INTERVIEW: NICK SPENCER MAPS OUT CAPTAIN AMERICA’S SECRET EMPIRE

More importantly, PYMTRON IS BACK

>CBR: Nick, I wanted to start by rewinding back a little bit to “Civil War II: The Oath” for some clarification, because there’s a scene towards the end of that book that suggests to me that Steve Rogers is even more dangerous than we’d realized. At the end of “The Oath,” is Steve revealing to an essentially comatose Tony Stark that he has the memories of the Steve that existed before the entity Kobik altered his history? Does he know how to appear to be the exact kind of hero he needs people to think he is?

Nick Spencer: That’s right. “The Oath” certainly provided a little hint that helps to explain why Steve still believes what he believes despite the world around him being very different than the one we obviously see in the flashbacks. “The Oath” was the first place we started tipping our hand on that, and you’ll see a further explanation of that over the course of the next few issues of “Steve Rogers: Captain America.” In “Secret Empire” #0, you’ll get sort of a final answer on that front. By the time you get to that phase of the story, you’ll really understand everything there is to know about Hydra Steve’s background and why he believes what he believes in the face of all evidence.

And, yes, it certainly does appear that Steve is operating with all the memories and experiences of the Steve that we all know and love.

>cbr.com/interview-nick-spencer-secret-empire-marvel/

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>Talking about how dangerous Hydra Steve is has me thinking about this larger story as whole. Essentially, this is long form tale that that’s coming to a culmination with “Secret Empire” a way of exploring Steve Rogers by showing how dangerous he could be and how compassionate he was.

That was always a facet of the story. In many ways, Steve Rogers is the most effective leader, strategist and planner in the Marvel Universe. He’s an incredibly effective guy. As a hero, he’s rarely come up short. He’s successfully led the Avengers against impossible odds countless times.

The fact that he did all that as a force for good means, if you’re trying to do an accurate mirror inversion of the character, he needs to be equally effective. And yes, because he’s freed from constraints, compassion, mercy and goodness that opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of what he can do in order to achieve his goals.

This Steve is only driven by what is necessary and what makes Hydra strongest. Those are things that guide his moral compass. So that makes him an incredibly dangerous figure.

I did “Avengers: Standoff,” last year’s spring Avengers line event, but the genesis of that was a little different. That was a story that we already had planned as an arc of “Captain America: Sam Wilson” to coincide with the 75th Anniversary of Cap, and Tom Brevoort came to me and said, “We’re looking to do an Avengers family event in the spring and you’ve been building this story at the exact same time. Would you be interested in involving a range of other titles and making this event a little bigger?”

It was a natural fit, and worked better as a story that way. It helped us launch the “Captain America: Steve Rogers” book in a more high profile way, so I was certainly eager to do that, but this is obviously a very different thing. This is a line-wide summer event. This is the big marquee event that we do each year. So to get to head one of those is a huge thrill and a huge honor for me because it’s a lot of trust and faith to put in me as a writer.

I have a soft spot for these kinds of stories. I like events. I like big stories. I like stories about the interconnected universe and that draw from as many different facets from the Marvel Universe as possible. I have faith that when these things are done right audiences really respond.

I was certainly eager to do this. When I pitched the entire Hydra Cap story, I immediately told Tom Brevoort that this should be an event, that I didn’t think there was any other way to do this story justice. The genesis of all of it came from me.

I think that’s where a lot of the best events start; they stem from a writer’s belief that you need a bigger canvas to tell a story, rather than trying to retrofit or come up with an event in the room. This is very much just a natural extension of what we’ve been building from “Captain America: Sam Wilson,” to “Avengers: Standoff,” to “Captain America: Steve Rogers,” to this. This is really the logical conclusion.

>“Secret Empire” is a big superhero action thriller, but what I’ve read and seen in the “Captain America” books suggests that it will have some science fiction and space opera elements to it as well in the form of an alien invasion by the Chitauri. Is that correct?

It’s a Marvel event and you want to involve as much of the Marvel Universe as you can. It’s fun to bring in unlikely elements and throw some things into the mix that you maybe wouldn’t in an issue of “Captain America.” So letting it outgrow the initial motifs and letting it become something broader was one of the things that I enjoy about this kind of story.

Steve talked a little bit about what he’s doing with the Chitauri wave in “Captain America: Steve Rogers” — that it’s a plan to wreak havoc and chaos and use that to his advantage. It will also allow him to put more pressure on people to give him more authority and power. The Chitauri are a very effective boogeymen in that regard. The question is, what happens when they arrive?

>You’re also laying the groundwork to bring Maria Hill and Captain Marvel into that story with the talk of the planetary shield in “Captain America: Steve Rogers.”

Yeah, the shield is something we’ve been setting up all through “Captain America: Steve Rogers” and “The Oath.” Maria Hill had given this technology to Carol Danvers that she believes can stem the invasion. It’s an impenetrable shield around the planet.

That’s something that Steve is very much determined to prevent. It’s something he’s racing the clock to beat, so it’s a nice face off between him and Carol Danvers in that regard. He’s trying to prevent this thing from going up while also trying not to blow his cover, and Carol is threatening to pull the rug out from everything that he’s planned.

Pymtron's back much sooner than I thought he would be.

>It’s interesting to see some characters emerge as potential thorns in his side. You had Taskmaster and Black Ant in “Steve Rogers: Captain America,” then over in “Deadpool,” Phil Coulson unexpectedly stumbled onto the fact that there might be something untoward and sinister about Steve Rogers.

[Laughs] Gerry Duggan is doing some phenomenal work helping to set up the road to “Secret Empire” in both “Deadpool” and “Uncanny Avengers.” There’s definitely some real fun Deadpool stuff coming. If you’re trying to get the full experience on the road to “Secret Empire,” I highly recommend grabbing both “Deadpool” and “Uncanny Avengers.”

>Events allow you to play with a lot of the Marvel Universe’s biggest toys, but they also often feature more than one central characters. Will “Secret Empire” have a core cast of characters?

For now, we’re trying to keep our main cast under wraps. A large part of that is because characters are placed in positions that they really haven’t ever been before. We’d be tipping our hand a little too much to talk about them now.

I can say, though, at its heart this is still a Captain America story — but this is also an Avengers, X-Men, Inhumans, Champions, Defenders and Guardians story. If you’re a fan of the core casts of those titles, your favorites are going to be well represented here, but we’re also going to reach out into cosmic Marvel, street-level Marvel, the X-Universe and into the Inhumans. We really brought everyone into the fray one way or another.

>We’ve seen Steve’s ally Baron Zemo recruiting some supervillains, but I have to wonder how villains like Wilson Fisk might handle the emergence of Hydra’s “Secret Empire.” Will some of Marvel’s major villains play roles in this story as well?

Wilson actually has one of my favorite roles in this. It’s not just because of the story we’re telling here in “Secret Empire,” but because of his sort of broader arc in the Marvel Universe. He’s definitely a character to keep your eye on.

>I wanted to talk with you about the “Secret Empire” one-shots that have been announced, because I understand they’re sort of key components of your story.

They are. Each one of the one-shots has some really important connective tissue that will fill in some blanks and show you some key scenes that reconnect to the main book. They’re definitely worth picking up to get the full picture. It’s the same thing with the issues of both the “Sam Wilson” and “Steve Rogers” books. Those are really critical to the entire reading experience.

You can read the event on its own, and if that’s all you read, you’ll be able to follow along. My advice, though, is to dig a little deeper and pick up these one-shots and the “Captain America” books because they really will give the story a lot more texture.

When you’re writing an event comic you’re constantly in a race against your page count, and you’re hitting a lot of big moments. To me, the best tie-ins are the ones that take those moments and show you what they mean to individual characters. You’ll see a lot of that in the “Captain America” books, but as we moved forward towards the end, it really became an issue that there were a lot of beats that we needed to hit. Even with nine issues ,there was still ground that we wanted to cover.

The last couple of issues of the Cap books during the event have really crucial things that give you a much fuller picture. They’re not just background pieces, and they’re not just taking a moment and going longer with it. They’re moments unto themselves that will help make the story a lot richer for you.

>You’re working with four great artists on the “Secret Empire” series. Daniel Acuna does the #0 issue, and then Steve McNiven, Andrea Sorrentino, and Leinil Yu will do issues #1-9. What’s it like working with these guys? And how will their diverse styles work with the larger narrative?

I got everybody that I wanted. This is a dream list for me, and I’m seeing pages coming in from all of them now. I’m so honored to be working with artists of this caliber. They’re creating an absolutely beautiful and stunning book here.

In terms of the cohesion, we went into this with having a rotating team of artists as the plan. So we’ve been able to make the transitions pretty seamless and use them as a strength. So it’s not a jarring or disruptive experience. I think having the team of artists makes it a lot stronger.

It allows us to tell the story in a very compressed time frame; to actually let our summer event occur over the summer. I was more than happy to do it that way.

>How does it feel to be just a little over a month out from the launch of “Secret Empire?” Any final thoughts you want to share with readers who think they know where the story is going or are not sure if this an event they want to be part of?

You don’t know where it’s going. [Laughs] It’s really been fun looking at the responses during the buildup.

I’m not oblivious to the fact that folks can feel like they suffer from event fatigue or what have you. All I can say to that is, I personally believe that events are like any other kind of story. The delivery method doesn’t matter. Whether it’s its own title, a weekly book, an anthology, or a team-up, I don’t believe there is a type of book that doesn’t work. All that matters at the end of the day is whether or not your story is good. I’m firmly of the belief that we have a very good story here that people will be very excited about and will respond to. At the end of the day, all you can do is try to provide that.

I’m excited to have the story get out there. I obviously have eyes on the first few issues and I’m very proud of how they turned out. I have a feeling that once they’re out there the audience is really going to respond and get excited. I can’t wait!

>Pymtron
Based Spenser

>Captain Hydra
>Zemo's newest Masters of Evil
>SpOck
>Baron Mordo
>whoever Bob is supposed to be
>now Pymtron

Is it just me or are there way too many villains in this story?

After Civil War II, Death of X, and IvX?
I cant get enough of heroes fighting villains for a change

>Steve
>Pym
>Villains
>Not inverted heroes

pymtron back already? that's fast

Don't forget the Chitauri

>Implying that Inhumans aren't garbage villains.

Tony Stark seems to be back in his old armor. Or maybe it's AI Tony.

This is Sentry's hands, isn't it?

apocalypse sentry had blue and black hands

I like that the shield in the SE logo keeps getting more and more consumed by the HYDRA.

I've seen enough hentai to know where this is going...

Nah, look at the shadow. It's clearly Hulk. Not to mention the focus on Hawkeye.

Good point.
But I want Sentry so much

This, also maybe on the left hand there's a scar? Possibly Jen if they change the way the shadow's hair looks right before release? also kinda looks grey, unless all Hulks turn grey after coming back to life
Most likely Bruce but i think Jen would be a cool twist

Is this original Avengers reunion? They are all coming back

the rumor is that with generations the orginals and the new legacy heroes will exist alongside eachother

The original Avengers will pretend to be retarded, it's all a plan to bring back normal Steve from within Hydra Steve.

>Okay Iron Man you, uhhh, run to him and try to hit him with a sword
>Hulk, chill out man, think of a smart way through
>Hawkeye go melee on their asses
>Pym, keep going man, you're almost there

>NO NO RETARDS THAT'S NOT HOW YOU WIN AVENGERS ASSEMBLE

Followed by 12 spreads of Cap leading the Avengers against Hydra Empire.

10/10 Comic of the century Bendis kills himself on a 50 issue miniseries.

To be fair, it seems like SpOck will be confined to ASM. Don't know about Arnim Zola though.

Spencer did a good Ant Man one shot of Pym asking Scott for help with robots of avengers he made. He made Pym very depressed there but he had the right voice for him. Hopefully he will do something interesting with pymtron

>SpOck
Where did he show up?
I know about the clone bullshit but I though it was now a Green Goblin arc?

Don't worry, all the more to watch Die to Sentry in the finale

Can't believe Spencer's squeezing out that last Pym/O'Grady Ant-Man story he wasn't able to tell due to time constraints through SE.

