Marvel Considered Reviving a Major Spider-Man Character With Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion, is currently making its way through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, bringing the question of which characters are and aren't shape-shifting Skrulls into question. The Disney+ exclusive series is inspired by the beloved comic event of the same name, which ran across Marvel Comics from April through December of 2008. A new article from Marvel.com looks back at the making of that original Secret Invasion. — and reveals that the series was originally used to bring Gwen Stacy back, following her death decades prior in The Amazing Spider-Man.
"People looked at this as an opportunity to either bring back characters who were dead that they liked or to fix problems," editor Tom Brevoort revealed. "One of the longest-running fights was over Hank Pym, because they wanted to go, "Oh, let's bring Hank Pym back, and then we can say that the Hank Pym that struck Janet, that was a Skrull, and he'll be a good guy again." And it's like, "Yeah, but that story happened in 1981, and there's no good way to say that every Hank Pym appearance since 1981 was a Skrull. You can do it. It's just not good." More people will be unhappy with it, and it shifts the bedrock under your feet too much to me. You could do it if it was shorter."
"It was like, "No, no, no, that is contradicting!" and then the writer and the editor would argue back and forth," Marvel Comics President Dan Buckley echoed. "There may have been some voting on the final tally, because I often would go to a vote in those retreats, sometimes, when people just wouldn't to get off a topic. One of the more legendary ones is they almost brought Gwen Stacy back at one point and I did not want to bring Gwen Stacy back."
"Saying Spider-Woman has been a Skrull since the beginning of New Avengers, that's not a problem," Breevort argued. "Brian knew she was a Skrull when he was writing those stories. It's baked in, so that's okay. But you can't go back and say Gwen Stacy is alive now because that was a Skrull that got thrown off that bridge, because as much as you want Gwen Stacy back, that's a problem. There are too many stories in which that's the fundamentals. The thing that's appealing about it, of course, is it's transgressive and therefore exciting and therefore dangerous and daring. Yeah, people are going to get upset, but they'll be excited. That's always the argument."
"When it came to me, and I had the final vote, "bring Gwen back" was up by one," Buckley revealed. "My single vote created a tie. I then said were tied, and in order to change something you need to win the vote... so I essentially gave myself two votes. Some people were not very pleased with me because I gave myself two votes at the end.'
What Is Secret Invasion About?
The MCU's top superspy Nick Fury is back in Secret Invasion, the limited series premiering June 21st on Disney+. Samuel L. Jackson returns in the new Marvel Studios series, showcasing Fury's attempt to get to the bottom of a Skrull invasion that goes all the way to the most powerful positions in various governments and organizations on the planet. In Secret Invasion, Fury teams with allies Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), while James Rhodes AKA War Machine will appear in a mysterious capacity. Other newcomers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe include Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
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