The Hood and the Secret Invasion
March 16th, 2008 by Gavok | Tags: bendis, hood, Marvel comics, secret invasion, skrullsWith Secret Invasion on the horizon, you can bet your ass that there’s been plenty of theories and speculation. Bendis has given us some major hints and claims that ideas have been there since the beginning of New Avengers. The Raft, the House of M, the Civil War, Taskmaster going back to his original costume instead of his badass hoodie ensemble, and others are all the fault of the Skrulls in one way or another.
I’m not going to spend this post going over who I think is probably a Skrull. But since you asked: Dum Dum Dugan, Spider-Woman, Hank Pym and maybe Thing and Luke Cage. Spider-Woman is still a hero despite her Skrullitiousness.
Comedian and cartoon rat Patton Oswalt mentioned having read the first three issues, thanks to being good friends with Bendis. One of the more interesting quotes in his blog entry is, “As it stands right now, someone’s holding a possible key to stopping the Skrulls, and it’s the LAST person in the Marvel Universe you’d want with that info. And no, it’s not Dr. Doom.”
Some think that this means Marvel Boy, which would make sense in a way, since Brevoort admitted to him being in the first issue. I, on the other hand, think he’s talking about the Hood. Some things to think about:
1) Not even Brother Voodoo could see through Dr. Strange’s illusion at the New Avengers secret headquarters. With his cat-eyed vision, Hood saw through it easily. Hood’s magic trumps Strange’s magic.
2) Secret Invasion is supposed to involve the Skrull gods. I believe that the creature that gives Hood his powers is one of these gods. We know nothing about it other than its appearance and the powers it gives Hood. One of these powers is making him so invisible that NOTHING can detect him. Compare that to the current crop of Skrulls who are so advanced that NOTHING can detect them either.
3) On a Skrully level, the Hood’s recent actions could work into their plans. Not only is he distracting the New Avengers, but he gets Dr. Strange to leave the team and his plan is generally about fucking with the superhero population.
4) Despite all the whining about how much Tigra got smacked around, keep in mind that it was only Hood who got to do anything to her. With witnesses. Every instance of the Hood attacking a hero could be explained away, such as Wolverine will heal, shooting Strange leads to that deus ex machina, and when he gets ready to shoot Iron Fist, Tigra shows up to stop him. The SHIELD agents, I’ll get to in a sec.
5) After his defeat at the end of New Avengers Annual #2, the Hood starts talking to someone. Possibly himself or the creature that gives him his powers. Look at his final line.
Is he really talking about the Avengers?
This leads me to ponder one of two scenarios for the Hood. First, he may be a pawn of the Skrull god and not even know it. He’s helping the invasion against his own interests.
Second, the Hood has been fucking with the Skrulls longer than we’ve known. This whole time he’s been able to see through their tricks and knows that the hero community will never work with him on this. His whole villain team-up idea is really just his own way of dealing with the Skrull threat by trying to get them to kill what he knows to be Skrull imposters. Some of those SHIELD agents were probably Skrulls, possibly covered up by other agents after they were killed.
Tigra is in on this. All those acts of humiliation was a game.
Secret Invasion is the most fun comic book guessing game since Identity Crisis. At least it’ll probably have a better payoff.
Similar Posts:
- The Version of World War Hulk I Kind of Want To See
- Review: Secret Invasion: Who Do You Trust?
- Behind the Green Goblin Door
- The Red Right Hand of Justice
- Fixing the flawed: Tigra
Thats. Thats really reaching dude. I mean I get you like and enjoy BMB’s stuff. But I will give you a dollar if you’re even a little bit close. Ok, except the Skrull God = Hood’s demon. That one seems at least possible…
Fair enough. Then who do you think Oswalt was alluding to?
I also think that while Wonder Man may be a Skrull, he’s more likely a red herring. The most likely character in Mighty Avengers to be a Skrull is the Sentry’s wife.
I think this is seriously reaching, largely because Hood hasn’t really killed any heroes yet, or done anything except go after a boatload of money. I’m not really sure what the hitting Tigra around would accomplish if they were ‘in on it’ together – why bother defusing suspicion when who the fuck would suspect Tigra and Hood were working together in the first place?
I think Oswalt was alluding to Noh-Varr, Marvel Boy.
Civil War has shown us that Tigra is a gigantic snitch. She changed over to Cap’s side only to try and be a mole for Iron Man’s side. Who better to give the Hood information on the superhero community than the big traitor?
As for why he smacks her around? Trust for his criminal associates. Instead of simply calling Tigra for information, he brings over his henchmen, threatens to do terrible stuff, easily gets the answer and comes out looking like a god to the other villains. So far he’s paid his special visit to Tigra twice and nobody else even once.
And yes, Hood hasn’t killed any heroes yet. As it is right now, he may not really want to kill the real heroes. But let’s say Cage is a Skrull. What can the Hood do against him? Tell the other Avengers who won’t believe him? Shoot at him and have no effect? Or he could send murderers who COULD kill Cage to do the job.
Plus before Wolverine discovered his plan, he was going to have Dethlok go on a murder spree at Avengers Tower.
If the Tigra thing happens to be true, and I’m only speculating, it would add a dimension to the random Tigra/Pym interrupted affair scene from Mighty Avengers other than “Cho wanted to draw cat boobs.”
Her snatch must get a pretty good work out in addition to her snitch.
Also, sending in Dethklok into avengers tower would probably be much more effective in taking them out.
Hey, you can’t say that about Ti… Oh, gigantic *snitch*. Nevermind.
I think you’re onto something with this, especially considering all the pimping Hood’s been getting these days. I have something to add about point 1. Strange’s illusions have been penetrated before. Hiroim the Oldstrong of Hulk’s alien Warbound saw through them in World War Hulk #3. Hiroim is the sole possessor of this power since the deaths of the Shadow Elders and Caiera the Oldstrong. He can tap into the energy of the Earth itself, not a small source of power. While I don’t think Hood’s power trumps Strange’s, given Hiroim’s precedent, Hood may, indeed, be unknowingly tapping an immense source of power. So, good show.
While I do think the Hood is going to play a role in Secret Invasion, I’m not convinced he has any ties with the Skrulls. He got his powers through sheer chance and after killing a demon, which seems far too random to be a plot by the Skrulls. If anything, he’ll be used as the face character for the villains, who are undoubtedly also affected by the Skrulls’ actions. The fact that he might be able to see through their disguises does seem like something that could factor into it, though.
If you’re right, the recent storyline with the Hood may turn out better than I thought.
I had thought that when Wolverine went to confront Hood, he said, “c’mon out, I can smell you.” This was what prompted Hood to jump out and shoot Wolverine, guns akimbo.
I hope you’re wrong. It’s not disrespect or that I doubt your reasoning. It’s not even that I’m on the side that thinks Tigra got a rawer deal than she deserved. Well, not entirely. I just think the Hood’s a fucking chump that’s getting the biggest blowjob push to the moon this side of “Alex Ross’s Superfriends by Alex Ross featuring the Superfriends with art by Alex Ross (who loves the Superfriends).”
Dugan, Spiderwoman, Hank Pym – and hero despite their Skrulliness (OK, that’s Captain Marvel not Jess, but still) – who’s your mole?