>that last Pym/O'Grady Ant-Man story he wasn't able to tell due to time constraints
Huh?

We're also getting Madame Hydra and Hive.

Hive is coming back?

Is he an Inhuman god now?

We don't know, he'll be in this week's issue of Steve Rogers.

Last asm issue

Spencer said during his Ant-Man run he was looking to fit in a story where all 3 Ant-men met/teamed up, but he had to rush the ending to prepare for his two Cap books, and Pymtron was the status quo so he was unavailable.

Also, on Word Balloon this week, he confirmed Black Ant in the Steve book was a nod to the untold crossover story.

And now Pymtron's back, so it wouldn't be surprising to see the story he had planned worked into SE.

Looks like the same old Hive.

Has Scott met O'Grady? Can't see him liking O'Grady much

Good to see that Spencer is taking so much from Hickman's Secret Warriors.
I wonder if Viper, Gorgon and Baron Strucker will show up in either the event or one of the tie-ins.

Yes. Remender's Secret Avengers
And Eric met SkrullPym in Initiative

>whoever Bob is supposed to be

Bob Reynolds, the Sentry

I am strangely hype for Secret Empire but the last couple of interviews have been really boring. Most interesting and insightful parts of the recent podcast were Spencer talking about Zemo and Steve's relationship and his talk about what exactly he was aiming for with Sam!Cap.

You know, this event is becoming so hype because this really feels like a catastrophe for the heroes. EVERYTHING is going wrong at once!

It helps that it doesn't require everyone to be completed retarded. Like there are couple of dumb decisions made that helped lead to the catastrophy but nobody is acting ooc retarded so far.

what podcasts has he appeared on? Just started listening to more podcasts and would love to get into a good comic one,

Wordballoon podcast. Spencer did one May last year that was very interesting and one last week that less interesting save for the commentary on Sam and Zemo/Steve.

wordballoon.libsyn.com/nick-spencer-previews-marvels-secret-empire-and-the-evil-plot-of-captain-america

How long till tony wakes up inverted and joins this team of superior avengers?

Wait Scott and Eric met in Secret Avengers?

It was Hank

>what exactly he was aiming for with Sam!Cap.
So, what exactly was he aiming for with Sam!Cap?

Literally went from nothing to nowhere, with werewolves in the middle.

So how is Steve gonna take Red Skull out of the picture?
And will Crossbones and Sin play a role too? They're on one of the variant covers.

Rogers' Unity Squad will remove Xavier's brain and his telepathic powers with it

At which point Rogers can just attempt a coup

rogue and deadpool just beat him and gave his body to mccoy to take out the brain

But what if its hulk? ROBERT Bruce Banner????

nah its prolly sentry. I for one am looking forward to dredging up the HE'S COMING BACK TO EARTH memes

>>Most hyped event
>>Writer hasn't been a bullshiter like Bendis.
>>Everyone hates it cause "Cap isn't a liberal fag who wants to fuck Bucky"

>>>Everyone hates it cause "Cap isn't a liberal fag who wants to fuck Bucky"
Who is this "everyone" you speak of?

...

I'm actually excited about this because Cap: Steve Rogers is good and Standoff was also one of those rare fun events.

I haven't read the Falcap book since issue 7 though, it was really boring shit imo and nothing seemed to happen. Should I pick it up again? Is the latest arc relevant?

I don't think you would like it. Nothing much has happened, we've had a long drawn-out BLM story with a few filler issues in between (the D-Man spotlight issue was fun though) that concludes with Sam quitting because he just can't handle it anymore.
The only good things were the aforementioned D-Man issue, the fight with USAgent, and the issue where Captain Hydra and Sam fight Ultimatum (pic related).

I see. Do we know at what issue the Falcap book will start to tie in into the Secret Empire event?

Looking at the OP's image it looks like he'll wake up but he won't be inverted.

Not surprised, people won't miss having Tony and Steve drama especially in an event were Steve is evil.

It's just tumblr and Stucky shippers.

I am this close to making Zemo/Cap art just to troll.

