Veranke is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The queen of the Skrull Empire, she is the main antagonist of Secret Invasion in which she leads her empire to invade and conquer Earth.
The character has made occasional appearances in media depictions.
Publication history
Veranke's first official appearance is in Secret Invasion #1, but was disguised as "Spider-Woman" in New Avengers #1 while her character is named and fleshed out in New Avengers #40.
Fictional character biography
Veranke was a Skrull princess who scolded Emperor Dorrek VII from the Tyeranx 7 province after the Illuminati superhero group escape from the Skrull palace for not heeding the words of the Skrull prophecies, which state the attack upon the palace, then the Skrull homeworld's destruction, the coming of a "wave of devastation" through Skrull space, and the need to take "a world of blue" as their new home. As Dorrek VII ignores her warnings, Veranke declares if Dorrek VII is unable to heed the writings of the Skrull's scriptures and the Skrull people's will, Dorrek VII should be removed from the throne. For her defiance, Dorrek VII banishes her to a prison planet, brushing her off as an insane fanatic and a traitor while acknowledging executing her would only turn her into a martyr for her cause.
Planning the Secret Invasion and impersonating Spider-Woman
Veranke in exile.
Years later, the Skrull throneworld is destroyed by Galactus and the next prophecy fulfilled, the Skrulls elevate Veranke to the throne of the Skrull Empire while she is still on the prison world. As the Skrull Queen, Veranke declares that the scriptures foretell Earth as the Skrull's new homeland, thus the Skrulls undergo a major operation to take over Earth through infiltrating Earth's facets, thereby weakening Earth enough to employ a military invasion to conquer the planet. In addition, Veranke decides to be one of the agents, deciding to play a direct part in Earth's infiltration. She asks who among the candidates for replacement is most capable of inflicting damage and Jessica Drew is recommended as the prime choice thanks to Skrulls posing as HYDRA agents in order for her to be a double agent of Nick Fury.[1]
While impersonating Drew, Veranke is appointed to working at the Raft, and was at there when Electro unleashed a mass break-out attempt of the prisoners inside. This event unintentionally led to the New Avengers's reformation, which she later joins after Captain America offers membership to her.[2] Fury instructs her to continue as a personal agent, now within the New Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D., and HYDRA simultaneously; she eventually confesses this triple agent arrangement to the Avengers.
During an adventure with the New Avengers, Veranke learns of her rule's greatest threat: Dorrek VIII / Hulkling of the Young Avengers and the son of the Kree hero Mar-Vell and the Skrull princess Anelle who is a likely heir to the throne. During the invasion, she orders Dorrek VIII to be executed, keeping the identity a secret.
House of M
During the House of M, it was revealed that Veranke, along with all the other undercover Skrulls, knew that the world had been altered. She tries to assassinate the Scarlet Witch, but is unsuccessful and deconstructed in a way similar to Clint Barton; both come back afterward. In the aftermath, news reaches her that the Skrull Empire itself has almost entirely been destroyed by the Annihilation Wave, killing billions of Skrulls which further fulfilling their prophecies. Distressed, Veranke and her agents are more determined to continue their takeover of Earth.
Civil War
Soon after the identity of Spider-Man is revealed to the world during the Civil War storyline, Iron Man (Tony Stark) discloses her triple agent status to Maria Hill. Troubled by her potentially treasonous allegiance to Fury, Hill orders her apprehension. Hiding as Sybil Dvorak, she is captured and taken aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Deploying an electromagnetic pulse device, a HYDRA commando team disables the helicarrier and rescues her. She makes her way to the hidden base of Captain America's Secret Avengers and tearfully pleads to join the resistance, having lost her connection to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury.[3]
Afterwards, Veranke travels alongside the New Avengers to Tokyo to fight Elektra and the Hand, but is unable to prevent Echo from killing the Skrull Pagon which reveals the Skrull infiltration. As the New Avengers ponders the next move, Veranke defeats the Skrull posing as Wolverine to show Iron Man in a move designed to sow distrust amongst the superhero community (which is not difficult as there is already a great deal of distrust on all sides of the superhero community), leaving bad feelings on many fronts.[4] Afterwards, she also joins the government sanctioned Mighty Avengers under the guise of throwing the Skrulls off balance.[5]
Secret Invasion
Veranke as Jessica Drew. Art by Leinil Francis Yu.
