Young Avengers (1st series) #11

The Super-Skrull has just been shot. Stunned by what just happened, Hulkling, in his human form, confronts the Kree responsible for it. Captain Av-Rom explains that the Super-Skrull is a terrorist and shouldn’t be one of Ted’s concerns. Rom is part of the Kree Imperial Militia, and explains to Ted that he is the son and heir of the man who was once the Kree’s mightiest warrior: Captain Mar-Vell!

Ted finds it hard to believe that Captain Marvel was his father. Av-Rom explains that, as Ted now knows, the Kree and the Skrulls have been at war, fighting for supremacy, for generations now. Shortly before Ted was born, when the conflict had finally reached Earth, the Super-Skrull captured Captain Mar-Vell and delivered him into the hands of the Skrull Emperor.

However, the Emperor’s daughter, Princess Anelle, fell in love with the Captain. She conspired him to overthrow her father in the hope of restoring peace between the races. And, though Mar-Vell was forced to sacrifice himself to save the life of the human known as Rick Jones, the Kree intelligence reported that the Princess gave birth to a half-breed shortly thereafter. Ted asks if he’s half-Kree, half-Skrull. Av-Rom denies that. Ted’s father was Kree, which means Ted is Kree as well. And since Mar-Vell was an officer of the Imperial Militia, Ted is part of it too. Rom adds that his men will lead Ted to the ship.

Wiccan can’t believe his ears. Ted transforms back into Hulkling and apologizes to Av-Rom that he had to come this long way to find him, but he can’t just pack up and join the Kree Army. Av-Rom corrects Ted that he doesn’t have a choice, according to Kree law. Rom fires his gun at Ted, causing him to transform back into his human form, and Rom orders his men to take him! The Super-Skrull, still alive (at least for the moment), grabs Teddy into safety and orders the Young Avengers to move, while he’ll stay behind to fight.

The young heroes do as told and try to escape, but Teddy doesn’t believe that they can just leave the Super-Skrull behind like this, because the Kree will kill him. Wiccan reminds Teddy that the Super-Skrull just kidnapped him and murdered his mother. Teddy knows that, but the Super-Skrull may have just saved his life as well, so he has to do something. He grows wings on his back and promises to be right back. Wiccan holds him back, as he doesn’t want to lose Teddy again. Teddy orders Wiccan to cover his back then. He flies toward the Super-Skrull and flies him into safety. The Super-Skrull doesn’t understand what Teddy is doing. Teddy jokes that he’s saving the Super-Skrull’s live, and reminds him not to make him regret this decision. The Super-Skrull still worries about the Kree, but Teddy doesn’t. They are in over their heads. :

Stature grows larger and attacks the warriors, defeating some of them. Watching Kate using three arrows to take out another one, the Vision compliments her. He explains that the Kree’s advanced technology makes them one of the most powerful races in the universe. Until you use that against them at least, at which very point the Kree get very sleepy. Patriot uses one of the Kree’s own guns, and uses it to take Av-Rom out. Kate wonders what they should do with the fallen warriors. Wiccan could try out a teleportation spell, but doesn’t know how that would work with so many people around. Tommy wants to vaporize them, but Kate jokes that won’t happen. Vision adds that there is one other means of transportation available to them.

They take the Kree’s spaceship to get away, and Vision gets behind the controls. When Patriot asks the Vision if he knows how to steer it, Vision denies that, but explains that, once he has patched himself into the navigation system, he will know. All he has to do next is set course to Avengers Tower and they’ll be on their way. Tommy believes they shouldn’t do that. In fact, Avengers Tower is the last place where he would go. Patriot smiles that that’s because the first thing the Avengers will do is lock Tommy up in jail when they see him. Tommy agrees and adds that the first thing after that the Avengers will do afterward is turn Hulkling over to the Kree to avoid another Kree-Skrull war.

Kate wants to know where they should go instead. When Patriot wants to know why Kate asks that question to Tommy, Kate says she doesn’t entirely disagree with Tommy. Tommy explains that, all he is saying is that, if one of his best friends would be hunted down, he’d set a course for a secluded corner of the universe where the Kree and the Skrulls and the Avengers could never find them. Vision wants to know where they could find such a place. Tommy doesn’t know.

Patriot wants to set course to Avengers Tower. Kate isn’t sure about that. Eli believes they can’t just run away from this. The war will find them. And when it does, they won’t be able to fight it just by themselves. And, Eli adds, everyone who feels differently is welcome to leave. Tommy jokes to Kate that her boyfriend has control issues. Kate mocks that Eli isn’t her boyfriend. He finds that good to know.

