Secret Empire #4 Review/SPOILERS

[Michael Watkins]

I bet it's Mockingbird. You can never trust SHIELD.

could be. Nick Fury jr has been acting pretty shady, as well. she might have been Faustus'd.

[Michael Watkins]

This event never goes on the way I predict it and boy am I glad it doesn't.
I mean we are 5 1/2 issues in and this is still as exciting as in issue 1 if not even more so.
And the dinner scene.. man we'll be talking about that one for years to come.
Kinda makes me wish the likes of Janet, Clint or a non possessed Wanda would have been there as well just to make it even more of an actual reunion of all stars.

That said I REALLY wanna know what's up with Odinson already.

About the last page: Who do you guess is the mole?
Quicksilver would be the obvious choice but I feel like that would be TOO obvious.


PS: Looking forward to Castle Vs Natasha and I hope she kicks his ass good.

it's going to be brutal. because Natasha fits Castle's "code." she has murdered people in cold blood, before; not just "bad guys."

[Michael Watkins]

My money is on Mockingbird. We can be fairly sure it isn't Sam or Tony just off the bat, and dialogue during the dinner seems to rule out Hercules. Granted, i would have had a hard time seeing him go with Hydra anyway, but i would have said the same about Thor, so.... (and his dialogue seems to indicate he's not too thrilled about the side he is on, but feels he has to. Is Steve holding something over his head, like a hostage? Has he got Jane or something?) Quicksilver can be a bit of a wild card, but I got the feeling that his comment about Wanda was more an attempt to draw her out than actually being indifferent to which side won. If he was really in this just to get Wanda back, you would think he would openly side with Cap to be closer to her? And Mockingbird's reaction seemed... a little odd. I suppose Scott is a possibility, and given Spencer's history with the character, I could maybe see him doing that.... But I dunno. I will grant that it mostly comes down to gut feeling, but still going with Mockingbird.

a solicit has Riri having to deal with Tony-A.I.-gone-megalomaniacal. and he is an artificial drunk. I wouldn't rule him out so quickly. the A.I. might not even be aware that it has been compromised. Hercules would definitely not side with Hydra. he suggested that Thor was a disgrace. I think they are pointing the finger at Bobbi. but that might be a red herring.

[Matternativ]

it's going to be brutal. because Natasha fits Castle's "code." she has murdered people in cold blood, before; not just "bad guys."

Probably. I still want her to break all his facial bones in any case. Preferably with his own gun.

I guess you could call it a personal preference

[Michael Watkins]

Just like everyone said, Pymtron stole the show. The dinner scene and his conversation with all the characters was fantastic. I thought it was going to be just Ultron again, but the fact it appears that there is still some of Pym left in there kind of doing his part to keep the beast at bay is a very interesting development. Along with addressing all of the characters (even Pym's) own demons and past faults. I especially love his "ONE MISTAKE" rant.

As for the mole, I'm gonna go ahead and say Quicksilver makes the most sense, I don't see what Mockingbird has to gain or lose by joining the other side, and Ant-Man possibly, but I think suddenly using Cassie as leverage may be too out of the blue. Especially considering Quicksilver straight up said at the dinner all he cares about is Wanda, Steve could probably manipulate him for that. Kind of like how he probably is manipulating Odinson.

I definitely don't think that it's someone who has legitimately sided with Hydra. I think they've been coerced or controlled somehow. that's why I suggested Pietro and Scott. it would be highly unlikely for it to be Sam or Hercules. Mockingbird's a possibility but only through some kind of mind control, imo.

[Sunday]

most of the people at that table have done far worse than slapping their wife in an event that's ALWAYS taken out of context to make Pym seem less sympathetic. Tony and Steve have started world wars over ego, Mockingbird is a serial killer and a psychopath, and Wanda has committed genocide. I'm glad that finally something acknowledges that maybe Pym's not the worst hero in the world

I bet it's Mockingbird. You can never trust SHIELD.

it makes sense. She's basically a villain already

[Michael Watkins]

Probably. I still want her to break all his facial bones in any case. Preferably with his own gun.

I guess you could call it a personal preference

well I certainly don't expect them to have Natasha lose. she's way too experienced. but it's going to be a messy fight. Frank's got a Netflix series coming up.

[Michael Watkins]

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #10
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • STEFANO CASELLI (A/C)
Marvel vs. Capcom Variant Cover by TBA
• Riri comes face-to-face with the biggest threat she will ever encounter – a headstrong Tony Stark A.I. that’s decided it knows what’s best for the world! What is Tony Stark like without a human form? Pretty awful, it turns out.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

[Matternativ]

well I certainly don't expect them to have Natasha lose. she's way too experienced. but it's going to be a messy fight. Frank's got a Netflix series coming up.

