Who can you trust in a world of shapeshifters? Superspy Nick Fury is about to find out. "Secret
Invasion" is almost here, so here's a dossier for fans before the big Disney+ premiere.
The folks over at Marvel Studios are well-known for planning their release dates well in advance.
However, things have gotten a bit unpredictable in the MCU, with "The Marvels" being pushed
back several months and talks of shuffling multiple series further down the release
schedule. It also looks like "Secret Invasion" suffered a bit in this upheaval. Originally,
it was reported we'd see the series hit Disney+ in the spring of 2023. Now,
we finally know when Nick Fury will reappear. The secret invasion will commence on June 21, 2023.
As one of the first projects of the MCU's Phase 5, that means we may feel the series' ripple effects
in feature films like "The Marvels," "Captain America: A New World Order," and "Armor Wars."
Similar to other Disney+ series like "Loki," "Moon Knight," and "The Falcon and the Winter
Soldier," we can expect six episodes of thrilling spy action when "Secret Invasion" premieres.
We last saw Nick Fury in 2019's "Spider-Man: Far From Home." While we were led to believe
that the ex-SHIELD agent had teamed up with Peter Parker to defeat Mysterio,
it turned out that Fury had actually been the Skrull Talos in disguise.
So where was the one-eyed spy himself? In a post-credit scene,
we saw the real Fury hanging out in a Skrull spaceship. But what was he doing up there?
Samuel L. Jackson told "Vanity Fair" in March 2023,
"Even Nick Fury can be shaken, you know? He's up there trying to process what the f*** happened,
you know? And what his place in the world is. The death of Iron Man,
the death of Black Widow — with that stuff going on, he just kind of checked out."
During his absence, Maria Hill has been trying her best to fill Fury's shoes
while growing increasingly upset that her old boss hasn't been returning her calls.
"I have called for your help plenty of other times,
and you've been pretty content to let those calls go straight to voicemail."
However, Fury is back on Earth now after receiving some truly disturbing news. It looks like a rogue
faction of Skrulls, led by the radical Gravik, has grown tired of the status quo. They're sick of
Talos' leadership, and they're pretty disappointed in Nick Fury. Jackson continued in his interview,
"He told the Skrulls they were trying to find them a place to live. He promised them they
were going to find them a planet or somewhere they could be. And that's not going so well."
Since they don't have a homeworld of their own, Gravik and his cohorts have decided to take over
ours, and they've been doing that by inserting themselves into political positions of power. Now,
a returning Fury must team up with a cadre of returning and new Marvel characters to stop these
shapeshifters from extending their reach and using their influence for nefarious purposes. Of course,
that's easier said than done when your enemies can make themselves look exactly like your allies.
MCU projects never skimp when it comes to big actors and big characters, and the same is true
for "Secret Invasion." Needless to say, Samuel L. Jackson will be reprising his role as Nick Fury,
alongside his longtime sidekick, Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill. Only this version of
Hill won't be too happy with Fury. Smulders revealed in a "Vanity Fair" interview,
"I think Maria Hill has really run out of patience. She's always had
this really close relationship with Nick Fury, [but] he's been gone for so long,
and she's just been running around putting out fires."
We can also expect to see Martin Freeman return as ex-CIA agent Everett K. Ross,
who was arrested in "Wakanda Forever" but freed by Midnight Angel Okoye. Ben Mendelsohn returns
as Fury's Skrull ally, Talos, and Don Cheadle will appear as Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes,
the War Machine. This version of Rhodey will be a little more politically minded and serves
as a close ally to the president of the United States. Interestingly,
the events of "Secret Invasion" will reportedly tie into Rhodey's upcoming film, "Armor Wars."
You should also expect to see plenty of newcomers. The mother of dragons herself,
Emilia Clarke, shows up as a rogue Skrull named G'iah,
Talos' daughter. Oscar-winner Olivia Colman is reportedly playing Special Agent Sonya Falsworth,
and Kingsley Ben-Adir of "One Night in Miami" fame plays the rebel Skrull Gravik.
Landing a showrunning gig in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a pretty big deal,
and it's introduced a group of filmmakers to wider audiences everywhere. Kyle Bradstreet
joins that list, serving as the head writer and executive producer for "Secret Invasion."
Up until recently, Bradstreet was most famous for writing and producing the
show that put Rami Malek on the map: the USA Network's "Mr. Robot." Of course,
while he'll guide the new Marvel series, he won't be the only creative behind the scenes.
Joining the pantheon of the MCU's Disney+ directors like Matt Shakman, Adil El Arbi,
Bilall Fallah, and Kate Herron will be Thomas Bezucha and Ali Selim.
Since "Secret Invasion" was first announced, fans were understandably excited about the potential
surrounding this Marvel story. Originally published between June 2008 and January 2009,
Marvel Comics' "Secret Invasion" was the first massive crossover event since "Civil War" that
united the entire Marvel Universe. The events affected everyone from the different factions
of X-Men and Avengers to the Fantastic Four, the Young Avengers, and the Inhumans. It
changed the landscape of the Marvel Universe for years to come. "Secret Invasion" follows
the discovery that the shape-shifting Skrulls have replaced many of Earth's
heroes and villains in an attempt to cripple the world before an interplanetary invasion.
This brought many of the Avengers back together after the events of
"Civil War," and united heroes and villains alike against a common enemy. At one point,
Tony Stark was almost convinced that he was a Skrull before being saved by his
friends and allies. Leading the Skrulls is Princess Veranke, who had posed as the
superhero Spider-Woman and infiltrated the New Avengers in the years leading up to her reveal.
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of "Secret Invasion" looks to be fairly different,
it's still based primarily on the original story written by Brian Michael Bendis and
with art by Leinil Francis Yu. In preparation for the series,
Marvel is currently publishing a sequel to the original "Secret Invasion" series.
"Secret Invasion" is set to be a bit different from Marvel's original story of the same name.
Rather than focusing in on the two factions of the Avengers, one led by Iron Man and the other
by Luke Cage, as in the comics, the live-action series will focus on the journey of Samuel L.
Jackson's Nick Fury. As he uncovers the secret war around him, he enlists a group of selected and
trusted allies including Ben Mendelsohn's Talos, to help him defeat the alien invaders. While there
may be some character crossovers from the comics to the screen, Marvel Studios' adaptation seems to
be playing everything a bit more grounded than some of their most recent projects.
"This war is one I have to fight…alone."
Aside from the serious lack of superheroes, the plans of the Skulls in the upcoming
"Secret Invasion" series seem to be more covert than their comic book counterparts.
While a full-scale alien invasion served as the climax of the original Marvel Comics series,
the Disney+ production looks to be taking things in a different direction. It's
entirely possible that there won't be a public invasion at all, but rather a
continued shadow war fought by a select few. Think something more like "The X-Files" than
"Independence Day," which makes Jackson's Fury a bit more akin to Agent Fox Mulder.
As the first Disney+ series of Marvel's official Phase 5, "Secret Invasion" is
the beginning of something bigger. Though Phase 4 was admittedly a bit confusing,
especially regarding when everything takes place on the timeline, we're hopeful that "Secret
Invasion" will be a bit more straightforward. Phase 5 occurs after the events of "Black Panther:
Wakanda Forever" and "She-Hulk: Attorney At Law." So we can rest assured that everything released
before those series has already happened by the time we catch up with Nick Fury. Both "Ant-Man
and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" were released before
"Secret Invasion," and they effectively started the Marvel Cinematic Universe's fifth phase.
As to where exactly on the timeline "Secret Invasion" rests remains to be
seen. Just because the limited series is being released before or after certain projects does
not necessarily correlate to its place on the greater timeline. For example,
"Black Widow" was the first film of Phase 4 but it technically took place in between the events
of "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Endgame" at the tail-end of Phase 3. While
"Secret Invasion" arriving in June 2023 helps us navigate when to watch it, it might not fit
in nicely with the greater story Marvel Studios is telling. Though, they'll no doubt issue an
official timeline-watching order sometime in the future, most likely as a playlist on Disney+.
