secret-empire-undergroundOne of the tie-in comics for when Captain America tries to take over the Marvel Universe is ‘Secret Empire: Underground’ and writer Jeremy Whitley has a few details of what we can expect from this offshoot. In it, we’ll see art by Eric Koda as many of Rogers’ ex-friends team up to work against him. In it, we won’t be getting a team that has worked together before though some of these heroes have which will give a fun way to see new interactions. Mockingbird steps up to the plate and brings together the Ant-Man, Sam Wilson, Hercules, Quicksilver, and is that Sauron on the cover?

One thing we learn from the interview is that Iron Man is also in the book though it is unclear if we’ll be seeing Tony fully rejuvenated, his AI, a flashback, or something else entirely.

Whitley has previously written Mockingbird in ‘Unstoppable Wasp, ‘ but she was in no way a team leader in that book. While he is familiar with Bobbi, this will be putting her in a completely different context, and of it, Whitley says that:

Not so different, actually. We’ll have a lot fewer smoothies involved in UNDERGROUND than in UNSTOPPABLE WASP, but I love writing Mockingbird. I see her as very well-rounded, in a way few heroes are. She has a background in science; she has years of experience in operations and espionage, she has served as an Avenger and a double agent. When I got the list of the characters that were going to be on this team, I knew Bobbi would step up as the leader. She knows how to run an operation, and she has a history of getting the job done when the chips are down.

While we don’t know why exactly these heroes are teaming up against Captain America with one another, we do know that a few of them haven’t met before. Finding some of these classics introduced for the first time could prove for some highly enjoyable interactions and as Whitley explains it:

At first it felt pretty intimidating. When you step into a team like the Champions or X-Men, you have a pretty good idea of how the characters will act toward each other based on their shared history. But with a team like this, some of whom we’ve never seen share panel time before, you start out feeling unsure how to orchestrate things.

But as it turns out, all of that worry was for nothing because this book has a lot of characters with big personalities. Hercules, Mockingbird, Iron Man, Sam Wilson—I mean, love him or hate him, Quicksilver is in this book, and that guy always has personality to spare. You put him in an enclosed space with other people and this much tension, well, it just starts writing itself.

Koda agrees as he chimed in with:

That’s the fun part. We all know how Wolverine and Colossus interact or how the Thing and Spidey interact, but we never see Quicksilver and Ant-Man hanging around.

For the emotional investment of those involved we do know that those on the cover all have a long history with Steve, so Whitley makes a lot of sense when he states:

I consider the emotional stakes really high here. All of our characters have things to lose. All of them have skin in the game. And in the case of characters like Sam Wilson, Steve has been a part of his life for years. I hope readers picking up this story can feel themselves on this crazy adventure with our team. It’s tense, but also, we see the team in the Savage Land, and if you’re not the kind of person who wants to see Mockingbird and Hercules face off against T-Rexes, I don’t know what I can do for you.

Also, I absolutely want to see our heroes square off against some T-Rexes. However, it isn’t all just fun and games here. Many tie-ins to Marvel’s big events in recent years haven’t necessarily been required reading though it sounds like this one will be:

For anyone reading Secret Empire, this is an integral part of that story. You’ll see this team leave in the pages of SECRET EMPIRE and you’ll see them arrive right back into the pages of SECRET EMPIRE. If you follow that story, this is a must. However, I see it as a big adventure all on its own, and I encourage fans of any of the characters to jump in and check it out.

Well, it looks like I’ll have to be picking up this book for sure. While I do not love the Captain America turned Hydra thanks to the cosmic cube story arc itself, everything related to it has caught my interest. Now, to see how this plays out and why the Savage Land is being drawn into the fight.

Are you looking forward to ‘Secret Empire Underground’? Is the entire “Secret Empire” event one that you’re looking forward to getting behind or was this one unnecessary for Marvel to run with? Share your thoughts below True Believers!

Source: Marvel

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Stuart Conover is an author, blogger, and all around geek. When not busy being a father and husband he tries to spend as much time as possible immersed in comic books, science fiction, and horror! Would you like to know more? Follow him on Twitter!