Marvel Unveils Secret Empire Villain Variants

CBR

By Tim Adams

Published Mar 3, 2017

Marvel revealed new variant covers for its 2017 Captain America-centric summer blockbuster event featuring a host of super-villains.

While Captain America is set to square off against his former friends in Marvel Comics' "Secret Empire" event series, other villains will be getting in on the action as well. Marvel has now revealed the Secret Empire Villains Variants, featuring "Hydra’s secret weapons in the war against the super heroes."

Artist Dan Mora ("Klaus") illustrated the variants that will grace the covers of all nine issues of the summer blockbuster event. Some of the villains will look familiar to longtime readers of "Captain America": Red Skull, Taskmaster, Arnim Zola and Baron Zemo, for example -- although, there is one name that Marvel is classifying as "Top Secret" for "Secret Empire" #2.

One look at the cover below may offer up clues as to who the silhouetted figure could be. The individual is in a crouching position, similar to Spider-Man, but appears to have large gloves that go all the way up the wrists. Could Marvel be planning another shocking moment for Spider-Man, ala his unmasking in "Civil War?" There is one Spider Family member that Captain America has a new connection to -- and that's Miles Morales. One of Ulysses' visions in the 2016 event "Civil War II" depicted Miles murdering Steve Rogers on the steps of the capital building. While that scene didn't come to pass during the series, Marvel has teased that it will come into play down the road. Perhaps it's all leading to a shocking turn for Miles in "Secret Empire" #2?

Here is a listing of the Secret Empire Villain Variants for "Secret Empire" #1-9, along with the reveal of the first five villains: