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Spider-Woman’s worst nightmare has just stepped back into her life in the comics, and she might be dragging them both into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as well.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Spider-Woman #18, available now from Marvel.
Over the past two decades, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has adapted some of the most iconic storylines from the comics. The latest of such adaptations, Secret Invasion, should hit Disney+ this year. What remains unclear is how the series will actually look. After all, the MCU doesn’t just deliver straight adaptations of previous works. Instead, they interpolate and restructure stories until they pay homage to their title but deliver a story unique to the medium.
That said, recent comic book events suggest at least one character likely to be involved. If she is, the MCU should get prepared for a very difficult time indeed.
The prognosticating comes inspired by Spider-Woman #18 by Karla Pacheco, Pere Perez, Frank D’Armata, and VC’s Travis Lanham. In the issue, Wilson Fisk’s war on the superheroes of New York City has reached Spider-Woman. His Thunderbolt Units are not only targeting Jessica Drew, but Kingpin’s reign of terror seeks to engulf her family as well. Furious, Spider-Woman takes the fight right to Fisk’s office. Unfortunately, there she finds he’s sent the true battle to her doorstep. The worst version of herself is about to make a house call.
First introduced back in 2008’s New Avengers #40 by Brian Michael Bendis and Jim Cheung, Queen Veranke, the Skrull empress, was exposed as living as Jessica Drew for years. During that time, she infiltrated nearly every significant group in the Marvel Universe, including S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, and the Avengers. Far more heroes and villains knew her as Spider-Woman than the genuine article.
With that access, she masterminded the Secret Invasion. As something akin to a quadruple agent, she took out S.H.I.E.L.D.’s best defenses, destroyed S.W.O.R.D.’s headquarters, and left most of the Avengers unknowingly vulnerable to attack. In the end, however, she overplayed her hand. With Earth’s heroes and villains organized against her invading forces, the power quickly shifted against Veranke. Then Norman Osborn finished the job with a high-powered sniper shot that seemingly killed the empress in the pages of Secret Invasion #8 by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinel Francis Yu. But, alas, she didn’t stay dead.
The specificity of bringing her back now, with Secret Invasion looming for Disney+ sometime later this year, suggests this shouldn’t be overlooked. As noted earlier, the MCU and the comics do not typically align 100%. That said, it is not unusual for the books to ensure that characters about to make big appearances on-screen show up on the page. Given how long Marvel has let Veranke stay assumed dead, this sudden resurrection suggests a certain amount of coordination.
Of course, if Queen Veranke does end up the MCU’s Secret Invasion mastermind, it suggests another fan-favorite appearance might also be in the offing: that of Jessica Drew herself. While never the most recognizable character outside of comics, Spider-Woman has a vocal and enthusiastic following. Additionally, her inclusion reconnects several of the disparate elements of the MCU that have frayed since Endgame. Depending on how closely the MCU adheres to her story, Drew could theoretically connect to S.H.I.E.L.D., Hydra, Scarlet Witch, Jessica Jones, and Captain Marvel.
Trying to outguess the MCU is typically a mistake. Mephisto, anyone? Still, at the very least, the timing of Veranke’s appearance feels like a large path of breadcrumbs. For attentive readers and MCU watchers, it is the sort of thing too tempting to ignore. And for the heroes of the MCU, not being prepared for the empress could indeed prove catastrophic.
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