I would do fic but I can't write for shit.

>that he has the memories of the Steve that existed before the entity Kobik altered his history? Does he know how to appear to be the exact kind of hero he needs people to think he is?
How does that work? If that is true then Steve should suffer from a hard case of Schizophrenia

STAY AWAY FROM MUH SENTRY, SPENCEEEEEEEEEER

just be aware that ironic shipping almost always leads to genuine shipping

> +50$ one first day just to follow main-event

Fuck no

>PYMTRON IS BACK
great now im gona have to read this pice of shit event

You say it like it's a bad thing.
I honestly like it. There're plenty of heroes involved too.

why is everyone assuming Sentry is coming back?

because of the Bob from the last issue

I'm pretty sure AI Tony has been piloting that suit lately so I'd say he'll stay in a coma until bendis decides he can wake up for his own storyline

Hey, user. Clint going melee isn't bad.
He's not the best, but he can hold Cap.

that can't be it, right?

like theres no one else named Bob in all of the Marvel U

I am only buying it if it has at least 8 pages of Pymtron. Otherwise i am not touching it.

I hope he brings the good but sometimes problematic ol' Hank back. He's not a bad choice for a run with him or something, even in a supporting cast way.

The "Bob" thing is probably a fake name from Pleasant Hill.
All we know about Bob is that he was Kobik'd and now thinks he's a normal guy, but according to Zemo, he used to be something "terrible".
Zemo already has Graviton on his team, so whoever Bob is must be quite a powerhouse.

Now the hell does Zemo think he can control Graviton ?

He's mellowed down lately. He doesn't really have much ambition or drive anymore, he was working with AIM for a while and he mostly just meditated and half-heartedly fought off invaders.
When Zemo went to him, he was in some sort of zen garden. Even if Zemo can't control Graviton completely, he doesn't have to fear him trying to take over.

events that involve a shitload of villains are fucking great. it's dumb when all the heroes team up to fight a threat and all the other bad guys are nowhere to be seen.

Can't be my Sentry. Spencer sucks, but he can't ruin my character again.

End my life.

He already ruined so much that it doesn't matter

Plus, Steve can't rule the world by himself. He'll need minions and liutenants to run things and crush people that resist his regime.

>implying Bendis didn't ruin the character forever already

oh so in other words they put 4 artists on it so they won't delay it for 7 months like what happened with that worthless hack Asad Ribic in Secret Wars

thank fuck

>hack Asad Ribic
Fuck off. It was managment that fucked it all over. They knew he was having a kid but he needed the money. There is no safety net for artists in comics and if he needed to take care of his new kid that is fine. Marvel should have not given him this job and put him on light work for a while, and paid him the same so they keep him on.

Marvel treats their employees like shit these days.

Ribic wasn't the one with the kid, that was Marquez.

Oh my bad.

I love Ribic still though. His work on Thor saved Aarons writing

I'm starting to understand why this story is 9 issues, a lot of shit is happening and unlike with Bendis events we are going to have things moving at a fast pace.

do we have a bingo yet?

at the same time that's what keeps me from caring too much right now, past 5 issues and you're just begging me to tradewait

The oneshots apparently go "in between" issues so unless they're bullshiting to make people buy them, it's more than 9 issues and you'll miss info if you don't read the oneshots

Nope, and those quads mean that we must rectify this.

Everytime the Bingo has been brought up, we've gotten a handful of agreed upon ones:

>rant about millenials
>Superior Foes reference
>StevexZemo shipping
>Zemo saves the day
>SUDDENLY: SENTRY!
>"Bigger than the Annihilation Wave"
>everything fixed via reality warping
>Steve does literally nothing wrong
>MCU pandering

And the "free space" should be HAIL HYDRA.

>Gruenwald's Captain America Reference
>Miles tries and fails to kill Steve

>HYDRA =/= Nazis
>Issues get delayed

We need one that says
>Spider-Man featured on one of the covers but has no part in the actual event

>Somebody jobs to Captain Hydra
>Bendis-written tie-in contradicts or ignores main event
>A hero joins Captain Hydra
>Trump reference