In ‘Secret Invasion’ by Brian Michael Bendis, it is realised that the alien Skrull race, which is capable of shape-shifting has infiltrated Earth in every major sector of life. Thus began the difficult dilemma of deciding who is friend or foe – even among the superheroes. But if you have been reading comics long enough, you will realise that even without the presence of the Skrulls, some superheroes do turn evil – even if for only a while – due to weaknesses in character.
The Skrull invasion only magnified the problem. This is the story of our lives too – we are sometimes skrull-like, without or without actual Skrulls. When we let Skrull-like mentality ‘take over’ us unmindfully, it would be likened to a ‘secret invasion’ – not even known to us! Here is an interesting conversation between Black Widow (BW) and Iron Man (IM), when the latter is suffering from a virus, while suspecting he himself is a Skrull, as suggested by an actual Skrull in the guise of Spider-woman to warp his mind…
BW: Okay Tony, what’s wrong with you?
IM: Mmmight be a Skrull.
BW: You’re not a Skrull. She was working you over.
IM: No.
BW: Tony, focus!
IM: How do you know you’re not?…
BW: Tony… Iron Man… Skrull or not. I’m asking you right now. Do you want to kill me or kill them?
IM: Them.
BW: Let’s go with that feeling then. And worry about the rest later.
Okay, not that I’m for killing, but that the only way to continually prove to ourselves and others that we are not Skrulls, not skrull-like, not evil… is to not be influenced by the evil, and to focus in the right direction, to do the right thing to keep evil at bay, and to transform it to good.