Just look at that cover, everyone. Isn’t it glorious?
We see Thor ready to do glorious battle, with lightning flashing ominously. All of this is immediately undercut by Gwenpool, who is either falling from a helicopter à la Captain America or wearing an invisible jetpack, gleefully wielding a giant squeaky hammer. In my mind, this officially cements Gwenpool as Marvel’s possible equivalent of Harley Quinn, which is especially funny when you consider that the Harley Quinn series recently introduced a Deadpool parody in the form of Redtool. Comics: Making fun of each other for decades!
Their actual confrontation is very different than the cover implies, but no less amusing. MODOK forces her, Batroc, and two obscure characters to team up and murder someone before he can be used by a different evil force. Thor is summoned and proceeds to soundly defeat everyone, before Gwenpool calls out her real name. Yes, her real name. It turns out that in whatever universe she comes from, the MCU also exists. Man, she must be upset about missing Civil War.
Thor immediately zips over to Gwenpool to make sure that she didn’t hear what she thought she heard. The artwork here is especially great, as we see Gwen turning into a chibi as she’s frantically trying to remember Thor’s name and Thor herself looking shocked when she thinks that her identity has been uncovered. The eventual battle ends as Thor reveals that she needs the formula to heal a colony of elves. The mercenaries kill their target, but not before condensing the needed materials for Thor to use. Hilariously, it shows her running off to save the elves with a spray bottle filled with "magical weed killer".
Once again, Chrisopher Hastings does a wonderful job of combining drama with humor as we see Gwenpool, abandoning MODOK’s victory party in favor of hiding on the roof. She delivers a heartfelt monologue to Cecil’s skull and worries that she’s going to die, only remembered as a nobody. Then, Batroc pops up and reveals that he knows that she’s a fluke and threatens to tell on her. Firstly, it’s somehow creepy and sweet that Gwen carries Cecil’s skull around with her. Secondly, this is one heck of a cliffhanger. MODOK has made a habit of threatening to kill his subordinates.
Overall, you should definitely check out this issue. If you’re already reading the series, good on you. If you’re not, give it a try. The Unbelieveable Gwenpool #2 combines absurd humor with drama, all coming from the unique perspective of a main character who knows everything about the Marvel universe. Calling it now: At some point during this arc, MODOK will learn that Gwenpool is from an alternate dimension and prepare to torture her for information, before the All-New, All-Different Avengers rescue her. Wouldn’t that be neat?
Zachary Krishef is an evil genius. Do not question his knowledge of Saturday Night Live trivia or the Harry Potter books.
