Empyre #3

[laughing_tree]

I think Hulkling's fans are a little nervous, but I think most of them know I'm a fan too, so I hope I have at least a little trust. And if I don't have it at the start, I will by the end. -- Al Ewing

Comments

[gnarll]

I'm having a little bit of a problem with how the Coati are actually a threat here. The Kree and Skrulls are galactic empires that have been checked only by the age-old war between them.

The Coati are a remnant of an old race, that has been hiding away in a small area of Earths moon. With superior tech and stockpiled resources, I can see how they'd be a threat to Earth, but even a minor interstellar nation should be able to sterilze the moon from a great big distance. Something simple like a beam weapon or high-kinetic impact, or something more exotic and Armageddon-like such as collapsed antimatter.

A galactic empire... our galaxy contains maybe 250 000 000 000 stars. The kind of resources we are talking about here... the Coati is sort of like the Sentinelese taking on NATO.

They're a remnant thats been hidden away in a small area on one moon. I got no idea why they are a threat to anyone beyond earth.

[leahandillyana]

Sequoia is capable of manipulating all plant life according to his will, and a special flower amplifies his powers. If enough of these flowers bloom, he'll be able to eliminate animal life in the universe without leaving the solar system.

[donnblake]

*Jason Woodrue liked this post.*

[gnarll]

The tyke must be very proud:)

But that is neither a defense nor anything that makes direct battles with the enemy very smart. No real reason for one of the Galactics not to fire some kind of beam from around mars distance, and strilize the blue area, or just dropping a cruiser at near light sppped out of warp just above the moon. Giving him half a picosecond before he is plasma.

On other subjects, I am surprised the difference between plant and animal life extends to aliens, and I wonder if Coati were the original inhabitants of kun'lun.

[broblawsky]

That was the Alliance's plan, until the Avengers interfered. That bought the Cotati the seconds they needed to mostly destroy the Kree/Skrull fleet, then flee to Earth to avoid retaliation.

[akodo_rokku]

The Skrull and Kree have been hid HARD the last several years, with Annihilations and failed Secret Invasions and the like. They're shadows of their former selves.

[coldfury]

The Kree got conquered by 6 inhumans and their dog once. I really don't see how they're impressive at all these days.

[agharta75]

Don't mess with the dog.

[gnarll]

I kind of feel you think you are defending the story, but...
"I just don't feel that the Setinelese hunter-gatherers taking on the allied forces of the USA and China feels realistic, even if both nations have had setbacks lately"

"Did you not read last issue? The hunter-gatherers took down a combined US-Chinese fleet, clearly they are a threat."

What I am trying to say is that bringing up that they did other suspesion-of-disbelief-breaking things in previous issues does not actually lessen my issue with feeling the Cotati isn't a plausible threat.

I am making the analogy between the Cotati and a band of hunter-gatherers, and the Kree-Skrull with the combined forces of the US and China here, but really, even with both empires having had major setback lately, the difference should actually be far, far larger.

[mastermahan]

Nervous something bad will happen to Hulkling? Please. He's half of Marvel's most prominent gay couple and his boyfriend is a future cosmic entity. Teddy is indestructible.

[leahandillyana]

More than he will do something bad that will make him a villain to be milked in stories for years until he gets forgotten.

[mastermahan]

Also no. Characters don't generally go full heel unless their star has really faded. Max Lord, Mark Shaw, one of two Wally Wests, Havok, Ultimate Reed Richards... all far more expendable characters than Teddy.

[leahandillyana]

That comment didn’t age well.

[mastermahan]

Err, how so?

[leahandillyana]

Exactly what I was talking about happened in the latest issue. Like sure, there are blatant hints that Teddy's grandma is impersonating him, but it happened.

[alliterator]

I mean, you just contradicted yourself. "There are blatant hints that Teddy's grandma is impersonating him" hence it wasn't Teddy, therefore he's still safe.

Nobody is going to blame Teddy for something he didn't do.

[scorntx]

Nervous? Why would anyone be nervous about Teddy, one of Marvel's more prominent gay characters, who is also one of Mar-Vell's kids, one of the Young Avengers, and most damning of all, not a character in the MCU?
(Seriously. When's the last time anyone used Cassie Lang?)

... now, admittedly, I don't think Ewing would be the sort to kill him, and I don't necessarily think Marvel would either.
But you'd be amazed what someone can live through.
(Plus, this event is co-written by Dan Slott, and I sure as heck don't trust him not to do something profoundly irritating.)
... but I figure the end result, whatever it will be, is Teddy needing large amounts of hugs from Billy.


Tony, we get it. You actually feel guilty about something for once.
But for goodness' sake, cram a ham in it.


... y'know, in a crossover involving Skrulls, probably should've seen someone being a Skrull in disguise coming.
Just didn't think it'd be Teddy's Evil Space Grandma.
(... Marvel has a shocking lack of evil grandmas, come to think of it. )

[zachbeacon]

Tony's guilt is such a weird thing.

Within the context of his solo series its a big part of why he struggles with alcoholism.

Within the context of an Avengers crossover ... nope, I don't buy it. Not after Civil War. And Planet Hulk. And AvX. And everything the Illuminati did.

[akodo_rokku]

It's not guilt, it's shame. Tony's ashamed that the smartest man in the room got duped.

[cygnia]

Reed's handling it fine though... ;)

[zachbeacon]

Yeah, hard to call Tony the smartest man in the room when Mr. Fantastic and Black Panther are in this story.

Of course I could buy that Tony THINKS he's the smartest one here. He'd be wrong but that's nothing new for Tony.

[bruinsfan]

I really like how Reed was depicted as effortlessly figuring out the code Tony used for his password by the time the latter had called out the fourth character of it. That gets across just what a higher level his mind is working on far more effectively than always having him working on some big machine.

[zachbeacon]

In fairness, it's only because Tony thinks so much like Reed's brother in law; a character best known for his questionable decision making, womanizing, and not living up to his full potential.

(I feel like there's some room to comment on HT's relationship to Iceman and both IM and HT's relationships to Spider-Man but I just can't be bothered to flesh that one out.)

[matrix_dragon]

"Please. You're not even the smartest person in this conversation."

[zachbeacon]

Does Tony know about Val? I would love to see the look on his face when he finds out about Val.

[lordnorj]

Selene is an evil grandma, Molly Hayes has a mad geneticist grandma and there is an entire team of eco-terroist grandmas in the X-books now.

[scorntx]

How long has it been since anyone acknowledged Selene's grandmother-ness?

[zachbeacon]

Is she anyone in particular's grandma or is this an "immortals like Apocalypse, Vandal Savage, ect have a lot of descendants and some of them just happen to be a named character" thing?

I mean, if we're talking Magma then I'm pretty sure there are several "great"s after "grandmother"

[scorntx]

Original Claremont Selene was Magma's grandmother.

Then in the 90s Magma's history became a tangled snarl and the whole thing is generally Not Spoken Of anymore.

[silverhammerman]

Cassie Lang was in the last Ant-Man series as co-star, I think still using the name Stinger. It's not the biggest role, but she's around in a way that she wasn't for a long time.

[thehood]

Cassie was in this year's Ant-Man book. Cassie isn't missing, not like Eli. Cassie has been around as Stinger.

[scorntx]

Eli's not missing either.
(As the end of this week's issue of this very event shows.)

He's just not doing a lot.

[thehood]

And he was in Marvel Comics 1000 before this. But he's mainly just doing one panel appearances. Hopefully that will change soon.

[shadowpsykie]

SHe's looking very Wanda-ish

[mazway_75]

I love how it seems a genetic quirk of Skrullls that when they drop the act to take their natural shape, they just get hammy boasting on "see my true form!"

[shakalooloo]

The best thing about this issue was it bringing back BLAST! as a curseword when Tony gets frustrated. I'm so tired of seeing characters saying $#%£ in comics.

[bruinsfan]

I wonder... unlike other planets throughout the galaxy, Earth has a 4 billion-year-old elder god infused throughout the entire biosphere, so most of her "body" is actually the 450 gigatons of terrestrial plant life. Could Gaea wrest control of such away from Quoi and his machines, or at least resist his influence enough to make Earth's plants useless as tools against quicker-moving animal life?

[scorntx]

Pretty sure the Thor tie-in was meant to answer the Gaea question.

And it got cancelled.

[mazway_75]

Yep, this a time when an event may have dangling plot threads as the planned spin-off series were axed due to the pandemic.

[coldfury]

You know, I know that this is comics, and things are only as remembered as they need to be, but didn't the Avengers just liberate the Galaxy like... a year ago tops in universe time? "Every world is an Avengers world" yada yada.

I know Hickman stuff tends to get forgotten as soon as he's out the door, but shouldn't there be at least *some* voices going "Hey no, Earth is cool yo" instead of all this "UNCIVILIZED GARBAGE" space elitism?

[gnarll]

Yes. And the Skrull homeworld got eaten by Galactus, while Earth keeps repulsing him or even repurposing him to their own goals. You'd think they'd see the value in good relations with someone who can ask Galactus to go elsewhere for a meal.

Repeat for Celestials, etc.

[zachbeacon]

Counterpoint : the Kree and the Skrulls are assholes. United they are even bigger assholes.

(Also the Shi'ar are cloacas, I guess, but that's neither here nor there)

They only recognize human sovereignty when its convenient for them.

[malitia]

THE MONSTERS NUKED THE THEME PARK SOLAR SYSTEM! HOW COULD THEY?! [grumbles] Some people just. Hate. FUN...

[viridian5]

R'Kll! Creator of sudden dramatic winds where no wind was before!