp shows up, she proves her identity by quipping that Carol needs to work on her battle cry.
- Call-Back:
- Nick Fury learns of the recent Helicarrier attack. Quake obtains footage of both that and the fight against Ronan, causing Fury to realize the truth about Cap and Mockingbird.
- Veranke says the Skrulls learned all about Iron Man's armor recently.
- Cliffhanger: "Iron Man and Nick Fury have been dealt with. Commence with invasion."
- Confronting Your Imposter: Black Panther battles his own Skrull imposter one-on-one and defeats him. Hawkeye does similarly, also taking out Skrull Wasp.
- Dramatic Irony: The phony Iron Man claims to Ms. Marvel that the entire team was abducted and replaced after returning from Asgard. Viewers, however, know how it all really went down, as well as how the real Thor has been off in Asgard and that Banner/Hulk was recently taken into military custody.
- Dramatic Unmask: Black Panther does this to his Skrull imposter, helping demonstrate to Ms. Marvel that she had been tricked.
- Dynamic Entry: Doom blasts his way into Tony's lab and then calmly says, "I would like a word with you, Stark."
- Early-Bird Cameo: A picture of Spider-Man (who would appear in-person two episodes later) is on Fury's wall of suspects.
- Enemy Mine: Doctor Doom provides Tony with a means to detect and expose the Skrulls, but that's all he will give. Doom wants to one day rule the world, and further helping Tony or anyone else is "beneath him".
- Hates Being Touched: Doctor Doom indulges the fight, until Iron Man manages to tackle him and get some punches in. An enraged Doom blasts him across the room for this.
- He Knows Too Much: Veranke lampshades how Iron Man obtaining the means to expose the Skrulls' shape-shifting makes him a very dangerous person that needs to be dealt with.
- Heroic BSoD: Tony hasn't been doing so well since we saw him last, as he has spent weeks holed up in a lab obsessively trying to find a way to detect Skrulls. JARVIS points out he has been ignoring multiple calls from Pepper and has refused to take off his armor.
- Honor Before Reason: Averted by Ms. Marvel when she uses her ID card to call for help. She doesn't really trust what's left of the Avengers, but she's willing to take a chance on them ahead of a Skrull invasion.
- Internal Reveal: Nick Fury realizes Captain America was replaced by a Skrull and that his cell has been infiltrated. Veranke then formally reveals her deception.
- Mythology Gag:
- A reference to Hank's most infamous moment occurs when Wasp punches out his Skrull imposter.Wasp: That felt kinda good!
- Hawkeye grabbing an arrow shot by Skrull Hawkeye references how the Hawkeye identity was given to Bullseye (better known for hand-thrown weapons rather than arrows) by Norman Osborn.
- The Skrull Avengers' cover story ("we were accidentally kidnapped and imprisoned by the Skrulls on a mission gone wrong") sounds like what happened to The Illuminati to kick off the Secret Invasion.
- A reference to Hank's most infamous moment occurs when Wasp punches out his Skrull imposter.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Referenced by Doctor Doom to Iron Man, as a nod to "The Private War of Doctor Doom."Doctor Doom: I would've had the genetic key sooner, but you chose to destroy my scanner like an angry child.
- Nothing Personal: Veranke says as much, after activating the virus that incapacitates Iron Man.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Non-verbal example. Nick Fury slams his fist against his wall of suspects, as he realizes that Captain America — who he previously considered and then ruled out — has been replaced by a Skrull.
- Fury gets another one when he realizes that Mockingbird isn't what she seems.
- When Ms. Marvel sees both Thor and Black Panther exposed as Skrulls. Then she gets very angry.
- Out-of-Character Alert:
- Video footage of Skrull Cap hanging Banner/Hulk out to dry and the earlier "Avengers, attack" moment are what allow Fury to figure out what's going on.
- Fury put Mockingbird in charge of surveillance of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Her not telling him about the Hulk's supposed attack on the Helicarrier and the big guy's subsequent capture in "Nightmare in Red" causes him to realize something is wrong.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Doctor Doom.Iron Man: So what, you're here to help me? Out of the goodness of your heart?
Doctor Doom: No. This world is mine to rule and mine alone. These... reptiles may not have it. - Properly Paranoid: Quartermain, General Ross, Secretary Dell Rusk and Samson are on Nick Fury's wall of possible Skrull infiltrators. We already know by this point that Quartermain has been replaced. The others are not Skrulls, but Fury was right to suspect they weren't what they seemed. Later in the season, Ross is revealed to be the Red Hulk, Rusk the Red Skull in disguise and Samson was brainwashed to serve.
- Pyrrhic Victory: The assembled heroes manage to foil the invasion of Wakanda, but given the We Are Everywhere warning, they acknowledge that their problems are only just beginning.
- Shooting Superman: Averted.Iron Man: Y'know, hon, you're more likely to hurt yourself than me if you fire that.
Veranke: I know. You see, I know everything there is to know about you and your armor, Iron Man. That's how we were able to upload the virus. - Shout-Out: Among the characters on Fury's wall of suspects are Beast and Cyclops in their Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) designs (Wolverine, however, was redesigned). According to
Word of God, both shows are set in the same universe. - Shown Their Work: Skrull Hawkeye feigns not knowing who Carol Danvers is because the real Hawkeye didn't appear in "459".
- This Is Gonna Suck: Fury's reaction to learning which Avenger was replaced and why Mockingbird didn't tell him about the recent attack on the Helicarrier.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Hawkeye's view of Black Panther refusing to rejoin the team, despite them having just saved Wakanda and Hawkeye himself having directly saved Black Panther's life.
- Unreliable Expositor: Skrull Iron Man tells Ms. Marvel that all the Avengers got replaced with Skrulls after the defeat of Loki.
- We Are Everywhere:Hawkeye: Who else? Who else is a Skrull and where are they?
Skrull Iron Man: [chuckles] We are everywhere. You will see. - Wham Line:Iron Man: What do you know about the Skrulls?
Doctor Doom: That which you do not, Avenger. I know how to find them.
