The Greatest Marvel Hero No One Remembers

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Marvel's Crusader is the unsung hero of Secret Invasion and it's a real shame that he met a tragic end.
Special thanks to our Patrons for helping make this possible!
The Brain Teaser, Bonnie Davies, Senita Mahoney, Jonathan & Megan Pierson, David Adler, Milton Appling, Ralph Braganzan, El Habti Productions, Ethan Dannen, Yoav Haimovitz, LookWhosFhtagn, LuHeDi, Casper Qvortrup, Andrew Shaffer, Vydal
The song "Sunray" by Kupla provided by Lowfi Girl.
Tags: #Marvel #SecretInvasion #Skrull

[@Wolfiyeethegranddukecerberus17]

Betrayal is such a sad thing. Zarreg killing his friend actually made me quite sad.

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

One anime has a child get abandoned by their only source of acknowledgement :( thankfully an other awkward kid likes her gotta love betrayal

[@thatweirdlesbian-]

SPOILERS!

[@protalghulnist4126]

@@senritsujumpsuit6021what a vague comment

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

@@protalghulnist4126 well do u want spoilers :p

[@kame6463]

@@senritsujumpsuit6021what anime is it

[@TupocalypseShakur]

Thanks to the 2022 Secret Invasion book we know that some Skrulls work for Maria Hill to protect the Earth, so Crusader might appear working for her down the line

[@juliiju0484]

Drake didn't mention it here because it wasn't relevant to the video, but the whole Freedom Ring thing was very controversial at the time. You see, Freedom Ring was Gay, and he was one of the first Marvel superheroes to be openly so. For this reason, while his first appearances were still being published, Joe Quesada (Marvel's editor-in-chief at the time) promoted him as the company's main LGBTQ+ hero. The problem is, Kirkman was planning to write a hero who would die quickly due to lack of experience first, and he never had any bad intentions, but seeing the supposed "flagship Gay character" die unceremoniously was pretty shocking to a lot of people. Years later, Kirkman stated that if he could rewrite Marvel Team-Up he would not have killed Freedom Ring, since at the time he wrote the story he did not realize how few gay characters there were in mainstream comics. .

[@ComicDrake]

Thank you so much for detailing that out. It was kind of difficult to squeeze in because the video is ultimately about Crusader and not Freedom Ring, but this is definitely something that I want to talk about in future. Robert Kirkman and/or Joe Quesada deep dives.

[@claudelarose8831]

Thank you for pointing that out

[@juliiju0484]

@@ComicDrake No problem! I've talked about it a few times on Twitter already, so I know the story by heart. As for in which video you could talk about Freedom Ring, perhaps a general retrospective of LGBTQ+ characters in Marvel would be a good place, especially to see how far we've come, from Arnie Roth to Aaron Fischer.

[@ThorgisArcade]

This is wild because I was literally thinking about this guy just two days ago. I have no idea why but of nowhere I just found myself going "Huh, did they ever resolve that whole thing about Crusader disappearing at the end of that book?"

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

that moment you realize your a nerd :)

[@KingOfFools784]

Huh, always odd to see KZbinrs I watch commenting on other videos

[@AuntyNatalist]

Ay a crossover! Lookin' forward to Part 2 of the Street Fighter Retrospective!

[@Leadeshipcoach]

@ThorgisArcade… Professor Thorgi?!!!

[@KohdeeCA]

THIS is a character that needs a comeback. Never heard of him before but I loved this story. Hope all the current Skrull hype gets this guy a return!

[@lordofninjas1]

I'd be curious to see if they bring Zarreg/Crusader into the MCU for the Secret Invasion show they have going on right now on Disney Plus, might be a good way to reintroduce the character before bringing him back in the comics or whatever.

[@DBfan106]

that would be a really interesting way of granting his last wish. allowing things to truly end differently!

[@casteanpreswyn7528]

Unfortunately that didn't happen.

[@TitularHeroine]

It somewhat reminds me of the "Lost Decade" story, with the Skrull hero Effigy. The original 3D-Man was one of my favorite characters, and Morrison's OG Skrull Kill Krew was pretty good. Thanks, Drake! This was pretty cool.

