The Fantastic Four and Avengers find themselves at the center of a war, between who? Find out in Empyre #3 by Al Ewing, Dan Slott, Valerio Schiti, Marte Gracia, and Joe Caramagna!
Tony Thornley: Oh my goodness, what a month. Hi again Allison! So we’re back and what a whirlwind our heroes have been through since Chris and Christi looked at last issue!
Allison Senecal: We’re somehow halfway through this event already? What?! Another major reveal or two. Another potential turning point. Good stuff.
Brainwashing Sucks
TT: So in a week (no idea how long in-story time) we went from the fleet in dire straits to the entire planet Earth overrun by Cotati invaders with Earthlings, Kree and Skrulls fighting a (guerrilla?) war against them. That opening page of Paris being overrun was pretty darn effective, don’t you think?
AS: Yeah, knowing what we know about Quoi’s powers being amplified, this could be a day or two or up to a week (think that’s a bit on the high end), but I can’t imagine it being any more than that? The Cotati appear to work fast if the Kral system example later is any indication. I kinda like that we’re on a timer, so to say? It seems like it anyways. Makes the whole event seem a little more urgent.
TT: I think that’s one thing that I like about the COVID-accelerated pace of the event. It feels like an actual invasion in ways that, for example, Secret Invasion didn’t. This issue is structured a bit more like a war report than a story. I’m kind of reminded of the novel World War Z. We’re jumping from event to event, but instead of feeling disjointed it feels like glimpses into individual skirmishes of the war. We get three main plots though- Reed and Tony, the invasion of Wakanda, and the regrouping of the Kree/Skrull forces. I know you’re excited to talk about that last one, but let’s save it for last because it’s really so cool.
AS: *whine* Fine, I can wait. We’ve said it before, but Ewing really makes Tony and Reed…palatable. More than palatable if I’m being fair. I really like, as you said, Reed’s war report style narration. We tend to see these two thrown together a lot as Marvel’s go-to “Big Brains”, and this is maybe the first I’ve not immediately responded with “y’all suck!”, a big deal for me, haha. Tony’s hit quite the wall thanks to ending up looking like a rube in the last few issues. You can tell by the piles of used coffee mugs. A mood.
TT: And his Back To The Future T-shirt. Does anyone know where I can get it by the way? He’s slipped into enough of a depression that he’s given up the sharp athletic casual look for pop culture Tees. I really like how Schiti depicts the duo too. He’s got a good sense of facial expressions and body language. You feel for Tony here. He just had a bad guy mess with his mind- literally his most prized asset- and it’s shaken him to his core. I do love that Ewing avoids the cliche here while dealing with Tony’s depression- Not a drop of booze tempting Mister Stark in sight.
AS: “No booze, just coffee.”
TT: So much coffee…. (I also want one of these Avengers coffee mugs)
AS: I like the little vulnerable moment between Reed and Tony there. Both admitting neither of them saw through the Cotati deception in time. And it doesn’t come off…annoying? Annoying is the wrong word, but I’m usually annoyed when the big brains in the room (*cough* Beast) get that “woe is me, if I didn’t see it, who could??!” schtick going. This wasn’t that. Would I also like to see Ewing doing a Fantastic Four book? Maybe.
TT: Or another Iron Man? Maybe. I think this scene is a great examination of the mind control trope we see often in superhero comics though. Seeing Tony deal with depression over the fact that he was manipulated into causing this? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that in a superhero comic, and I have to applaud Ewing for deconstructing the trope.
Vibranium- The Most Powerful Plot Device In The Universe
AS: I love this scene with Ben and Shuri!!!! So much!! Have they ever interacted in a comic? Ben bemoaning his lack of universal translator and Shuri gently roasting him for not just knowing more languages…very good. And then Ben internally translating “yibambe” as “IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME” …which, I mean, fair. The Avengers (I see you, Janet!) and Wakanda seem to be wiping the floor with the Cotati. Haha…unless.
