Veranke

Veranke in exile.

Years later, the Skrull throneworld is destroyed by Galactus, the next prophecy fulfilled, the Skrulls elevate Veranke (still on the prison world) to the throne of the Skrull Empire. As the Skrull Queen, Veranke declares that the scriptures foretell Earth as the Skrull's new homeland. As such, 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 Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) is recommended as the prime choice.[2]

The real Spider-Woman went undercover into HYDRA to regain lost powers and was placed under sedation by Skrulls posing as HYDRA agents in order to be replaced by Veranke (taking Spider-Woman's place) as a double agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury.

As "Spider-Woman", Veranke is appointed to working at the Raft, and was at the Raft 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 (Steve Rogers) offers membership to her.[3] 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, also known as Hulkling of the Young Avengers and the son of the Kree hero Captain Marvel 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.

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 Hawkeye (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, further fulfilling their prophecies. Distressed, Veranke and her agents are more determined to continue their takeover of Earth.

Soon after the identity of Spider-Man (Peter Parker) is revealed to the world during the Civil War storyline, Iron Man (Tony Stark) discloses her triple agent status to acting S.H.I.E.L.D. director Maria Hill. Troubled by her potentially treasonous allegiance to Fury, Hill orders her apprehension. Hiding under the name Sybil Dvorak, she is captured and taken aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier. Deploying an electro-magnetic 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.[4]

After the Civil War, Veranke travels alongside the New Avengers to Tokyo to fight Elektra's Skrull impostor and the Hand, but is unable to prevent Echo from killing Elektra's imposter which reveals the Skrull infiltration. As the New Avengers ponders the next move, Veranke attacks Wolverine and delivers Wolverine's imposter's corpse to Iron Man in a move designed to sow distrust amongst the superhero community, which at this point is not difficult as there is already a great deal of distrust on all sides of the superhero community due to the Civil War aftermath, leaving bad feelings on many fronts.[5] Afterwards, she also joins the government sanctioned Mighty Avengers, under the guise of throwing the Skrulls off balance.[6]

Veranke as Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew). Art by Leinil Francis Yu.

During the Secret Invasion storyline, "Jessica Drew" is informed of the crash-landing of a Skrull transport ship in the Savage Land. She in turn tips off Luke Cage about this information, saying that she trusts Cage over Iron Man.[7] 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.[8]

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.[9] She then finds Iron Man who she insinuates is a Skrull sleeper agent, which Iron Man denies. She kisses Iron Man, informing Iron Man of having "earned the queen's love".[10] 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.[11]

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 (Bucky Barnes), 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.[12] 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 (Kate Bishop) is injured, prompting Ronin (Clint Barton) to kill four Skrulls before seemingly killing Veranke with a shot to the head, resulting in the Skrull posing as Hank Pym to activate a device to have the Wasp's body growing to enormous size until Thor transports the Wasp to another dimension to die. However, Veranke is revealed to be still alive until Norman Osborn shoots her in the head, killing the Skrull Queen.[13]

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.[14]

It is revealed that Osborn had been secretly preserving Veranke's body. Once the "Devil's Reign" event occurs almost a decade later, Veranke is revived and being set loose by Mayor Wilson Fisk so she can get revenge on Jessica Drew.[15] She still has Spider-Woman's abilities, but is still off due to how long she was kept imprisoned. Despite some difficulty, the real Spider-Woman defeats Veranke and has Captain Marvel place her somewhere secure on a garbage scow.[16]