Episode #37 infiltration
Review:
As mentioned at the end of the previous episode, the Skrull begin their invasion of Wakanda. Posing as the Avengers, the Skrulls' cover story is that they were attacked and captured by the aliens as soon as they returned from Asgard (in the season one finale), and only now managed to escape. They apparently crash-landed near Wakanda, where they are greeted by Ms. Marvel, who tracked the Skrull ship they were piloting there. After the events of "Who Do You Trust?", Ms. Marvel obviously wants revenge on the Skrulls for pretty much destroying their team and she is tricked by the fake Avengers into joining their fight with the Black Panther and the other Wakandian warriors, supposedly undercover Skrull agents that were trying to obtain the Vibranium mound. To make things even more confusing, the real Avengers (well, Wasp and Hawkeye at least - it should be obvious why Captain America wasn't present) also arrive on the scene and fight the aliens, revealing to Carol who was lying and who was telling the truth, resulting in Carol going all out on the Skrull Iron Man. Lots of other great moments during the fight, like the real Hawkeye versus the Skrull impersonating him - a fight in which Clint manages to surprise the alien with his skills, and my favorite, Wasp punching the Skrull Ant-Man and then declaring it "felt kinda good". It's most likely a little nod to the comics, and it was pretty fun to see.
Nick Fury learns in this episode who the Skrull infiltrator is, but it's already too late. After studying footage of how Captain America was the one who first attacked the Kree back in the episode "Welcome to the Kree Empire" and learning that thanks to him the Hulk is now imprisoned at SHIELD, he realizes the truth. Interestingly enough, he also correctly suspects Mockingbird as well, as she was the one who kept him informed of what was going on over at SHIELD and she neglected to mention the Hulk's attack on the Hellicarrier (actually the Red Hulk, as seen in "Nightmare in Red"). Another great little scene leading to this revelation is the one showing Fury's wall filled with photos of various heroes and villains, each one of them possibly a Skrull. Once he calls Iron Man to tell him what he learned, Mockingbird (the Skrull Queen Veranke in disguise) easily takes out Fury and she is well prepared to deal with Iron Man as well: an alien virus has been planted inside his armor, rendering him helpless. She then proceeds to inform the other aliens that they can begin the invasion, which should be pretty awesome to see and act as a great ending to this Skrull story-line present on the show since the middle of the first season.
But the highlight of this episode was definitely Dr. Doom. This shows' version of Doom is just awesome. He proved this in his previous appearance in "The Private War of Dr. Doom", and this episode only makes him seem even more awesome. Just as I expected, his reason for studying the Skrulls and trying to stop their invasion plans is because he wants to rule the world alone. He once again proves to be more than a match for Iron Man, but this time he has come to help: he has perfected a device that can detect the Skrulls and gives it to Iron Man, but refuses to join the fight against the aliens declaring that it would be beneath him. That, coupled with some of his other lines heard here are probably the best dialogue Doom has ever had in animation until now. I doubt Dr. Doom will get the chance to appear on the show again, but at least his short appearances have been awesome.
So much happened this week, both action wise and plot development. And it's still not over. I have to admit, I never expected the Skrull story-arc to be this good. It's obviously a nice surprise as these episodes have been some of the best this show has to offer. Looking forward to the next episodes!
Original Airdate - July 8th, 2012
The shape-shifting aliens known as the Skrulls begin their invasion of Earth, starting with Wakanda, and only Ms. Marvel is there to stop it. Ms. Marvel must now fight enemies who look just like her friends. Meanwhile, Iron Man gets some help in detecting the Skrulls from an unlikely source.
Written by Joshua Fine & Christopher Yost
Directed by Roy Burdine
Review by RoyalRubble
Media by Marvel Animation Age
This was another superb episode. Fantastic from start to finish.