TT: “Knowledge is the universal translator.” This scene cracked me up, and I agree. There’s so much lore here, there’s so much humor. It feels a bit like the scene between Gimli and Legolas right before the Battle of Helm’s Deep in The Two Towers. There’s a bit of anxiety there due to the battle to come, but you feel a connection between the characters. As best as I can tell this IS the first time Shuri and Ben have interacted on page. However, it distinctly feels like there’s some lost adventures involving the two, don’t you think?
AS: If nothing else it does feel like the two of them have been bonding off-page between issues of this. Very much appreciate that Swordsman, and by extension Ewing, knows who the true danger among Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is: Black Panther. There’s a lot unsaid there with Swordsman’s history with the Avengers, and with the general public’s assumption that the “Big Three” (in scare quotes earlier in-text in this issue, which probably isn’t a subtle dig, but a girl can imagine) are also the team’s hardest hitters. In a way, T’Challa is Tony, Steve, and Thor in one package and as a non-extensive Avengers reader, that’s kinda just hitting me now.
TT: Black Panther and Captain Marvel (which we’ll get to in a minute) are the strongest two Avengers in about 100 different ways, and nothing anyone on Twitter says can sway me from that. We see that for T’Challa here- as he, Sue and Jen prep for the invasion to come. They discuss what the Cotati are here for- Vibranium- and why. Apparently, Vibranium isn’t just a super metal, but it’s also a super fertilizer!
This ties into a lot of the stuff that Ewing wrote about Vibranium in Ultimates, doesn’t it? I feel off that series a bit too early to remember.
AS: I only just started in on my Ultimates re-read the other week, so I honestly do not remember that clearly, but would make sense, especially for Ewing following up here. I do remember, from where I have zero idea, that bit about vibranium being alive or at least somewhat sentient? Which could have interesting implications for the Cotati’s use of it. Bad implications for our heroes, which is why we should all be ecstatic to see MANTIS arrive on the scene (and confirmed as the mysterious figure flying towards Earth in issue #1). It’s been a damn while.
TT: I’m so happy to see This One! We’ve all been wondering when she’d show up and she has such a fantastic entrance here. With her comes a pretty big revelation- the villain, the master manipulator behind it all? It’s Mantis’ ex-husband, none other than the Swordsman! I’m on the fence about this. I mean, I could see it, but I could see there being another twist or two to this revelation.
AS: I definitely don’t think we’re done with the reveals and layers here, especially considering That Ending. Plus, Swordsman as an Avengers betrayer has been done, and granted that may be a bit of the point, but I think it’s a little too on the nose still. Consider, he has his very own one-shot coming up. We are sure to get more on his motivations, and as in the Hulkling one-shot, more relevant background information. I kind of love the way this is unfurling, instead of starting “before”, which in this case would actually be the bones of what Teddy and Quoi had planned prior to #1. It makes it a lot more intriguing, and much less “action, action, action, obvious bam bam event book”.
TT: Definitely. There’s so much thoughtfulness to the book and I like that. Unfurling is such a good word to describe it, because there’s layers to the story that we are having revealed to us like a spool of ribbon unfurling in front of us. And one of those layers?
Ruling The Kree-Skrull Empire For Dummies
TT: There is so much going on in the back third of this issue. I love cosmic Marvel, but I’m not a huge cosmic buff. I really dug this section. If the issue up to this point was Reed Richards acting as a chronicler, this portion is the massive war council. Standing on the bridge of the flagship is what’s left of the leadership of the Alliance- Hulkling, the Human Torch, Captain Marvel, Tanalth, Super-Skrull, Captain Glory and an interesting player- Mur-G’nn. Another Kree-Skrull hybrid.
Is she our magician from last issue, recolored?
