How Marvel Should Have Concluded Secret Empire (according to me)

[Matternativ]

Well given that I am someone from the Internet that means I know everything better than anyone else anyway.

Thus I decided to "fix" the Ending of Secret Empire.
All jokes aside, as much as I loved Secret Empire, the ending felt weak to me at least when compared to the overall quality of the event.

For this thread I'll just copy and paste the important stuff.
You can find the whole thing, with some images and how that affects SE Omega on my Blog: [Here]

Keep in mind that this is just a fun "thought experiment" of mine and not me whining that Marvel didn't do exactly what I wanted them to do.
I don't even know if anyone is interested in my rambling but I thought I'd post it here as well anyway. I mean what else a forums for?

The Story in this scenario remains the same as in the actual Comic up until Issue 9.

I am truelly sorry, Nat. You remain dead.

The only changes in this issue are:


1) Hail Hydra!

Vision and Wanda aren't taken out of the Fight as early and additionally the Incredible Hulk will join Hydra.
I don't exactly know where he disappeared to after smashing the Resistance HQ a few issues earlier anyway.
The reason we wanna keep Hydras forces strong for the time being is simple:
We need the Heroe's Heavy Hitters to be occupied fighting them.
But don't worry we aren't gonna make things harder only for the good guys because...


2) You are no God!

Other than in the actual issue, Steve will get in his Iron Man rip-off armour much sooner but before he gets the Cosmic Cube installed inside said armour Black Panther intercepts him.
Time to fight!


3) All New All Different Issue #10

Issue 10 starts out with Black Panther and Steve fighting, given his new armour it is Steve who remains victorious, using a charged blast to send T'Challe flying high.
Wakanda's King crashlands to the feet of two of Secret Empire's mayor Players. Sam Wilson and Clint Barton.



Meanwhile, Cap gets a visit from Odinson who has switches sides at this point.
Coincidentally they are close to were Mjolnir happens to be.
After a short exchange of words were Cap tells Odinson that he is disappointed by his decision and that this is why he isn't worthy. They get in a fight (duh).
Now, Iron Man armour or not, this should be the point were Steve draws the short straw.
Or at least that would be the case if he didn't have control of the Hammer.
Using his own former weapon against him Cap smashes the Unworthy Thor to the ground and puts the Hammer on his chest so he can't get back up.

This is the point were we and Odinson find out that the Hammer has been changed by the cosmic cube as well and that it can only be picked up by someone who is strong/Hydra, not by someone who is worthy. An enraged God of Thunder shouts out in anger as Cap makes his way to the Cosmic Cube.

Again, he is intercepted. Incoming: Sam and Clint. Giving the Archer a ride the other Captain America flies low and fast while arrow after arrow explode in Steve's face.
Having taken on Odinson and T'Challa before, Stevil's green armour has cracks and missing pieces everywhere.
It looks like he is actually outmached this time.


Thats's when the Superior Octopus enters the Action smacking Sam out of the air.
He loses his grip on Clint who falls a few meter and hits the ground hard.
Before he can grab his bow, Steve kicks it out of the way and goes at Hawkeye with fierce punches and kicks. Barton is no stranger to fights between experts of hand to hand combat, being one of them as well thanks to training sessions with the very Guy who beats him up at this moment.
But after a fall like this, without his weapon and against an armored foe with superior skills, speed and strength he doesn't stand a chance.
Before long Steve has him on the ropes grabbing him by the neck, ready to snap it.

Here Rogers recalls and mentions the time Tony Stark wanted to make Clint the new Captain America after the whole Civil War mess. He either assures him that he can see why Tony thought it's a good idea or mocks Iron Man for being a fool to think Clint would have what it takes.
Always the Joker Clint replies that Red, White and Blue aren't his colours, just lik Green doesn't fit Steve so well. He then adds that there is someone who rocks the patriotic look though.

In that moment a low flying Sam tackles Steve off of him, dragging Hydra's Supreme Leader away.
In the background we see Spider-Man fighting Superior Octopus while a beaten and bloody Hawkeye speaks to Bucky on his headset. Telling him that, if they want to go through with the plan they'll have to do that right now.



Steve and Sam fight it out. At this point Rogers shows signs of fatigue but he still manages to stay in control of the fight. He even manages to maneuver them into a hallway, more precisely, he maneuvers them into the Hallway he was aiming to reach the entire time.