[@Josephmc2503]

Holy hell… what a compelling character! This is what I love about comics and this channel, always discovering something new

[@finpark7785]

This is perfect for an "Invincible"-esque animated series adaptation. I'd love to watch a couple of seasons of the Freedom Ring and Zarreg teamup.

[@blackphoenix77]

I had no idea that Crusader teleported away at the end because I haven't read that issue since it came out; hopefully he'll be back someday

[@donovan6206]

Maybe the Nick Fury Tonal thing was an attempt to show his denial turning into anger? Sort of like a bitter acceptance trying to tell himself and the world he made the right choice. Before returning to bargaining when hes questioning himself and is feeling more guilt about the choices surrounding his decision

[@esrohm6460]

the most tragic thing about this is probably that the nature of the skrull invasion would make it impossible for anyone to trust a known skrull, so him coming out would have possible ended worse than just a quick death

[@marceloa392]

he was forced to come out to save everyone because of the toxin which was harmless to skrulls everyonethere found out he was a skrull thats why everyone hated 3d man for murdering him

[@mikeymorales360]

Tbh the freedom ring story was what got me into comics so this video gives me a weird nostalgic feeling thanks drake for reminding me about this long forgotten story

[@Darqueness]

Dude, thank you. I recall reading this like a while ago and being quite moved by it and def felt that more ppl need to know about it, and you addressed it with the gravitas and nuance it needed. Such a tragic character and story but hits just right. Kudos to you for shining a light on the obscure greatness out there in comics.

[@korribreki]

0:42 was smooth editing

[@deadpoolnerd]

I'd absolutely love if this kind of character is shown in the Secret invasion show. A Skrull conflicted with wanting to help Earth. Being here so long inspired by witnessing so many heroes and something like the Avengers forming. Yet still feeling a pride a love for his people and planet, just so against their plans what some stand for now.

[@patrickblanchette4337]

Thank you Comic Drake for partially covering The Initiative; it’s a great book that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.

[@radiak55]

I do like these kind of videos because I think it's needed in the current landscape of readership of comics but in particular the long serialized stories of Marvel and DC. There's just a toss up of what can actually be good and I think the greatness of these two publishers come from the hidden gems in between the big and bombastic stories because it kind of reflects the type of realness in a way that in the thick of a larger story, there are other lifes playing their own role within their own story. Important more so because the content of comics in social media is more about vitriol and summary of facts than actually talking about the interesting stuff within these comics.

[@willcommon6164]

You're one of the only you tubers to Acknowledge the Initiative series. Its really one of my favorites! I have every issue along with the specials. never bought the trades because I've never needed to! So happy to see someone else show it love! some it not the best Secret Invasion tie Ins!

[@Abominatrix650]

This was so well-written and sad. F for Z'Reg. A true hero.

[@afropenguin]

Love The inititave so thanks for talking about it, Camp hammond & the 50 state initive is still one of my favourite plot threads and im sad that we didnt get to have a good look at alot of the teams.

[@zeywop]

I want to take a moment to shout out the lettering on this panel at 2:01 . By bolding the free and making the dumb unstressed, it helps tricks the brain into sounding it out so you don't hear the word play; it pays off that much harder later on cause you read it 4 times.These are the kinds of tricks only the medium of comics can use! Everyone who works on a the comic, is contributing to a great piece of art and entertainment.

[@MrWiplazh]

omg it took me the whole video and this comment to realize that free dumb ring = freedom ring...

[@mikesmithsm]

I loved that story line. Not everything about that run worked, but that character definitely did. I didn’t know the Marvel Team Up connection.

[@camerongrow6426]

Crusader's story from Secret Invasion lives rent free in my mind.

[@illford]

Every time there is something to do with training or a mercenary i feel like they just wheel out Taskmaster, it makes sense but it just looks like everyone has bro on speed dial

[@Xtra_Medium]

I always thought that Crusader getting murdered mid catharsis and 3D Man's blaise reaction of ". . . What?" was an apt metaphor for marvel editorial's disdain for new characters Especially Skrulls

[@tskmaster3837]

Freedom Ring, with the Power of limited Unlimited Power! "What's the limitation?" It won't protect you from Dramatic Bullcrap When Dramatic Bullcrap Needs To Happen! From the Creator of Invincible! "... Yeah."

