Origin

Princess Veranke stood against King Dorrek VII. She claimed the words of the prophets predict the destruction of their homeworld by a devourer of worlds. Dorrek said they were merely children's stories and had her removed.

Years later, it seemed the prophecies came true when Galactus arrived and consumed the Skrull Throneworld.

Some years after that, Veranke was sought out since the Throneworld had been destroyed and the Skrull armada was virtually wiped out. She was found on a barren planet living alone in a cave. Calling her their Queen, Veranke journeyed to the Skrull world Satriani.

Creation

Veranka was created by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch and first appeared as Spider-Woman (with people unknown of her true identity) in New Avengers Volume 1 issue 1 (2005). It was only later revealed that Veranke had been posing as Spider-Woman the whole time since the new Avengers team had debuted.

Major Story Arcs

The Illuminati

Speaking to her people, she talks about how she knew that their destruction had been foretold in the scriptures. She also knows that they will survive and will have a sacred home. The scriptures call their home "Earth."

She was soon told about the breakthrough by royal scientist, Dro'Ge. After they had obtained samples of members of the Earth team, the Illuminati, he was able to gather more data on human evolution than is even known on Earth. They can now strip away the basics of human, mutant, or Inhuman DNA, replicate it, and use it to create a new model of Super-Skrull warriors.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Upon hearing of this plan to infiltrate Earth, Veranke says she will be joining the invasion force. She says that since she was banished from the Empire for years, she insists that she will be leading this invasion. She asks Dro'Ge which Earthling she could pose as to create the most amount of damage and Dro'Ge presents her with an image of Spider-Woman. Using HYDRA as a front, several Skrull infiltrators goaded the true Spider-Woman into undergoing a procedure that would give Jessica Drew her power back. Once Jessica was out cold, Veranke underwent a ritual that not only gave her the appearance of Jessica Drew but also all of her memories. During her tenure as Spider-Woman, Veranke manipulated everyone from The New Avengers to HYDRA in order to create a sense of fear, paranoia and mistrust.

But her path to what she believed would be a solid victory was not without danger. Not only was she nearly imprisoned in the Negative Zone by the Pro-Registration Superheroes but she also came very close to death on several occasions during conflicts with villains such as Dr. Doom and The Red Hulk. This path was also not without heartache, this fact was of course proved when Veranke learned that The Annihilation Wave had completely wiped out what little was left of their already shattered Empire. When the New Avengers discovered that a Skrull was impersonating Elektra, Veranke betrayed The New Avengers by apprehending the corpse and taking it to Tony Stark. Despite her status as "triple agent", Tony let her join The Mighty Avengers thus allowing Veranke to do even more damage than before.

Secret Invasion no More

A decoy transport ship full of mind-wiped Skrulls had been transformed to look like and believe they were the 1970's versions of superheroes like Luke Cage and Ms. Marvel. Veranke was able to lure both The New and Mighty Avengers into The Savage Land where they would remain trapped as the new Super-Skrull army descended upon other parts of the world. During this time, she tried manipulating Tony Stark, who had been infected by a Skrull Virus, into thinking he was the greatest Skrull warrior of all time. However, before she could wrap him around her finger completely, she was nearly killed by The Black Widow. Veranke realized it was time to check and see how the Invasion was going and made way for Camp Hammond in Stamford, Connecticut where she was nearly assassinated once more by The Shadow Initiative.

From there, Veranke and Criti Noll made way to New York City just in time to see Thor calling both Earth's heroes and The Skrulls to war in Central Park, thus igniting the final conflict between the Skrulls and Earth's Heroes (and Villains.) Though she was confident that the Skrulls would win, Veranke was completely unaware that the Skrull Gods Kly'bn and Sl'gur't had already been murdered by Hercules and his " God Squad," which had already shifted the tides of fate in Earth's favor.

Death

Veranke was fatally wounded by Ronin (Clint Barton), while she was fighting against Wolverine. This triggered a desperate countermeasure planned by Criti Noll, but Veranke was not dead yet. Sadly for her, when she tried to counterattack, all the heroes were aiming at her but it was Osborn who killed her by planting a bullet in her head. With her death, the Skrull Invasion and their dream of a new home were finally over. With Veranke dead and their two back-up plans to destroy Earth in case of failure to take over now thwarted, the Skrulls retreated into the stars.

Devil's Reign

In Marvel's Devil's Reign event, it was revealed that Veranke was not dead when she teamed up with Kingpin to go against Spider-Woman once more. While impersonating Jessica Drew, she kidnapped and hurt her best friend, Lindsay McCabe, leaving a cryptic message behind for Jessica. Later, while impersonating Jessica again, Veranke went to pick up/kidnap Jessica's son Gerry Drew from his babysitter, Linda Carter. She managed to get Gerry inside a car before Lindsay realized that she wasn't the real Spider-Woman.

Then, the actual Spider-Woman showed up and tackled her. They fought, but Jessica left her when she realized that the person in the car was driving away with her son. She followed them and Veranke was right behind her. Veranke first impersonated Ronin. When Jessica saw through that deception, she impersonated Iron Man. Jessica again was not fooled. It was only when she impersonated Captain Marvel that she managed to confuse Jessica, because the real Captain Marvel had also arrived, and Jessica couldn't tell them apart. Finally, when Gerry zapped her, it was revealed Veranke. Jessica fought her and won.

Physical Attributes

• Height: 5'10"
• Weight: 124
• Eyes: Green
• Hair: Black

Other Media

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes

Veranke appears as the mastermind behind the Skrull invasion in the second season. In a twist from the comics, it is revealed that Veranke infiltrated Nick Fury's small cadre of rogue agents by taking down and impersonating Mockingbird.