Secret Empire (SPOILERS)

[Detective 445]

Secret Empire 0 pulls together threads from several different books which constitute the prologue. They are conveniently laid out here:

I only read the Steve Rogers issue and didn’t really feel like I needed to read the rest to follow what was going on in Secret Empire 0. In Steve Rogers 16 we see Cap’s secret plan start to coalesce as Hydra seeks to reassemble the Cosmic Cube without reawakening Kobik and Zemo appears to kill Bucky.

This brings us to Secret Empire 0 wherein it is outlined that the Cosmic Cube was apparently created by American scientists during the World War II era and used to create the reality that we know as the original Marvel Universe.  Hyrdra’s plan is to use Cap to “undo” that “fake” reality and restore the “true” reality in which Hydra conquers the world.  So they appear to be telling us that the entire Marvel Universe is all just one big EYKIW.

On the other hand, we are still getting the intro text page telling us that Kobik has rewritten reality.  In which case this whole Captain Hydra saga is just one big bad dream that can be Bobby Ewinged out of existence at any time.

In the meantime Nick Spencer has started knocking down the dominos that he has nicely put into place over the last year or so.  This isn’t just a bunch of random stuff thrown together to sell a summer crossover. There appears to have actually been a lot of planning that went into this.

Here’s the way it will unfold going forward:

It doesn't appear that there are too many tie-ins or spin-offs, although I suppose that could change but so far I'm on board for the main series and probably Uprising as well.

[Philip Portelli]

Or they'll just have Steve forget that he did all those things so, to him, he never really did them and everything's hunky-dory again!

Or Sharon will make a deal with Mephisto!

Or he was a Skrull the entire time!

[Philip Portelli]

Just got a message from my LCS. Marvel shipped Doctor Strange #21 (the Secret Empire crossover) first and will ship #20 this week!

The mind boggles!

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

BTW, DC *did* publish a Brave New World -- a giant-size special for a buck, previewing a bunch of the One Year Later titles (Uncle Sam & the Freedom Fighters, All-New Atom, Trials of Shazam, Martian Manhunter, etc.). 

Detective 445 said:

Secret Empire: Brave New World #1

Didn't DC have a book called Brave New World that spun out of one of their Crisis events?  In any case, this Marvel series looks to be one of those anthology style event cash-in books. Get a bunch of lower profile creative teams together and have them do a sort of pot luck of stories that are tangential to the main event.  In this issue there is a fairly well written "Invaders" story (mostly it's just called that because it features Namor, The Torch and Toro) and a couple of more light hearted tales featuring Gwenpool and Giant Man (an Ant-Man spin off.)  Nothing horrible here but I can't see any reason to recommend it either. It's not essential to the overall Secret Empire story and seems to exist only as a cash-in.

[Richard Willis]

DC had Coast City destroyed in the lead-up to Hal Jordan's crack-up and it stayed destroyed for a long time.

Of course I've never been to Coast City and I have been to Las Vegas, so Las Vegas is real.

Didn't DC flood/destroy San Diego at one point?

[The Baron]

Richard Willis said:

DC had Coast City destroyed in the lead-up to Hal Jordan's crack-up and it stayed destroyed for a long time.

Of course I've never been to Coast City and I have been to Las Vegas, so Las Vegas is real.

Didn't DC flood/destroy San Diego at one point?

Yeah, Sub Diego.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

They did -- the undersea version was called Sub Diego. 

Las Vegas isn't real. It's a lot of things, but real isn't one of them.

DC also destroyed Montevideo in DC One Million, I think. And of course Marvel destroyed Pittsburgh in the New Universe.

And with those protestations of not using the cosmic cube to fix things, it's usually a good idea to read the exact words carefully. Fans repeat these promises on massage boards & Twitter, and a very specifically worded promise mushrooms into a blanket statement, and then when the event concludes, some fans feel lied to because of the third-hand, misquoted denial they heard.

[Mark S. Ogilvie]

Well they'll have to use something to reboot or ignore a lot.  I can't see how you can nuance away a hitler youth that's taught to spy on parents, or the teachers that are pushing that curriculum.  

[Detective 445]

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

Fans repeat these promises on massage boards & Twitter, and a very specifically worded promise mushrooms into a blanket statement, and then when the event concludes, some fans feel lied to because of the third-hand, misquoted denial they heard.

Yeah. I think the creators are in a tough spot when it comes to these big event stories. On the one hand, they don't want to spoil the story they're doing which hinges on big reveals and shocking revelations. On the other hand they have have to deal with (what I believe to be) a small but very loud group of readers who are bound and determined to criticize EVERYTHING because it's much easier than thoughtful analysis. So how do they quiet a lot of this contrived outrage while not ruining the story for the rest of us? It's a fine line.

[Detective 445]

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

DC also destroyed Montevideo in DC One Million, I think. And of course Marvel destroyed Pittsburgh in the New Universe.

IIRC DC also dropped a bomb on Bludhaven during one of their events. But, I don't know, it seems inconsistent with what Marvel has done in their main universe.

If the destruction of Las Vegas does become canon, I think it opens up comparisons to the Dark Phoenix Saga. Granted she destroyed an entire planet but still a major US city is kind of a big deal. That could present an opportunity to see how the current Marvel editorial tackles that problem vs how Jim Shooter handled it back in the day.

[Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod)]

Right, Bludhaven! I think that happened during Infinite Crisis. And DC is now renaming Seattle "Star City" in Rebirth issues of Green Arrow.

[ClarkKent_DC]

It's not a U.S. city, but Cheshire once triggered a nuke over Quarac -- and was surprised the world was outraged. She figured they'd be thankful since it was a haven for crooks and terrorists. 

[Richard Willis]

Rob Staeger (Grodd Mod) said:

Las Vegas isn't real. It's a lot of things, but real isn't one of them.

It's a cute thing to say, but over 600,000 real people live there.