# Veranke

Veranke is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The queen of the Skrull Empire, first introduced under the guise of Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), she is the main antagonist of Secret Invasion in which she leads her empire to invade and conquer Earth.

## Publication history

Veranke's first official appearance is in Secret Invasion #1, but was disguised as "Spider-Woman" in New Avengers #1 while her character is named and fleshed out in New Avengers #40.

## Fictional character biography

Veranke was a Skrull princess who scolded Emperor Dorrek VII from the Tyeranx 7 province after the Illuminati escape from the Skrull palace for not heeding the words of the Skrull prophecies, which state the attack upon the palace will be followed by the Skrull homeworld's destruction, the coming of a "wave of devastation" through Skrull space, and the need to take "a world of blue" as their new home. As Dorrek VII ignores her warnings, Veranke declares if Dorrek VII is unable to heed the writings of the Skrull's scriptures and the Skrull people's will, then he is not fit to rule. For her defiance, Dorrek VII banishes her to a prison planet, brushing her off as an insane fanatic and a traitor.
Years later, the Skrull throneworld is destroyed by Galactus; believing that only Veranke can lead them, the Skrulls rescue her from exile and she is anointed as their Queen. Veranke declares that the scriptures foretell Earth as the Skrull's new homeland, thus 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. To set an example for her people, Veranke also decides to participate in the invasion and asks which of Earth's heroes would be ideal for her to impersonate. Jessica Drew / Spider-Woman is recommended as the prime choice thanks to Skrulls posing as HYDRA agents having learned of her status of a double agent of Nick Fury.
After successfully assuming Drew's identity, Veranke takes up the latter's new position at the Raft and was stationed there 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 Steve Rogers / Captain America offers membership to her. Fury instructs her to continue working for him 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 / Hulkling of the Young Avengers and the son of the Kree hero Mar-Vell and the Skrull princess Anelle who is a likely heir to the throne. During the invasion, she orders Dorrek VIII to be executed; unbeknownst to her, he survives.

### House of M

During the House of M storyline, it was revealed that Veranke, along with all the other undercover Skrulls, knew that the world had been altered. She tries to assassinate the Wanda Maximoff / Scarlet Witch but is unsuccessful and deconstructed in a way similar to 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 and fulfilling another tenet of the prophecy. Distressed by the realization that they are now all that is left of the Empire's legions, Veranke and her agents are more determined to continue their takeover of Earth.

### Civil War

Soon after Peter Parker / Spider-Man's identity is revealed to the world during the Civil War storyline, Tony Stark / Iron Man discloses her triple agent status to Maria Hill. Troubled by her potentially treasonous allegiance to Fury, Hill orders her apprehension. While disguised as Sybil Dvorak, she is captured and taken aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier. Deploying an EMP, 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 pleads to join the resistance, having lost her connection to S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fury.
Afterwards, Veranke travels alongside the New Avengers to Tokyo to fight Elektra and the Hand, but is unable to prevent Maya Lopez / Echo from killing the Skrull Pagon which reveals the Skrull infiltration. As the New Avengers ponders the next move, Veranke defeats the Skrull posing as Wolverine in front of Iron Man in a move designed to sow distrust amongst the superhero community, leaving bad feelings on many fronts. Afterwards, she also joins the government sanctioned Mighty Avengers under the guise of throwing the Skrulls off balance.
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.

### Secret Invasion

In the Secret Invasion storyline, "Jessica Drew" is informed of the crash-landing of a transport ship of Skrulls impersonating various superheroes (including Pitt'o Nili as Captain America) in the Savage Land. She in turn tips off Luke Cage about this information as she supposedly more trusting over Iron Man while the Skrull posing as Dum Dum Dugan destroys the Peak space station of S.W.O.R.D.
After the Skrull invasion of Earth begins, Veranke is seen in the Savage Land, where she confronts and attacks Echo, repeatedly striking with venom blasts and then slamming her opponent into a nearby tree trunk. She then insinuates Iron Man is a Skrull sleeper agent, and kisses Iron Man for supposedly having "earned the queen's love". Black Widow plans to attack while Veranke talks to Iron Man, but is distracted by Skrulls posing as Beast and Jean Grey, and Veranke disappears and escapes while Black Widow kills the Skrulls.
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, 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. During the fight, the real Wolverine confronts Veranke and quickly gains the upper hand by impaling the Skrull Queen through the shoulder with his claws. Moments later, Hawkeye is injured which prompts Ronin to kill four Skrulls before seemingly killing Veranke with a shot to the face. Veranke's apparent fate results in Criti Noll posing as Hank Pym to use a device which has the Wasp grow to enormous size while deadly to humans nearby until Thor transports the doomsday weapon's unwilling carrier to another dimension to seemingly die. However, Veranke is revealed to be still alive until Norman Osborn kills her.

### Aftermath and return

During the "Dark Reign" storyline, Veranke is seen in Erebus, gambling or lingering for resurrection. She is later seen in Pluto's jury at Zeus's trial.
The "Devil's Reign" event revealed that Veranke's body was secretly preserved. She is revived and set loose by Mayor Wilson Fisk to get revenge on Spider-Woman. Veranke, despite some difficulty, is defeated by Drew and Carol Danvers.

## Powers and abilities

Like all Skrulls of Deviant heritage, Veranke is capable of shape-shifting her form into whatever she chooses, be it humanoid, non-humanoid, or even inorganic. Recent unspecified developments in genetic engineering within the Skrull race has allowed the Skrulls (including Veranke) to go undetected in human form from Iron Man's technological scans, Charles Xavier's mental scans, Spider-Man's Spider-Sense, Wolverine's animal senses, or any other conceivable forms of detection. So subtle and powerful is this form of concealment neither Doctor Strange at the Sanctum Sanctorum could detect her with the Spell of Tartashi (which apparently inflicted some degree of physical pain), nor could the Elder God-powered Scarlet Witch using Xavier's psychic powers delve into Veranke's true mind, as shown when Veranke was granted her identity theft victim's desires, not her own. Veranke's shape-shifting abilities also allow her to form weapons such as blades on her body. Veranke also has a great deal of knowledge concerning Skrull prophecies.
She displayed Spider-Woman's powers which include superhuman physical abilities, flight, and the ability to generate electricity and pheromones.
As Jessica Drew, she initially had only limited gliding ability, enhanced by the small wings that are part of her Spider-Woman costume which HYDRA further tampered with her metabolism, providing her with self-powered flight. The range of her flying capabilities is still undetermined. She displayed powers that helped her and the other Avengers escape from Doctor Doom's technological device by creating a Venom blast explosion — this use of Spider-Woman's powers was noted as inconsistent with her files on S.H.I.E.L.D.

## Other versions

During the Secret Wars storyline, the Battleworld domain of the Warzone (which is based on a reality in which the Superhuman Civil War never ended), Queen Veranke is the cause of every failed attempt at reaching peace in a part of a plan to benefit from the never-ending war. This was revealed to President Stark when he was captured by Queen Veranke's men posing as Black Panther's soldiers. President Stark used weapons not in his armor to free himself and She-Hulk from Queen Veranke's clutches.

## In other media

* Veranke appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Elizabeth Daily. This version poses as Mockingbird while orchestrating the Skrull invasion of Earth until she is defeated by the Avengers and incarcerated at Prison 42.
* Veranke / Spider-Woman appears as a playable character in Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, voiced by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn.