When quarantines and isolation began, I figured I'd have more time to take in some Avenging Son awesomeness but that has not turned out to be the case. I've been busy as hell but I finally get some quiet time to take in some Atlantean heroics.
Today, we're looking at a short-lived mini-series called, quite simply, Marvel Universe, in which the Invaders starred for the first few issues.
We begin with a recounting of the demise of a large German sea vessel called the Deutschland at the hands of the
Invaders.
We find out that the event is narrated, sort of, by Baron
Wolfgang Von Strucker, a Nazi and I believe the founder of
Hydra, as he ponders the loss of the ship while in a meeting with German military leaders. He is disgusted by his fellow Nazis' inability to see the future and the big picture so he leaves them to debate pointlessly. He has a brief meeting with the
Red Skull in a secret lab geared towards, at least on paper, suspended animation and preservation.
We transition to a scene in a German submarine as its captain appears pleased to receive an encoded message. His glee is brief, however, because he is visited by undersea royalty.
The men don't put up much of a fight so
Namor has no difficulty getting his hands on the message that the captain received.
But the captain ingest poison rather than talk. The poison was concealed in a ring with the Hydra logo so evidently we are seeing the formation of that organization.
This leads to a retelling of
Namor's origin as told by Betty Dean to a couple of G-Men. The
Human Torch and
Captain America get the same treatment; a few pages of adventure followed by an origin story. The purpose in all cases is for the military to determine, based on these background checks, whether these three men can be trusted.
Once that has been established, these three core
Invaders members are brought in by Allied Command and given their mission. Hydra is not only operational, but they are preparing to build an atomic bomb from their secret island base. They also acquired this sweet beast, the "dragon" referred to above.
...But Hydra swiped it. That, and books about things which have yet to happen, appear to make Strucker quite confident.
So we have a little time travel going on here then? Good tease.
This was quite enjoyable. Going over the origins of each
Invader seemed a little pointless but in a 36-page book, it didn't hurt the story at all. I only wish that other members of the Invaders, like Spitfire and Union Jack, were included (Toro and Bucky, not so much).
