Secret Invasion: 10 Things You Need To Know About The MCU's Next Big Event

When the Avengers learned of the Secret Invasion, the first question they had was, "Who among them is a Skrull?"

And readers had the exact same question. At first, many people assumed the furrow-chinned aliens had replaced the most powerful heroes or the ones deemed the biggest threat. After all, if extra-terrestrials were preparing to invade Earth, they would want to get rid of the likes of Wolverine, the Fantastic Four, Doctor Strange and Professor X.

Although the Skrulls replaced superheroes like Black Bolt, Hank Pym and Spider-Woman, they were usually more subtle during the pervasion. They disguised themselves as S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to destroy the agency from the inside. One Skrull impersonated the Avengers' butler, Edwin Jarvis, so he could penetrate the team's base. Not only that, he kidnapped Jessica Jones and Luke Cage's baby to use as collateral in case the Skrulls plan went belly-up.

Another component to weakening Earth's defences was to sow the seeds of paranoia that anyone could be a Skrull. Because Iron Man had been acting more Machiavellian in recent stories, superheroes and readers suspected he was a Skrull and the one in charge of the entire invasion.