During the Secret Invasion storyline, "Jessica Drew" is informed of the crash-landing of a transport ship of Skrulls impersonating various superheroes (including the Skrull Pitt'o Nili as the original Captain America) in the Savage Land. She in turn tips off Luke Cage about this information, supposedly trusting Cage over Iron Man.[6] A meeting among the Skrull agents on Earth is held where Veranke is apparently in attendance, referred to as "Empress" by the Skrull posing as Edwin Jarvis.[7]
After the first wave of the Skrull invasion of Earth begins, Veranke is seen in the Savage Land, where she confronts and attacks Echo, repeatedly blasting with venom blasts and then slamming her opponent into a nearby tree trunk.[8] She then insinuates Iron Man is a Skrull sleeper agent, and kisses Iron Man for supposedly having "earned the queen's love".[9]Black Widow plans to attack while Veranke talks to Iron Man, but is distracted by Skrulls posing as the Beast and Jean Grey, and Veranke disappears and escapes while Black Widow kills the Skrulls.[10]
Veranke arrives at Camp Hammond and the Shadow Initiative attempt to assassinate her. Thor's presence is known and she assembles her troops for the final battle. The New Avengers, the Mighty Avengers, Nick Fury's commandos, the Young Avengers, the Initiative, the Hood's crew, Thor, Captain America, and the Thunderbolts all assemble. Veranke later reveals that "He" (a figure mentioned repeatedly by Skrulls throughout the storyline in the phrase 'he loves you') is a reference to "God" as she leads an army of Super-Skrulls against the superhumans of Earth.[11] During the fight, the real Wolverine confronts Veranke and quickly gains the upper hand by impaling Veranke through the shoulder with claws. Moments later, Hawkeye is injured which prompts Ronin to kill four Skrulls before seemingly killing Veranke with a shot to the face. Veranke's apparent fate results in the Skrull Criti Noll posing as Hank Pym to use a device which has the Wasp grow to enormous size while deadly to humans nearby until Thor transports the doomsday weapon's unwilling carrier to another dimension to seemingly die. However, Veranke is revealed to be still alive until Norman Osborn shoots her in the head, killing the Skrull Queen.[12]
Aftermath and return
During the "Dark Reign" storyline, Veranke is seen in Erebus when Hercules travels to the Underworld where she is among those either gambling or lingering for resurrection. She is later seen in Pluto's jury at Zeus's trial.[13]
The "Devil's Reign" event revealed that Veranke's body had been secretly preserved. She is revived and set loose by Mayor Wilson Fisk so she can get revenge on the real Spider-Woman.[14] Veranke, despite some difficulty, is defeated by Jessica Drew and Carol Danvers.[15]
Powers and abilities
Like all Skrulls of Deviant heritage, Veranke is capable of shape-shifting her form into whatever she chooses, be it humanoid, non-humanoid, or even inorganic. Recent unspecified developments in genetic engineering within the Skrull race has allowed the Skrulls (including Veranke) to go undetected in human form from Iron Man's technological scans, Charles Xavier's mental scans, Spider-Man's Spider-Sense, Wolverine's animal senses, or any other conceivable forms of detection. So subtle and powerful is this form of concealment neither Doctor Strange at the Sanctum Sanctorum could detect her with the Spell of Tartashi (which apparently inflicted some degree of physical pain), nor could the Elder God-powered Scarlet Witch using Xavier's psychic powers delve into Veranke's true mind, as shown when Veranke was granted her identity theft victim's desires, not her own. Veranke's shape-shifting abilities also allow her to form weapons such as blades on her body. Veranke also has a great deal of knowledge concerning Skrull prophecies.
She displayed Spider-Woman's powers which include:
Flight
Superhuman strength, endurance, reflexes, and speed.
Bioelectric Energy Blasts "venom blasts"
Immunity to all poisons and drugs, and is totally immune to radiation.
Pheromones generation to attract human males while repulsing females, though she uses a chemical "perfume" that can nullify this effect. Recently emerged with her powers restored greater than ever.
As Jessica Drew, she initially had only limited gliding ability, enhanced by the small wings that are part of her Spider-Woman costume which HYDRA further tampered with her metabolism, providing her with self-powered flight. The range of her flying capabilities is still undetermined.[16] She displayed powers that helped her and the other Avengers escape from Doctor Doom's technological device by creating a Venom blast explosion — this use of Spider-Woman's powers was noted as inconsistent with her files on S.H.I.E.L.D.[17]
Other versions
During the Secret Wars storyline, the Battleworld domain of the Warzone (which is based on a reality in which the Superhuman Civil War never ended), Queen Veranke is the cause of every single failed attempt at reaching peace in a part of a plan to benefit from the never-ending war. This was revealed to President Stark when he was captured by Queen Veranke's men posing as Black Panther's soldiers. President Stark used weapons not in his armor to free himself and She-Hulk from Queen Veranke's clutches.[18]