[@rockincradilyyyy8489]

love how it started with just "hey neighbour you wanna team up as superheroes"

[@danferreira7924]

Dude I love the shit you add in your videos 😂 00:53 wtf you wearing on the TV? 😂 And the strawberry and pickles 🤣 Love the sense of humour SUBSCRIBED

[@SergioR00]

I love this channel! Really cool getting these quick dives into cool comic characters

[@davids2427]

This guy needs to come back seriously love to see him in the Mcu what a compellingly Awesome story ! ✅

[@juliusbossman7280]

I would like if Crusader returns and takes on 3-D Man, especially when he joined AIM. Something like he was put in the Freedom Ring's dimension to heal and see all of his old friends

[@grimfin3214]

I’m surprised you didn’t point out the similarities between Crusader and Kirkman’s other character Shapesmith. In many ways, they follow similar storybeats and have essentially the same general concept

[@--Paws--]

If the MCU was onto something, this would've been a great candidate for the Secret Invasion...

[@DaellusKnights]

A few years ago I had had read (some of) the back issues for part of this story that I was given. I read most of the parts with 3D Man and Crusader, but I didn't have all of this context and backstory to put it all together. It definitely completely changes how I see Crusader. It'd be pretty cool if they would bring him back and continue his story from where it ended. The character has a LOT of potential that can be exploited without relying on all of the overused tropes. EDIT: ...without what I just learned here I saw him like 3D Man did - I thought Crusader actually was a Skrull spy and therefore the enemy 🙀

[@anionhero]

I remember reading the comic where Freedom Ring died and the Skrull mentor/sidekick/whatever took off with the ring, but I never read the Avengers Initiative comic series, so I didn't know about the Crusader. Thanks for enlightening me on this character. I now have some back issues to track down!

[@trowa9960]

I loved the Avengers Initiative Series. It's still among one of my all time favourites. Crusader was one of the great characters there. I never knew about the Marvel Team up with Crusader. I'll have to hunt that issue down now. I always wanted a writer to follow up on Crusader for what happened after he disappeared. It's too bad Avengers Initiative isn't talked about since it was full of great new characters that will likely never show up again. I'd definitely buy a book that brought back characters like Cloud 9, Trauma, Ultra girl, Komodo, Hardball and others. At least Slott's FF run brought wrapped up things with Gauntlet and the Tactigon. That was nice to see. Someone needs to follow up on MVP and the device that Slapstick had with his mind in it. That was a great story. Things are pretty rough over at Marvel right now actually. Aside from Daredevil and Captain Marvel (which is now over anyway) there's not much I've enjoyed for a while.

[@nobo1982]

Have you read the whole black hammer saga? I genuinely think that series/univers has some of the most genuinely brilliant comics analysis and deconstruction ever done and a ton of beautiful storytelling obvs, id love to hear ur thoughts on that work some day.

[@ianclark9744]

i'm happy that my boy 3-D Man got a mention! i would love to see a vid on him one day, he's a lesser known character that i'm obsessed with

[@Ashguy733]

Jazinda and Lyja and K'lrt are my favorite Skrull characters. Never knew Zarreg

[@WhiteRaven696]

I remember Crusader. Screw Triathlon for what he did to him.

[@pious83]

As close to a Mar-Vell heel turn as they will likely ever do for a Skrull.

[@chimera9818]

Could be interesting if he rewritten reality so he would be the human he dreamed of being

[@senritsujumpsuit6021]

What would he do in that case because it likely won't just be starting from newborn

[@chimera9818]

@@senritsujumpsuit6021probably just living his life in world that care for him more

[@fu-n_videos]

I feel like I've seen a recent movie with a magic ring found on the street. Luck had something to do with it. A girl had bad luck until she possessed the ring, you know, jelly side down when she dropped her toast.

[@bazzfromthebackground3696]

The Marvel hero that nobody remembers is "Forget Me Not." That's the whole point. Lol

[@keeganseck7751]

That ending upset me almost as much as your opinion on Red Vines.