AS: She must be? I wonder if it’s a coloring mistake or something she can do as a hybrid? Would make sense, considering Teddy still has full shapeshifting abilities. I did some digging on her between write-ups, and Ewing created her back in New Avengers (when she helped kidnap Teddy as one of the Knights of the Infinite – who I honestly forgot about til last week). She seems to be a much bigger player now, which is fantastic. One gripe I’ve always had with cosmic Marvel is that there could be more ladies on the board, and Ewing is just pulling them back in from past decades, playing on more recent fun creations, and going buckwild with it. Bringing Mantis back is a get, but there are too many cool Skrull and Kree women popping around space to not include them in the proceedings. (Wherest! Is! Minn-Erva!)
TT: NO KIDDING!
AS: I mean, if space is now safer for Skrull/Kree hybrids, I wonder what it’s like for some of both empires’ worst former war criminals…
TT: You know a bit more about the cosmic side than I do, so I’m very interested to learn more here! Who is that?
AS: Very very simply: the Kree version of Beast on one of his worst days. Maybe just straight up closer to Dark Beast, haha. A little into eugenics. A little into biological warfare. Just generally awful, and somehow still alive. The Captain Marvel movie kinda reduced her to “ayyyy another assassin”.
TT: Oh yeah! I knew she was in the movie, but I forgot about her comics history. She was the villain of an early Spider-Man/Kamala Khan crossover where she was hybridizing herself with other aliens! Didn’t she show up in Thompson’s Captain Marvel series recently too? (AS: I haven’t been keeping up with that, but did some Googling and yes!) I can’t imagine Ewing isn’t going to use her, so I’ll be interested to see how!
So after some really cool war counciling in which Carol is willing to sacrifice herself and Teddy shows some serious maturity (also I think it’s so interesting that Johnny is the member of the F4 in this scene, which is kinda cool!) Tanalth breaks away from the group. And Glory follows which leads us to a pretty massive revelation!
AS: What is Johnny doing here besides leaning against the throne, looking like a snack (and acting as the voice of reason, WHAT)?
And I know you’re gonna edit this out, Chris, but the bitch is back! I hate that phrase unless it’s warranted, and damn! IT IS!
TT: Oh I loved this moment so much. Sorry I just think this is one of the best parts of the series so far, do go on. I think you’re more familiar with our big twist than I am.
AS: It’s such a deep cut! After the Hulkling issue, we knew “Tanalth” was up to something, but I did NOT see this coming. R’Klll, the old Skrull Empress is back, baby. Quick comparison for X-fans would be Deathbird. She loves politics with a side of murder (assassinated her husband, the emperor), is from the “true” ruling line (she was forced to marry Dorrek VII after he killed her father), knows how to make an entrance (see: this comic). The whole shebang. She’s been masquerading as Tanalth this whole time, which makes me wonder, uh, what happened to the real Tanalth. Supposedly, R’Klll died along with her daughter when Galactus devoured the Skrull throneworld, so she hasn’t been seen in decades. Fabulous.
TT: I honestly wonder if Tanalth EVER existed, or if she’s always been R’Klll? Might be worth looking into…
AS: I’m curious about the line she’s feeding Captain Glory (who figured her identity out based on a casual slip-up) about her loyalty to Teddy. The whole “betrayal” scene with “Tanalth” in Emperor Hulkling was sketchy in that respect. But there are also her words to Anelle at the start of that issue. She sounds sincere in her belief in Teddy’s being the future of their people. Since I assume it was a Kree death squad she was communicating with, I could see her showing evidence before the council that the Kree have betrayed the alliance by attempting an assassination on the emperor…
Marvelous Musings
- We’ve said this every issue with a different character, but LOVE the Mantis redesign!
- Love the royal parallels of Teddy and Thor in this. Magic weapons that you can summon and send at will, and all that jazz.
- Gla-Ree knows a woman who can step on him from a mile away, and I appreciate that for him. See: previous issue with Carol, and now R’Klll.
- You know how people like to compare the Avengers to the Justice League? Like that Iron Man is their Batman? Well, Black Panther is the Batman and Captain Marvel is the Superman, and you can’t prove we’re wrong.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