From the first glimpses of "Secret Invasion," it's clear that the
whole thing feels a bit more like an espionage-fueled spy-thriller than a
comic book-inspired superhero story. Whether you love or hate that change,
it's clear that Marvel Studios is trying something different this time around. This
leans more into the political landscape they first explored with the second "Captain America" film.
"Don't trust anyone."
Series producer Jonathan Schwartz, who has been with Marvel Studios since Phase 1,
told "Vanity Fair" that the series took its inspiration from different spy thrillers
like "Homeland" and "The Americans." He also cites the works of John le Carré,
a Cold War author, as paramount to the themes of "loyalty and identity." He said,
"What you find is there are people that you trust
or you think you can trust — or you can only trust to a certain point."
The statement further enforces the Cold War-era paranoia that will no doubt mark the series.
Ben Mendelsohn further explained to "Vanity Fair" that the series takes
its time to analyze the tensions between the different factions of Skrulls. He said,
"The Cold War stuff is the big one that jumps out. But there is
plenty of strife between groups of people that this addresses."
As tensions escalate, one thing is abundantly clear, "Secret Invasion" is not a Marvel story
to sleep on, especially for fans of spy movies and political intrigue at an interplanetary level.
At the end of "Avengers: Infinity War," Nick Fury and Maria Hill are erased after Thanos'
snap. Upon his return in "Avengers: Endgame," Fury attends Tony Stark's funeral where he presumably
mourns the loss of Black Widow, his top agent, as well. Fury waits to reappear in "Spider-Man:
Far From Home," where he recruits Spider-Man to help him and Mysterio with the collapse
of the multiverse. Except it's actually Talos in disguise. Fury is off-world.
In the "Far From Home" after-credits scene, we see the actual Fury alive and well in outer space,
policing the galaxy, and protecting Earth from foreign threats. We still don't know how long
he was gone, how long Talos was disguised as him, or what he was doing on the Skrull ship. More than
likely, "Secret Invasion" will reveal the truth about Fury's "sabbatical," and further explore
his extraterrestrial adventures. Hopefully, the more answers we get regarding his time abroad,
the closer he gets to discovering the Skrulls' heinous plot to invade our
world. Maybe he was busy gathering an extraterrestrial Avengers Initiative?
In the trailer for the upcoming "The Marvels," Fury is seen in command on
the S.A.B.E.R. space station above Earth. What he is doing there is unknown. But
he's in contact with Agent Monica Rambeau, his old ally Carol Danvers,
and newcomer Kamala Khan to help figure out why their powers are tangled and disrupted.
Since "The Marvels" comes out months after "Secret Invasion," it's safe
to assume that the Disney+ series will take place before the events
of the feature film. But it's unclear if Marvel is playing games with us again.
Could the Fury seen in "The Marvels" trailer be Talos in disguise again?
If this is Fury, then we know that he survives the events of "Secret Invasion," and that his
last line in the trailer is nothing more than a dramatic read on his most recent solo adventure.
"One last fight."
But, if this isn't actually Fury, and Talos is continuing his friend's legacy,
then we must wonder what happened to the original Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
However "Secret Invasion" goes, we know that we'll see Jackson in the
Marvel Cinematic Universe again, which is something of a comfort,
and Fury will continue to have some sort of presence moving forward. While Marvel
has duped us before, we have no reason to think Fury won't appear in "The Marvels."
In the early 1960s, in one of the earliest issues of the original "Fantastic Four" comic
book series, a Skrull named Kl'rt first appeared to battle Marvel's flagship family of superheroes.
Unlike the previous shape-shifting Skrulls, this Super-Skrull was genetically engineered by his
race to copy the powers of the super-powered family. The Super-Skrull could stretch,
turn invisible, emit fire from his body, and was as strong as the Thing.