Elsewhere in the ship, Wiccan does his best to cast a spell to heal the Super-Skrull’s injuries. However, the spell isn’t working. Wiccan believes that’s probably because he doesn’t want the Super-Skrull to heal. The Super-Skrull reminds the boys not to care about him, as his body will heal itself in due time. Wiccan finds it a shame Teddy’s mother can’t say the same thing. Teddy tries to calm Wiccan down. The Super-Skrull apologizes for what he did. He didn’t mean to kill Teddy’s mother, but he had no choice because she attacked him. He feels ashamed, because he killed his kinswoman and failed in his mission. He believes that, perhaps, the Young Avengers should have let him die.

Teddy wants to know if the Super-Skrull’s mission was to kidnap him. The Super-Skrull denies that, as his mission was to save Teddy, as his father tried to save him! The Super-Skrull remembers everything. He asked the Princess if she would betray her father and her people. Anelle explained to Kl’rt that her father was the traitor, and not she. Her father has forsaken his people, emptied the treasure, and kept the race embroiled in a war that nobody, not even the Super-Skrull, can remember the reason of why they are fighting. She reminded K’lrt that he was her father’s champion. Yet, he exiled and imprisoned him, and still the Super-Skrull remained faithful to him. Anelle wanted to know why. The Super-Skrull explained that he was only a soldier. He can’t pretend to know what’s best for his people.

Mar-Vell reminded Kl’rt that he was much more than that. He is also the Super-Skrull. He is the Skrull’s hero. The Captain invited him to join them. The Captain believed that, if the Super-Skrull’s people saw him fighting for freedom alongside a man of the Kree, perhaps everything would change. However, the Super-Skrull believed he couldn’t do that. Mar-Vell didn’t understand. Anelle reminded her lover that there isn’t time because, once the guards discover his disappearance, they’ll waste no time to hunt him down. The Super-Skrull told Mar-Vell not to worry, as the Skrulls won’t find out about his disappearance soon, because he’ll transform into Mar-Vell and take in his place!

Ted believes it’s really true then, and that his father really is Mar-Vell. The Super-Skrull admits that and adds that, if Teddy’s mother would have survived Galactus, she would have become the Empress of the Skrull Empire. His mission was to turn Teddy into an Emperor. But, the Kree won’t permit this. To them, Teddy is a genetic curiosity, a hostage or a potential weapon. If they can’t control Teddy, the Kree will kill him. Wiccan wants to know if the Skrulls won’t do the same thing. The Super-Skrull promises they won’t try to do that, at least not for as long as he is around. And they also won’t try it while Teddy has the Young Avengers protecting him, just like the Avengers protected his father.

Kl’rt finds it ironic, though, that Mar-Vell and the Scarlet Witch were his prisoners during the first Kree-Skrull war on Earth, and that he now owes his life to their sons. Wiccan defends that he isn’t Wanda Maximoff’s son. The Super-Skrull confirms to Wiccan that he really is Wanda’s son. He asks Wiccan about his twin, the speedster. Wiccan defends that the Scarlet Witch never had children. The Super-Skrull confirms Wanda really did have children, at least according to the Skrull intelligence. Wanda had two twin sons: Thomas and William! Wiccan is speechless.

Later, he goes to ask the Vision for a confirmation. The Vision shows files and explains that, according to the memory of the former Vision’s memory files, the Scarlet Witch was so desperate to have children that she unconsciously used her reality-altering powers to create twin boys, and named them Thomas and William. She created them out of two lost souls, souls which were later claimed by the devil Mephisto, the lord of Netherworld, as his own. However, when Mephisto reabsorbed the twins’ souls, they had been so transfigured by Wanda’s magic that they destroyed the demon and dispersed. Thomas and William ceased to exist, as did Wanda’s memory of them, at least until recently. Grief-stricken, the Scarlet Witch lost control of her powers, inadvertently killing Ant-Man, Hawkeye and the former Vision.

Wiccan mentions that he and Tommy didn’t cease to exist. Tommy can see where Wiccan is going with this, but isn’t sure. Wiccan believes that it’s so obvious. They really are the Scarlet Witch’s twins. Tommy finds it annoying. Wiccan believes they really have to be, and asks Tommy to think about it. When Mephisto was destroyed, their souls were set free. He believes that his soul ended up with the Kaplans on the Upper East Side, and Tommy’s ended up in Springfield, New Jersey. Tommy doesn’t think so.

