So What WIll The Skrulls Leave Behind?

Topic of the day: What will be the lasting effects of Secret Invasion?

House of M brought Clint Barton back, set Pietro on a long and winding road of lunacy, drove a stake through the "mutant culture" concept Morrison/Casey/Milligan/whoever had been building, and depowered some mutants*.

Civil War killed Captain America, made Tony Stark ruler of the world, helped facilitate One More Day, made Speedball dark and ludicrous, and established that if one is a superhero, they answer to one of the following: Iron Man, Gyrich, a Skrull Hank Pym, or Norman Osborn (Skrull Pym being the one I'd deem most trustworthy). Or you're a wanted criminal**.

World War Hulk gave us, um, the inanity of Red Hulk? Um, Rick Jones as A-Bomb? Oh, it gave us the new Hard-Travelin' Heroes, Hercules and Amadeus Cho! And Skarr, Son of Hulk, I suppose. Oh, and the Hulk pummeling Iron Man and the Sentry. I kind of enjoyed that.

Annihilation made Richard Rider the last of the Nova Corps, the Silver Surfer back as a Herald of Galactus, Ronan ruler of the Kree Empire, dubbed a new Quasar, and destroyed the Skrull Empire, probably lending an air of desperation to their current attempts to take Earth***.

Messiah CompleX broke up Cable and Deadpool, drove Bishop round the bend, dumped Layla Miller in the future, and left Xavier partially amnesiac.

So I'm sure Secret Invasion is going to do something to alter the current state of the Marvel Universe. The question is what? Can Nick Fury use this to wrest SHIELD away from Tony Stark? Could some of the Skrulls lose their desire to conquer, and instead petition for asylum? Then they could spread their faith through the magic of televangelism. Might be more successful than the hordes of Super-Skrulls running around blowing stuff up.

Could the Illiminati finally receive their comeuppance**** for the years they've spent making all the important decisions without consulting anybody else, after it's revealed they decided, by themselves, to go deliver an ultimatum to the Skrulls, leading to their capture, leading to the Skrulls learning quite a bit about their abilities, which was probably turned around and used against Earth?

Your turn. Be as silly, or as serious, as you wish.

* Not that you'd really notice so much these days. Given that Xavier, Pietro, Magneto, Iceman, and Polaris all got their powers back, I'd say the most notable mutant that is still depowered is either Jubilee or Rictor. Maybe the Blob. So House of M removed the mutants that populate the back of those George Perez style pictures with a million characters.

** In theory. In practice, Ms. Marvel will keep letting you escape because you used to be friends.

*** In theory. I haven't been reading much Secret Invasion, so I can't verify that. Any concern might be quelled by the certainty that a deep and abiding trust in their faith provides.

**** That was supposed to be the Hulk's job, yet I don't believe any of them learned anything from it. Besides, Namor and Xavier were blameless on that count at least. This on the other hand, would be something they're all culpable for.