Kl'rt quickly became one of the Four's greatest opponents, but the same techniques used on the
Super-Skrull weren't forgotten. During the "Secret Invasion" arc, it's revealed
that the Skrull Empire has successfully re-created their Super-Skrull program on
other soldiers too, pulling in powersets from Avengers, X-Men, Inhumans, and more.
So far in the MCU, we have only seen the Skrulls appear in 2019's "Captain Marvel"
and briefly in "Spider-Man: Far From Home." In those movies, the only abilities they exhibit
are their classic shape-shifting tricks. Nevertheless, in the trailer for "Secret
Invasion," there is a single frame of a Skrull warrior who manages to turn his entire arm into
a batch of tentacled objects. It makes us wonder if the live-action Skrulls have also
found ways to mimic the superpowers of Earth's Mightiest Heroes. If they have,
that might make this "Secret Invasion" just as deadly and dangerous as in the original Marvel
comic books. Without a batch of super-powered heroes to face them, the stakes are only going up.
Like many Marvel Studios productions, "Secret Invasion" was filmed largely in London,
apparently at the same time as other big Marvel productions "Ant-Man and the Wasp:
Quantumania" and "The Marvels." While Jackson didn't appear in the latest "Ant-Man" flick,
it seems like he was shooting his Disney+ debut and the upcoming "Captain
Marvel" follow-up simultaneously, making us wonder how much the two stories crossover.
Shooting locations for "Secret Invasion" include Piece Hall in Halifax and West
Yorkshire. As with most Marvel productions, Pinewood Studios in England provided the
soundstages for the upcoming streaming series. Based on the trailers alone,
it seems as if "Secret Invasion" is set to take place all across the globe.
While Europe is likely the primary setting, it would be surprising if
Nick Fury didn't hop back over to America at some point during the series' run. Likewise,
with a title like "Secret Invasion" and the inclusion of extraterrestrial Skrull forces,
we may venture into outer space at some point in the show. After "Spider-Man: Far From Home" and
the latest trailer for "The Marvels," we're hoping to see Fury in his new extraterrestrial element.
Most of Marvel Studios' streaming series have been one-and-done productions. From "Falcon
and the Winter Soldier" and "WandaVision" to "Hawkeye" and "Ms. Marvel," many of
these shows were launching points for greater MCU stories rather than long-running shows.
"Falcon" serves as a transition piece from "Avengers: Endgame" to the upcoming "Captain
America: New World Order." "WandaVision" served as a sort of prequel to the events of "Doctor Strange
in the Multiverse of Madness." And "Ms. Marvel" was about introducing the titular heroine into
the MCU before her appearance in "The Marvels." With so many different Marvel stories out there,
it's easy to wonder if "Secret Invasion" will fall into the same limited series banner.
According to Collider, Kevin Feige wanted to do "Secret Invasion" as a six-episode
limited event series because it allowed Marvel to do, quote, "something different
than we've done before." Unlike "Loki" and "What If?...," which are getting subsequent seasons,
"Secret Invasion" is a one-off that will reportedly change the landscape
of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While we don't know exactly how it will change,
we do know that the limited series is a complete, self-contained story.
Single films or television shows can profoundly affect the larger Marvel
world. "The Winter Soldier" exemplifies this, but “The Avengers,” “Civil War,”
“Infinity War,” and “WandaVision” also altered significant aspects of the MCU
with lasting consequences. The introduction of Kang the Conqueror into the mix will affect the
MCU in ways that we can't begin to anticipate. Likewise, "Secret Invasion" could do the same.
Though the series chronicles a shadow war between Nick Fury's faction and the Skrulls,
that doesn't mean that there won't be some sort of larger revelation that will change
the MCU. More than likely, the knowledge that the Skrulls have been among us will
become public, and Earth's citizens likely won't take that very well.
Beyond that, this being Fury's "one last mission" also means something. While this
won't be the last time we see Samuel L. Jackson in his iconic role, how Fury will make it out
alive is still a question worth asking. Even if Fury somehow manages to hide the
events of "Secret Invasion" from the world, the ripples will still be felt throughout the MCU.