What Was the Point of Marvels Secret Empire There was something very telling about Marvels decision this past Monday to announce to The New York Times how its Secret Empire event would end. It felt like the publisher was trying to get ahead of yet more problems coming from the series conclusion. Now that the final issue of its primary series is in stores today, we know thats rightand how thoroughly Secret Empire failed. The core concept that Marvels blond haired, blue eyed living symbol for American patriotism could actually be a sociopathic fascist with a plan to remake the world in his image was a disturbing one, to be sure. But Secret Empire had the potential to become an iconic story about the dangers of blindly buying into a dark, warped form of American exceptionalism that, given enough time, became the base ideology for Hydras oppressive, authoritarian society. This potentially powerful storys importance was only further heightened by the major political events that defined 2. When shooting a documentary, the vast majority of what you film gets edited out of the final production. But instead of letting thousands of hours of breathtaking. Heroes of Might and Magic III Horn of the Abyss abbreviated as HotA is a fanmade full scale. D list comic book supervillain managed to become President of the United States. Marvel insisted that Secret Empire wasnt meant to be a piece of political commentary, but the series launched at a time when its plot eerily echoed the social and political anxieties plaguing the country. Political or not, Secret Empire had every chance to become the kind of seminal story that defined what a flagship comic book event could be in the 2. But by Monday, when Marvel spoiled the ending to its own major comic book event, the writing was already on the wall Secret Empire was about to end poorly and damage control was necessary. Having read the issue, we can say that calling it a series of predictable, unfortunate, bad events is too charitable. Even if youre able to completely divorce yourself from the many controversies associated with Secret Empire, you cant deny the fact that todays issue 1. Or, at least, lazy and not at all the kind of well thought out issue a publisher would want to end an event with. After months of brutal battles and painful deaths, Earths mightiest heroes all finally get a chance to take on Steve Rogers himself, newly in possession of a nearly complete Cosmic Cube and a Hydra themed suit that allows him to harness its power. As the heroes all dive at Steve, more than prepared to bring the worlds suffering to an end, its obvious that even now Secret Empires more interested in shocking plot twists than trying to actually say or do anything interesting with its story. The Avengers, X Men, and Champions converge on Steve only to be effortlessly erased from existence because Steves wearing a suit thats literally powered by a macguffin. What are a few humanoids in spandex to a man with the ability to bend reality itself to his will But this is a comic book event, which means that the Good Guys have got to win, and theyve got to win thanks to a clever plan that nobody, not even a man with cosmic omniscience could see coming. After Steve erases all of the physical devastation hes inflicted upon the world, hes surprised by a visit from Sam Wilson, the current Captain America, who just so happens to have the final piece of the Cosmic Cube that would turn Steve into a god if he managed to get his hands on it. At this point in the story, theres nothing much that Sam can really do to fight Steve. Hes outgunned and his friends are all dead, so he does the sensible thing and bends the knee to Steve, offering his piece of the Cube as a show of good will. But its a trickThough the piece of the Cube is real, buried deep within it are Ant Man and Bucky Barnes, shrunken down so small that theyre in the microverse within the Cube itself which, it turns out, is a place weve seen before. All of the dreamy flashes to the land bathed in white where an amnesiac alt Steve has been encountering his friends and loved ones during all of Secret Empire Thats all happening inside the Cube where Kobika living embodiment of the Cubes powers whos taken the form of a little girlhas been hiding from the mess shes made of the world. Through some comics weirdness thats never adequately explained, Bucky travels into Kobiks pocket universe, grabs her and the Good Steve by the hand, and manages to make his way back into the larger universe all within a matter of seconds. While all of this is happening, Evil Steve is standing there like a moron, looking at his suit wondering why his god powers arent working anymore. Heroes Of Might And Magic 3 Complete Full Version' title='Heroes Of Might And Magic 3 Complete Full Version' />Evil Steves horror at the fact that hes been outsmarted immediately intensifies when he comes face to face with Good Steve who, because of the way that the Cosmic Cube works, is now a real flesh and blood person. As Kobik undoes all of the changes to reality that Evil Steve made and the Avengers are resurrected, the two Steves face off Civil War style and proceed to beat the shit out of each other in classic comic book fashion. Im being rather glib about all of this because theres absolutely nothing about any of these sequences that at all feels novel or truly creative, especially when you consider the sorts of ideas that big comics events have tried to tackle in the past. No one watching the two Steves fight questions them or unpacks the symbolism of their clash, and that feels like a major mistake. Its a sorely missed opportunity for Spencer to at least try and have Secret Empires characters say something meaningful or lasting about Steve, a living concept at this point, and the ways that hes put them all through hell. Sure, one of these men is ostensibly supposed to be good and the other bad, but both of them are beings who wouldnt exist without the Cosmic Cube. Secret Empire wants you to feel as if Captain America is a person redeeming himself for the sins of his darker half, but in reality hes just a physical construct going through the narrative motions of a predicable heros narrative. The gaming internet was agog today over what appear to be leaked marketing images of an upcoming Super Mario teamup with Ubisofts Rabbids characters, despite word. Even that wouldnt be all that bad if it werent for the heavy handed, coded language of resistance scattered throughout the panels. Even though Secret Empire isnt about politics, multiple pages of the issue are dedicated to conveying the basic idea that pseudo Nazism Hydra are Nazis deal with it is bad and that punching a Hydra figurehead is a good thing. Eaton Galileo Software. Thats a lovely sentiment to espouse, but it comes at a point in Secret Empire when readers have had to watch as Captain America murdered thousands and sent minorities to internment camps. To lazily pile on the punching Nazis is good imagery without actually taking the time to unpack the psychological and emotional impact the storys had on its characters is outrageously bad. This is what Secret Empires been building up to for months now and its a disappointment of the highest order. Secret Empire closes with Good Steve defeating Bad Steve and the entire world deciding to just go along with the idea that everythings going to be all right now that the bad Hydra bogeyman is no more. Theres a milquetoast epilogue involving an important Inhuman character being released from an internment camp that entirely glosses over what it means to live as a minority in a community of people who were literally just calling for your extermination. The Inhuman returns home to find his home covered in Hail Hydra spray paint messages, but by the next day his homes gleaming like its new thanks to his neighbors coming together to clean the graffiti off.