Update, March 17, 2022:
Per Bleeding Cool, Marvel has informed retailers has been delayed indefinitely, and orders for the first issue have been canceled. The delay may have been because of the uncertain premiere date of the Secret Invasion series on Disney+.
Original story is as follows:
The Skrulls are coming back down to Earth in “Secret Invasion” by Ryan North (“The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl,” “Slaughterhouse Five”) and Francesco Mobili (“Daredevil,” “The Scumbag”), a direct sequel to the 2008 event comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu. The five-issue limited series looks to see how Marvel’s heroes have learned from their last brush with the insurgent aliens, while telling a self-contained story with a tighter cast of characters.
Plot details are scarce for the new series, with series writer Ryan North emphasizing the intentional mystery at the center of this story. He confirmed to IGN that Nick Fury and Maria Hill will be the central protagonists of the comic, with Hill having been preparing countermeasures for another invasion since the original confrontation. Alongside her will be Tony Stark, who was director of S.H.I.E.L.D. during the original invasion, giving him a greater history with the Skrull invaders.
“Honestly, Tony’s always been at least espionage-adjacent, and I love both him and how he interacts with Maria, so including him was a pretty obvious first stop for me,” said North. “I think all I want to say is that he’s got an unexpected role in this story. That way, if you think he’s a Skrull I’m denying it, and if you think he’s not a Skrull then I’m denying that too. I’m just over here like a true spy, answering your questions with non-answers that only raise more questions.”
While the original “Secret Invasion” was the culmination of much of Bendis’s “New Avengers” run and the lead-in to years of stories across ‘Dark Reign’ and ‘Siege,’ the creative team here are promising a story that is critically self-contained.
“I feel like when you’re talking about a new book there’s an instinct to say, ‘Yes, this book changes everything! Miss out on it and you’ll be lost forever, weeping and cursing yourself a fool!!’ But honestly – this isn’t that story,” continued North. “It’s a self-contained story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, about some really cool and clever characters we all love facing a problem that just might be beyond their ability to control. It’s twisty and fun but I don’t want anyone to read it because they feel like it might be homework! They should read it because it’s gonna be super cool, and because Francesco is making every single panel sing. I can’t wait for it to be out in the world.”
Currently the Skrulls are aligned with their previously sworn enemies, the Kree, under the leadership of Emperor Dorrek VIII, a.k.a Hulkling, there is no word as of yet whether the whole Kree/Skrull Empire support this invasion or if it will be what splits the cosmic union apart. North has confirmed that an obscure ’90s superhero team will be appearing in the book though, which may indicate the return of the Skrull Kill Krew, the homicidal human/skrull hybrid vigilantes created by Grant Morrison, Mark Millar and Steve Yeowell.
The series has no set release as of yet, but could be likely to debut in conjunction with the new Disney+ series, Secret Invasion, which also looks to reinterpret the original event comic with Fury and Hill at its center.