Wiccan reminds Tommy that they look exactly alike. He has the Scarlet Witch’s powers, and Tommy has the powers of Wanda’s twin brother, Quicksilver. Even their names are Tommy and Billy. There’s no other way to explain it. They are the children of the Scarlet Witch and… whoever their father was. Vision reveals that according to his memory files, he is Tommy’s and Billy’s father.

On that very moment, the Vision gets electrocuted – and the ship suddenly trails flames. Cassie checks the Vision if he’s okay and luckily he is. When Eli wants to know what hit them, the Super-Skrull explains that they got hit by a Skrull warship. They must have received his transmission after all. Kate wants to know why the Skrulls are firing at them, if that’s true. The Super-Skrull thinks that’s because of the ship they are using. The Skrulls believe that they are with the Kree.

The Super-Skrull wants to head outside, but Teddy holds him back, demanding to know what he’s going to do. The Super-Skrull explains that if he won’t reveal himself, the Skrulls will destroy them. Teddy reminds the Super-Skrull that he can’t fly anymore due to his wounds. Teddy promises that he’ll go. Wiccan reminds Teddy that he can’t do that, because he is the reason why the Skrulls are there. Teddy believes that’s exactly the reason why he should go out, to end this mess. Teddy flies outside. Wiccan wonders why he even bothers arguing with Teddy, because he never listens. But, this time, Teddy jokes that he did hear what Wiccan just said!

Hulkling flies outside and shouts at the Skrulls to stop shooting, though they don’t listen to him. Wiccan follows Teddy and jokes that it’s almost as if Teddy wants the Skrulls to shoot him. First, he is bounding with the Super-Skrull, and now Teddy is basically offering himself to the Skrulls. Teddy reminds Wiccan that they are his people. Wiccan denies that, as the Skrulls aren’t even people.

On that very moment, a Kree ship fires on the Skrulls, and kills everyone inside the ship that was attacking Teddy and Wiccan. Wiccan corrects Teddy to look again, as the Skrulls jumped out of their ship just in time, and are attacking the Skrulls now, using the same wings Teddy has.

Teddy wants to make everyone stop killing each other. Wiccan doesn’t know how they could do that. Teddy reminds Wiccan that he has got something both the Skrulls and the Kree want. Wiccan corrects Teddy that he is something both the Skrulls and Kree wants. That’s exactly what Teddy means. He flies towards the attacking troops and orders them to stop shooting, but neither party listens to him. Teddy proudly announces that he is the son of Mar-Vell and Anelle, and orders the aliens to stop shooting again. This time, they actually listen! Teddy smiles at his victory, but Wiccan doesn’t think Teddy had anything to do with it.

Suddenly, Iron Man and the other Avengers have arrived. Iron Man, Spider-Woman, Spider-Man, Sentry, Captain America and Wolverine all jump out of their ship, and announce they’ll take it from here. Once everyone lands, the Avengers separate the Skrulls and Kree and try to sort things out. Captain America wants to know if Teddy really is the son of Mar-Vell. The Kree confirm that and state that, because of that, Teddy has to join their army. The Skrulls deny this, adding that Teddy is the heir to their throne. The Kree warn the Avengers that, if they don’t give Teddy into their custody immediately, they will perform military action against the Earth. Wolverine isn’t impressed by that threat, because there are only eight Kree members present.

The Kree reply that, as they speak, a Kree battle cruiser is entering the Earth’s atmosphere, ready to strike at their command. The Skrulls confirm that they have their Armada ready as well. Wolverine smells bluffing. The Kree want the boy, and mention to Logan that he’ll find out the truth if they don’t. Captain America wants Teddy to decide what he’ll do. Wiccan doesn’t want Teddy to go anywhere, and Teddy begs Cap not to make him go with the aliens. Cap asks the other Avengers how they feel about it. Iron Man believes that if they don’t hand Teddy over now, they could have another Kree-Skrull war at their hands.

When the Kree ask for Cap’s decision, Patriot begs Cap to listen to him. Teddy doesn’t belong with these aliens. The Young Avengers are the only family Teddy has now. Cap can’t do this. Cap explains that he made his decision: Hulkling stays on planet Earth. Under the protection of the Avengers. The Kree aim their guns at Cap, shouting at him that it’s he who needs protection now! They open fire, however Patriot leaps in the way and takes the blasts instead! As Cap takes Eli into his arms, he promises him that things are going to be okay. On that very moment, the war breaks loose!