[@marvelmite1]

I totally forgot this character from team up, I got to go back and reread that whole run someday (loved how epic it got in the end). Interesting to see where they went with him, I completely skipped the initiative stuff at that time but it seems like it added some interesting depth to secret invasion

[@marvelmite1]

@Comicsdrake huh?

[@ahhcount]

​@@marvelmite1seems like a poser

[@Nytrolizer]

I really thought this was gonna be about forgetmenot

[@caolanmcflynn2412]

In the mean marvel universe there was A time of superheroes in the al Capone times

[@voidanims]

He might've created a alternate timeline or something like that

[@jamcalx]

Basically, he became much like Mar-vell.

[@yourtube1424]

This is how they should fix mcu Gaia by giving her the freedom ring and making her Crusader!

[@catintrash9574]

That, was surprisingly good

[@VicEntity]

Now talk about Marvel's most tragic villain, Guitar Johnny, who appeared in the same run as Crusader over here.

[@HissoriRenda]

He talks about comic books and his name is Drake! I miss your uploads

[@ComicDrake]

I haven't gone anywhere.

[@madnessarcade7447]

So there were good skrulls back then I assumed the mcu started that

[@marceloa392]

there were others who were killed by the skrull invaders the beatles skrulls .....yep a group of skruls disguised themselves as the beatles john one was the last one to be killed

[@PatrickBateman3116]

He looks so badass he needs to return And appear in the Mcu

[@commonviewer2488]

It would be nice to see new stories starring this Skrull hero

[@Excellsion]

6:00 Speaking of, could you do a breakdown of what the 50 teams were? I have tried looking into it, to little avail. It could even be a short.

[@v.sandrone4268]

Captain Vietnam is underrated.

[@rockmacher]

I know for a fact that at one point Johnny Storm married a Skrull and had a kid with her. I don’t know if that’s still canon or not

[@labgoat6787]

Hey Comic Drake! First of all, I’m a huge fan of your videos, so I want to see if you could probably make an in-depth video of how they screwed over Ben Reilly, the Scarlet Spider, and how comics turned him into the Devil. I’m not joking-I really wanna see a video of this, and yes, Ben Reilly did take over Limbo, which is conceptually hell.

[@The_Chocolate_One]

Hold up now…did Drake just diss Red Vines? The most glorious candy known to man? 😮

[@susfactfinder1219]

it taste like ass

[@graysonred2641]

Awesome video, damn good character. Slott was doing his thing back in the day

[@ComicDrake]

Hope you guys liked the video! I love using Ipsos iSay to earn rewards! Click my link: www.inflcr.co/SHIIr #IpsosPartner

[@High-LordHarza]

Stuff like this is why I love your channel!

[@Vampiranhador]

Interesting character. Great vid.

[@FantasmaNaranja]

couldnt freedumb ring just manifest a brick inside someone's head?

[@BFG93]

That was a beautiful ending man. Thank you for showing me this.

[@SpiralTheFirst]

Honestly I really like that freedom ring guy, sad that he died to fast

[@Hellacious-Blue-Liquid]

Crusader sounds really cool!!!

[@stateofhibernation]

It took me a second to get freedom ring = free dumb ring... i love it lol

[@jorgedavila4920]

When I saw the thumbnail I thought you were referring to Freedom Ring

[@TheCreepypro]

what a great story

[@Wandasolosurfavs]

WTF?? JUSTICE FOR CRUSADER!!!! AND I'M BEING SERIOUS!

[@SebbyCrook]

Wow, someone caught that scam bot rather quick. Awesome job

[@ComicDrake]

🫡

[@SebbyCrook]

@ComicDrake I was gonna report it after I dropped off my daughter but it wasn't there lol Thank you, Have a good day/night

[@Malfus_The_Swift]

Great vid!!!

[@Buckertrown]

Red vines is the worst u earned urself a sub lol

[@Screwed1000]

Amazing video as always bro!

[@bignapolean3068]

Minus the crack at my favorite licorice, this is another great vid, Drake.

[@EranMadeMonsters]

Man, xenophobia in the marvel universe was heavy in the late 2000s. Especially to the "evil empire" alien races.

[@DarkwyndPT]

Is that evil Iron Man, Iron Maniac?