Eventually Sam loses his wings and his Shield to Cap and falls to the Ground, barely able to move.
Both are in front of a huge metal door. Rogers puts his hand on the control panel and the door slides open slowly. Using the remaining time they have evil Cap tells good Cap that he is glad that he is here with him. He tells him of the World he wants to create with the help of the Cosmic Cube.
We get to see a few panels of his Vision and once again we see that this Version of Steve really thinks that he is doing all that for the good of the people.

Behind the now open door the incomplete Cosmic Cube rests on a podest of sorts.
As Steve wants to go and insert it into his armour he hears a familiar sound and dodges just in time before an Arrow hits him.
At the end of the hallway it's Hawkeye again, supported by T'Challa and accompanied by the Tony Stark A.I.
More and more Heroes join them, including the released Champions, Vision and the Scarlet Witch among others.
The Avengers have assembled.

Steve tells them that it is too late just before he turns around only to realize that the Arrow was never aimed at him. It sticks out of the podest directly under the position of the Cosmic Cube which is now in a completed state. At this point portals appear and out come Scott Lang, the Winter Soldier and Kobik.

We get a short flashback of Bucky meeting the real Steve and Kobik inside the Cube and maybe some nice dialogue if we still have enough pages for that (then again you could scrap most of Issue 8 so we'd still make it with 10 issues easy).

Back in the present, Kobik simply waves her hand and restores the real Steve Rogers inside the body of the man who had been Hydra's Supreme Leader for the last months.

Realizing what happened Steve breaks down and cries.

PS: It's around 3 am here. I didn't really proof read.

[Cmbmool]

WOW!!! That is some impressive work. I approve of this massive shift in narrative. Now I wonder what is your idea for the epilogue of the event ?

Either that or post this idea to a fan fiction site for more fans to read it. As this was much more epic than before.

[SpiderClops]

There shouldn't have been two Steves. That was just too much.

[theoneandonly]

armoured cosmic cube hydra Steve is too reminiscent of thanos wielding the infinity gauntlet and in fact Nick also lampshades the
moment in SEx10 when Sam cap approaches hydra cap but to surrender rather than fight him although of course it was a ruse. perhaps it would have made the plot thicken if stevil was using the imperfect cube to revive some ancient hydra entity who had used kobik and red skull to subvert the most able commander to hydras side and make him his pawn. it was the entity who was guiding stevil at each step in the guise of madam hydra and the kraken was the living embodiment of the anchor keeping it in this reality. it is this entity that has kobik scared and hiding from her in VP. she then remembers the original Steve and tries to revive his cached version but he lacks certain essential aspects crucial to victory hidden in past inside certain heroes who had encountered this evil entity and defeated it due to being imbued by this mysterious aspect/force so she dispatches the successors of these persons to meet their predecessors and essentially recover that force which cannot be done in present as they are dead or drastically altered hence the trip to vanishing point and the aspect powered cache cap coming into reality with a vengeance his coming essentially blasting apart hydra cap but he has succeeded to revive the entity and while the heroes and kobik hold it off cached cap takes on kraken and using the full force he erases him and himself in the process resulting in the retreat of the entity from this plane of reality.Steve essentially gave up his existence to story this entity marching into this world and using him to tailor it to suit its existence. The final generations issue will be Sam going to past and retrieving the real cap from the past. I know it may seem similar to siege but I just read IT so....

[Matternativ]

WOW!!! That is some impressive work. I approve of this massive shift in narrative. Now I wonder what is your idea for the epilogue of the event ?

Either that or post this idea to a fan fiction site for more fans to read it. As this was much more epic than before.

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked it.

I don't really plan on spreading that idea around but feel free to repost it wherever you want if you feel like it.

As for what's different in SE Omega:
You can find that on my blog. I'd copy and paste it in this thread for you but I suck at copy/pasting multiple sentences when using a smartphone.

But in short: The issue remains mostly the same except for the part where Steve talks to Steve.

The issue continues directly after SE #10 with an angry mob of civilians showing up to A) celebrate the Heroes and B) torch Steve.
Some of the Heroes decide to stand in defense in front of Cap with Sam telling them again that the Red Skull I'd to blame and not Rogers.
It is made clear at this point that not everyone, be it from the Heroe Community or the Civilians, trusts Cap just like that and that he'll have to earbmn back everyones trust and respect.

