Alternate Cover: What is Dark Reign?

Spoiler warning: This column makes some reasonably bold claims about the ending of “Secret Invasion” and the content of “Dark Reign”, but they aren’t totally unfounded. If you don’t like spoilers, come back next week!

As “Secret Invasion” heads towards its climax, Marvel have begun to release teaser solicitations for the issues that’ll follow the crossover, all of which fall under the umbrella term “Dark Reign.” Much like recent X-Events “Divided we Stand” and “SFX”, “Dark Reign” isn’t a crossover, but a way to let readers and retailed know that these titles will be sharing the new status quo for the Marvel Universe, post-“Secret Invasion”

The burning question, though, is “What is the new status quo?” Given that the goal of the invading Skrull forces in the current crossover is global rule, it’s easy to assume that Marvel will be pulling the rug out from under readers again. After all, last year they let the near-fascist pro-registration heroes come out on top of events after “Civil War”, even though virtually every reader was rooting for Captain America’s anti-registration team to win. With Cap quite clearly seen as the good guy, it was unusual and unexpected to see his side lose the argument, and the titling of “Dark Reign” suggests that, against expectations, the invaders might just come out on top.

Still, there’s a little information out there that suggests this might not be the case at all, so I’m going to gather the evidence and indulge in a little wild speculation to see where it might be going.

Exhibit 1: Ms. Marvel #31
In this issue, the first Marvel comic to be definitively set after “Secret Invasion” there are a few oblique references to “everything that’s happened” which are obviously designed to give nothing away – however, the big twist comes on the final page as Carol declares her intention to “kill Norman Osborn.” Osborn (aka the Green Goblin) is currently under the employ of the US government (as is Carol) but, what’s more, he’s never actually interacted with Ms. Marvel in any way that would usually elicit such rage from her – so far. This vendetta she’s suddenly obtained seems unlikely to be personal. But how does that tie into “Dark Reign”?

Exhibit 2: Thunderbolts #124

Osborn leads his team of villains-working-as-heroes, the Thunderbolts, against the Skrulls with remarkable success. The final panel of the issue has Osborn declare, in front of the Lincoln Monument, that “This is my country!”

Exhibit 3: Dark Reign: New Nation

The December Solicits from Marvel featured a lot of “classified” details to be released following the completion of “Secret Invasion” but the title of this one-shot, for which no story details exist, does hint at something political going on…

Exhibit 4: The “dark” Illuminati (pictured)

Appearing in 2009 is “Secret Invasion: Dark Reign Special” by Bendis & Maleev, featuring a villainous version of the Marvel heroes’ inner-circle, the Illuminati. Pictured in the centre of this teaser may well be Normal Osborn, suggesting he’ll play a major part in “Dark Reign”. It doesn’t suggest anything by itself, but in the context of the other information we’ve got, it’s practically a smoking gun.

Exhibit 5: No More Skrulls?

Some countries (Wakanda and the UK, for example) have already ousted the Skrulls, clearly so that the titles can get on with their own stories. This suggests that Skrulls won’t feature heavily in the post-Invasion status quo. Likewise, Bendis himself joked recently that he’d “written the word Skrull for the last time” – not the words of someone writing several major Marvel Universe books set on a Skrull-infested planet. The Skrulls, it seems, won’t be around forever.

All of which leads me to the conclusion that the end of “Secret Invasion” won’t involve the Skrulls taking over the planet, but will instead involve Norman Osborn taking over America – probably not as an elected official, but as a kind of state-of-emergency ruler, responsible for the titular “Dark Reign”.

It wouldn’t be the first time a super-villain was placed in charge of the US (which sounds like satire, but I am, of course, referring to the time Lex Luthor was elected President) but it could, if done right, be a suitably big climax to “Secret Invasion”. Only time will tell whether this theory holds any water, though…

James writes Alternate Cover every Monday at Den Of Geek. His previous column can be found here.