Deron Generally
Deron Generally
Secret Empire Omega #1
Marvel Comics
Written by Nick Spencer
Art by Andrea Sorrentino
Letters by VC’s Travis Lanham
For anyone curious as to the aftermath of Secret Empire, you get your first clue here. As the country continues to heal from the latest crisis to befall the world, a lone figure is breaking into a secure black site prison off American soil. His target, Steve Rogers. Apparently the sole occupant of this prison is Steve Rogers and he is being confronted by; Steve Rogers. So we now have a world where both Steve Rogers and Hydra Steve both exist. What could possibly go wrong?
As the two men square off and begin their battle of ideals, we are recapped with the events of Secret Empire and frankly, the more interesting parts that we didn’t get to see. Hydra Steve does have some interesting points to make as he schools Steve on how easily he was able to take over and how quickly the laws put in place to give him the power he took absolve him of any responsibility for the actions he took. It’s an interesting back forth between the two men in a battle of ideals. Both men have points and it’s easy to see how (in a better written storyline) Hydra Steve could have been a more compelling villain.
Meanwhile, around the world, heroes and anti-heroes attempt to clean up the messes they made, mourn their losses and take revenge by punishing those who they decided betrayed them. While I didn’t enjoy the Hawkeye funeral moments, the Winter Soldier, X-Men and Punisher moments more than made up for it. I especially enjoyed that, for the mutants especially, all of the jubilation that the world is enjoying means a return to the status quo for them. It will be interesting to see how that’s explored going forward.
All in all, I enjoyed this issue. As a treatise on the core philosphy of Captain America and how that philosophy can be subverted when given absolute power, it works. I enjoyed the moments between both Steve’s and how neither one backed down. While I’m not looking forward to Nega-Steve, Anti-Steve, Un-Steve or whatever the hell he starts calling himself when he eventually escapes, the verbal battle between the two men made this issue worth reading.