[@raphaomesmin5826]

Marvel should start writing characters more like this tbh.

[@slasherentertainmentshorts5136]

If I ever get a position at marvel I hope to write about this character and do his character justice

[@slasherentertainmentshorts5136]

@Comicdrake....-. what is it

[@DarkZeroNova]

Question about the sponser site, will it end up that a chunk of them require personal info?

[@paulslade129]

What did you say first that you dubbed the Ipsos name over? I am very curious

[@AkiDave]

That ending jeez

[@Nutriageek]

I read the Initiative and really enjoyed Crusader! Although I always kept waiting for him to come back 😅

[@capnbug]

Freedom ring is so good 😭

[@marmato9332]

Was there a particular reason he had to get killed off so uncerimoniously? I mean, i get his death made sense narratively, but surely they could have made it a bigger moment if the character was even vaguely important in the event, right?

[@logansmith2703]

Or just have him die fighting Pym

[@ahhcount]

I think it's supposed to be a sudden thing to shock us rather than being a slow but predictable death.

[@ribstein7714]

It has a certain vicerality to it. He lived in fear that his secret getting revealed would result in disaster and unfortunately he was proven right. It's a gut punch because he was a paragon of good yet still a victim of other's paranoia, in-outgroup thinking and vigilantism. It can be viewed as a cautionary tale of the dangers and immorality of such things. As a reader: we are inclined to think that "good deeds will not go unrewarded" but the story shoots our idealistic escapism down thus emphasising the horror in the mindset and actions of the murderer. I don't know if what I speak of was the intent but it paints a damning characterization of 3d man by the subverting of reader expectations (something that's often done just because but works really well here imo. It serves a narrative purpose)

[@TheMaestroMizerous]

Humans are douchebags to aliens@@ribstein7714

[@supergamertale]

I'm curious, can you do a video about mutant genetics? Does it work by just a lottery system, or does two mutants... doing the deed, cause some influence in what power they get? I'm really curious.

[@finpark7785]

The Avengers are out there looking for shapeshifting skrulls but they have not even noticed that Crusader's ethnicity changes every few panels.

[@TheOvervoid]

I'd make him the leader of the "Space Avengers"

[@inferodios]

Love obscure characters but whenever I see a title like this I always think it’ll be about Forget-me-not. Great video nonetheless.

[@ConekillerConfuzor]

I loved the The Initiative comic, but felt it got bogged down by too many crossover events too close to each other.

[@hectorbarrera8046]

.... This is a good video and love that you're giving Crusader the spotlight, but don't you *ever* slander Texas Twister again.

[@thegoodwitchluzura]

7:47

[@ash_sunday]

This sounds like a great read! Much better than the mess the secret invasion show is trying to tell!

[@bobmathis-friedman6742]

Here's my take on the Crusader: he makes me growl with rage. Remember when Freedom Ring was doing his super-hero thing? At the time, the LGBTQ+ Community (of which I am one) wre having problems with lack of (or bad) representation at Marvel . Editor-In-Chief at the made this huge deal about they placed a gay character, Freedom Ring, front and center in the comic. This was the same month that FR was unceremoniously ( and brutally) taken out, the heterosexual epitome of All That Is Good And True Captain America takes down the bad guy effortlessly, and the skrull not only takes the ring, but promptly enjoys himself in the most "this proves I'm straight, and I ultimately win at the same time," manner, possible. The. Same. Month. Kirkman has, generally, tried to redeem himself since then, and so has Marvel. But, can you blame me for taking one look at the Crusader and throwing him out?

[@TitularHeroine]

I wasn't reading comics much at the time and didn't know about any of this. Without any of that info, the story as Drake relates it is pretty good and this shifts my perspective somewhat. Just to touch *very* tangentially on the first part of your comment, I'd often rather see no representation at all, than bad representation, if that makes sense.

[@melasnexperience]

Yeah. I think that more than anything is why Crusader didn't gel with a lot of readers - he was attached to that whole "here's our newest gay character, he's gonna die like a punk to teach readers a lesson of some sort about realism" mess around Freedom Ring.

[@rufmirzhexan]

You should make a video on Cardiac