Warning! This article contains spoilers for Spider-Woman #18
The Deadpool was instrumental in the Skrull takedown. At least, Deadpool was believed to be responsible for helping defeat the Skrulls after he uncovered key information as to how to kill the Skrull Queen, Veranke. However, in one of the latest chapters in the extensive Marvel Comics saga, Deadpool’s huge role in Secret Invasion was revealed as a lie.
In Spider-Woman #18 by Karla Pacheco and Pere Perez, Jessica Drew has had it with unchecked villainy displayed by the Kingpin and goes to his house to put a stop to it once and for all. Spider-Woman is under extra stress at this point in Marvel Comics because of the Devil’s Reign crossover event that has put a target on the backs of every superhero in New York. When Spider-Woman confronts Kingpin, Wilson Fisk reveals that the Skrull Queen, Veranke, is alive and has been set loose on Spider-Woman’s family.
The revelation that Veranke is alive is a huge one for Marvel Comics fans as her death marked the beginning of one of Marvel’s darkest eras while giving Deadpool a greater impact on the larger universe. In Deadpool Vol. 4 #3 by Daniel Way and Paco Medina, fans learn that Deadpool is the one who infiltrated a Skrull ship and discovered how to kill Veranke. When Deadpool tried to transfer that information to Nick Fury, it was intercepted by Norman Osborn. Osborn used the intel collected by Deadpool to kill Veranke, thereby earning the public’s trust which propelled him into the position of power he held in Dark Reign. Now that Veranke has been revealed to be alive, fans are questioning if Deadpool actually had anything to do with the Skrull takedown at all.
Deadpool is infamous for being an unreliable narrator, constantly skewing a story to fit his unstable narrative. Plus, Deadpool can break the fourth wall and therefore knows he is a comic book character. With an event as large as Secret Invasion, it is entirely possible that Deadpool simply wanted to be a part of it and manufactured a story in which he played an integral role in the Earth’s victory against the Skrulls. This meta reasoning could explain the inconsistencies in Veranke’s fate, though it is also possible that there is a far simpler explanation.
The events of Deadpool’s assistance in taking down the Skrulls aren’t necessarily unwritten upon the revelation that Veranke is alive, only that his impact in the event is lessened greatly. When fans believed the Skrull Queen to be dead, Deadpool stood at the center as the reason why she died as he collected the intel Norman Osborn needed to kill her. In Spider-Woman #18, fans realize Norman didn’t kill Veranke at all, but merely incapacitated and stored her away with the help of the Kingpin. Deadpool is still responsible for taking down the Skrull Queen; he's just not responsible for her death, proving that Deadpool’s Secret Invasion was revealed as a lie.