Additionally: The Vanishing Point is introduced at this point because it doesn't happen in the Main book.

There shouldn't have been two Steves. That was just too much.

Yeah I happen to agree.

armoured cosmic cube hydra Steve is too reminiscent of thanos wielding the infinity gauntlet and in fact Nick also lampshades the
moment in SEx10 when Sam cap approaches hydra cap but to surrender rather than fight him although of course it was a ruse. perhaps it would have made the plot thicken if stevil was using the imperfect cube to revive some ancient hydra entity who had used kobik and red skull to subvert the most able commander to hydras side and make him his pawn. it was the entity who was guiding stevil at each step in the guise of madam hydra and the kraken was the living embodiment of the anchor keeping it in this reality. it is this entity that has kobik scared and hiding from her in VP. she then remembers the original Steve and tries to revive his cached version but he lacks certain essential aspects crucial to victory hidden in past inside certain heroes who had encountered this evil entity and defeated it due to being imbued by this mysterious aspect/force so she dispatches the successors of these persons to meet their predecessors and essentially recover that force which cannot be done in present as they are dead or drastically altered hence the trip to vanishing point and the aspect powered cache cap coming into reality with a vengeance his coming essentially blasting apart hydra cap but he has succeeded to revive the entity and while the heroes and kobik hold it off cached cap takes on kraken and using the full force he erases him and himself in the process resulting in the retreat of the entity from this plane of reality.Steve essentially gave up his existence to story this entity marching into this world and using him to tailor it to suit its existence. The final generations issue will be Sam going to past and retrieving the real cap from the past. I know it may seem similar to siege but I just read IT so....

Well that is certainly different. For my taste it's a bit too mystic for an event that was very much built around "humans".
But you do you, mate

[theoneandonly]

Thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked it.

I don't really plan on spreading that idea around but feel free to repost it wherever you want if you feel like it.

As for what's different in SE Omega:
You can find that on my blog. I'd copy and paste it in this thread for you but I suck at copy/pasting multiple sentences when using a smartphone.

But in short: The issue remains mostly the same except for the part where Steve talks to Steve.

The issue continues directly after SE #10 with an angry mob of civilians showing up to A) celebrate the Heroes and B) torch Steve.
Some of the Heroes decide to stand in defense in front of Cap with Sam telling them again that the Red Skull I'd to blame and not Rogers.
It is made clear at this point that not everyone, be it from the Heroe Community or the Civilians, trusts Cap just like that and that he'll have to earbmn back everyones trust and respect.

Additionally: The Vanishing Point is introduced at this point because it doesn't happen in the Main book.

Yeah I happen to agree.


Well that is certainly different. For my taste it's a bit too mystic for an event that was very much built around "humans".
But you do you, mate

well nick himself opened the door by using the cube and connecting madam hydra to elder gods but then completely ignored all of it so I thought how would the storyline be if the hydra entity had a bigger role. Anyway as I made a thread somewhere it will be interesting if marvel does a what if on this event sometime later.

[Michael Watkins]

not enough Taskmaster and Black Ant

[Matternativ]

well nick himself opened the door by using the cube and connecting madam hydra to elder gods but then completely ignored all of it so I thought how would the storyline be if the hydra entity had a bigger role. Anyway as I made a thread somewhere it will be interesting if marvel does a what if on this event sometime later.

Yeah that would be cool. But a what if would probably just be Steve winning and ruling over a Hydra controlled earth.

not enough Taskmaster and Black Ant

I knew you'd say that and I actually agree.

I guess with Omega having quite a few more pages to fill it would be easy to include them anyway

[theoneandonly]

Yeah that would be cool. But a what if would probably just be Steve winning and ruling over a Hydra controlled earth.

yeah probably it would be just that looking at the AvsX what if but maybe they will surprise us.

[dzub]

if you will reveal the identity of kraken, i'm 100% behind

[Matternativ]

if you will reveal the identity of kraken, i'm 100% behind

Well unfortunately I don't have a good idea/answer to that question. I thought about including some stuff about the Hydra Council in the Omega issue (because in my vision of Issue 10 everything is pretty straight forward so it would have been a bad fit) but it got pretty late with what I had already and in the end I just wanted to finish this.

Never start to write long or medium length texted after 01:00 am I tell you

[dzub]

Neither do we...it's been hinted he's related to Steve but was'nt revealed in SE.
what a bummer