Inb4 the Batm...I mean Punisher Fan base comes around to throw stones and remind us that Castle is unbeatable with Preparation because he's an army hardass. ;D

[Michael Watkins]

Inb4 the Batm...I mean Punisher Fan base comes around to throw stones and remind us that Castle is unbeatable with Preparation because he's an army hardass. ;D

problem is that both characters are known for that. Natasha is ruthless. and she's lived this long only because of paranoia and planning. I'd say that the characters are evenly matched. and she happens to have the moral high ground; this time out. good luck Frank. you'll need it!

[Webhead]

This is an odd one for me, because as the mid issue in the context of a massive event it fails on developing much, but as a character piece it's rather engaging. Pymtron's voice and ramblings were awesome, it was particularly chilling how accurate he got.

I'm gonna bet on the mole being spoilers:

the Tony AI

end of spoilers

Frank effectively being a good soldier for Hydra sat about as well as I figured it would, but eh.
And boy, all that work to keep Chthon from manifesting over at the Carnage book sure amounted to nothing.

[Kurolegacy]

Personally I'm mixed on the issue. I particularly loved Pym calling everyone out even comparing Steve's view of Hydra making everything better to the SRA which honestly, he's right. Both cases were about compromising freedom for perceived liberty so Steve most definitely doesn't have the high ground in this. What I didn't like though was the reveal of there being a mole in the heroes camp. We're at almost the half way mark in this event and in an event that basically is showing how much the heroes relied on Cap, they seem pretty much hopeless without Cap simply because he's pretty much a boring invincible villain in this event. Everything just goes too perfectly for him for it to be interesting and even when the heroes make some progress beyond total defeat, it turns out that it doesn't matter because it's just as Steve planned. At this rate, it's gonna take a serious asspull for the heroes to somehow come out on top at the end of the event.

[Michael Watkins]

Personally I'm mixed on the issue. I particularly loved Pym calling everyone out even comparing Steve's view of Hydra making everything better to the SRA which honestly, he's right. Both cases were about compromising freedom for perceived liberty so Steve most definitely doesn't have the high ground in this. What I didn't like though was the reveal of there being a mole in the heroes camp. We're at almost the half way mark in this event and in an event that basically is showing how much the heroes relied on Cap, they seem pretty much hopeless without Cap simply because he's pretty much a boring invincible villain in this event. Everything just goes too perfectly for him for it to be interesting and even when the heroes make some progress beyond total defeat, it turns out that it doesn't matter because it's just as Steve planned. At this rate, it's gonna take a serious asspull for the heroes to somehow come out on top at the end of the event.

yes, it's called suspense. Steve is one of the best military minds on the planet; due to actively leading and fighting for so long. he is a serious threat to the Marvel Universe. I like the high stakes in this event. but keep in mind that there's also a battle going on (speculatively) within Steve's mind.

[Matternativ]

INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #10
BRIAN MICHAEL BENDIS (W) • STEFANO CASELLI (A/C)
Marvel vs. Capcom Variant Cover by TBA
• Riri comes face-to-face with the biggest threat she will ever encounter – a headstrong Tony Stark A.I. that’s decided it knows what’s best for the world! What is Tony Stark like without a human form? Pretty awful, it turns out.
32 PGS./Rated T+ …$3.99

Gosh I forgot about him. Yeah Tony AI makes sense.

problem is that both characters are known for that. Natasha is ruthless. and she's lived this long only because of paranoia and planning. I'd say that the characters are evenly matched. and she happens to have the moral high ground; this time out. good luck Frank. you'll need it!

I know, I know. But you see on paper this should not even be a contest. On one side you have a character who was trained her whole life, has tangled with aliens and super beings way out of her league over the decades, has a super soldier serum of sorts circulating through her blood and who also has lots of gadgets. On the other hand you have a psychotic soldier dude with some heavy weapons.

But that belongs in one of these weird battle threads so I'll finally shut up about it

[Kurolegacy]

yes, it's called suspense. Steve is one of the best military minds on the planet; due to actively leading and fighting for so long. he is a serious threat to the Marvel Universe. I like the high stakes in this event. but keep in mind that there's also a battle going on (speculatively) within Steve's mind.

We literally spent what had been the first third of the event in what amounted to The Bad Guy Wins: The Event after we spent over a year just getting to the point. Frankly, it gets boring watching the same thing play out in a story with zero change. At that point, it stops being suspense and becomes a predictable pattern. It's gotten to the point that I didn't even have to get to the end of the issue to call that Spencer was gonna throw in something that undermined any victory the heroes had over Steve because that's the pattern this event has taken at every step.

And for this claim of Steve being one of the world's greatest military minds, yea he's shown to be a skilled leader in the past but where the Hell was this level of planning his entire existence. Hell just comparing him to, say Cyclops, I would have pegged Cyclops as the better strategist and he has the showing to prove it. Steve planning things that well to the degree that nothing even so much as mildly inconveniences him just feels like a plot contrivance simply to allow the story to happen in such a way.