Secret Invasion just gave up some of its biggest secrets. Marvel shared new details and images with Vanity Fair about the heroes and villains we’ll see on the Disney+ series. It includes why we’re going to see a very different Nick Fury than we have previously in the MCU, why some Skrulls are now rising up against him and Talos, and where and when we previously met Emilia Clarke’s character.
Nick Fury’s missing eyepatch in Secret Invasion is more than just an aesthetic choice. Samuel L. Jackson explained to Vanity Fair its absence is a reflection of how different his character is after Earth’s encounter with Thanos. It sent him to hide out in space. He’s “shaken” in a way he never has been before.
Now that he’s back (to a very miffed Maria Hill, who had to deal with Earth’s many problems during Fury’s absence) he’s not as confident in his abilities as he was before. But don’t expect him to call on the Avengers to help in his new battle. We’re going to find out why the ultimate spy doesn’t want to bring in his old hero friends this time.
That’s too bad because he’s going to need all the help he can get fighting off an invasion by a breakaway group of Skrulls. Fury’s promise to find Talos and his people a new planet decades ago is still not fulfilled. That will lead some disillusioned and angry Skulls to infiltrate Earth so they can claim it as their own.
We now know who will lead that faction on Secret Invasion. Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night In Miami) is a Skrull who isn’t afraid to use force if deception doesn’t get him and his followers what they want. And what they want is to live in their own skin and not as humans.
While Skrulls everywhere have reason to be angry with both Fury and his close friend Talos, their failure is especially personal for one member of the shape-shifting race. Emilia Clarke will play Talos’s daughter G’iah (“Guy-ah”). Unlike Clarke, who is new to the MCU, we’ve met the character before. G’iah was a child in Captain Marvel. We saw her emotional reunion with her father aboard their hidden Skrull ship.
The love we saw the pair share in that film is long gone by the time of Secret Invasion. Clarke says Talos’ failures have “hardened” G’iah. That’s built up a lot of “resentment” in her. That will give the show, which Fury says takes from many real-life political situations, an intimate storyline.
Cobie Smulders’ Hill isn’t the only old human face Fury will turn to for help. Martin Freeman’s Everett K. Ross will also join the show. He was last seen in Wakanda Forever where members of the Dora Milaje broke him out of U.S. custody. That’s why he might want to stay away from the President’s new “right-hand man,” Don Cheadle’s Rhodey. It sounds like neither of them should trust Olivia Colman’s “coldblooded” MI6 Agent. She might have ulterior motives beyond protecting the UK.
Of course, that’s true of everyone on the show. Secret Invasion might feature shape-shifting aliens determined to take over Earth. But the real terror will be not knowing if a smiling face is friend or foe. Or if that’s even their real face.
Secret Invasion‘s six episode season debuts on Disney+ this summer. Exactly when is still sort of a secret, though.
