Secret Invasion stars Samuel L. Jackson, Emilia Clarke, Ben Mendelson, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Colman and Don Cheadle and guest stars Cobie Smulders and Martin Freeman. Secret Invasion brings back the legendary S.H.I.E.L.D. Spy Nick Fury and throws him back on Earth where the world is on the brink of war and the Skrulls he vowed to help years ago have grown weary of his promise.
Secret Invasion is the third installment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) Phase 5. It is based on one of the most well-written storylines from Marvel Comics by Brian Michael Bendis. I had a lot of high hopes watching each episode of Secret Invasion because it had some of the best writing and character developments but unfortunately, the end of the series did a grave injustice to the MCU and the story it drew inspiration from.
To start, Secret Invasion has an iconic leading actor that needs no introduction, Samuel L. Jackson, who can always deliver masterful performances. In addition, you have terrific actors such as Ben Mendelson, Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Olivia Colman for support. One of my favorite scenes from this series was Nick Fury speaking with Talos on the Train about the discovery of the existence of millions of Skrulls around the world. It was one of the most well-written dialogue that uncovered the relationship of these two characters and the conviction that both have in protecting their species and life at all cost. One of the series greatest strengths was uncovering the past and how integral the relationship between Talos and Fury really was in the creation of the entire MCU. Learning how Fury utilized the Skrulls as his “secret” army made a lot of sense and explains how he is always one step ahead.
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Gravik is one of the most frightening villains that the MCU has ever shown. The plot can only go so far with a strong protagonist, you need a stronger antagonist to create an intricate story with its push and pull, and Kingsley Ben-Adir was up to the challenge. His motivations and plans were terrifying and in my head, I was thinking this would definitely work in the real world. The writers did a fantastic job on creating Gravik’s character development from someone who admired Fury to despising him in every way.
One of the biggest reveals of the Secret Invasion series is finally learning that Colonel James Rhodes is a Skrull. This literally blew my mind and I can’t wait to see where they will take that for the upcoming MCU series, Armor Wars, and I hope we will confirm when he was abducted and switched.
On a side note, I think the fans can agree that we all love Olivia Colman’s character, Sonya Falsworth, and that her quips and cleverness has us eagerly rooting for her return. I can’t wait.
Now here comes some of their struggles. I felt that the series revealed that it did not hit the mark as a fan of the MCU. In my opinion, the MCU has been struggling in developing films and series that advance their storytelling and building. Unfortunately, Secret Invasion is not the lifeline that Phase 5 needed.
The final episode felt very rushed and created more loose ends rather than tying the existing ones up. No matter how great the story, a disappointing end can undo all of it and I believe Secret Invasion did just that.
Firstly, the whole entire plot was that Nick Fury was going to solve this issue all on his own without any help from the Avengers because it was “his mess”. That was not true in the last episode because he had G’iah fight Gravik who now has the entire Avengers’ roster abilities which we can consider to be the strongest character in the MCU since Wanda is “out of action”. There was no time limit on her powers, she didn’t seem to have any challenges with controlling all of those powers, and was able to master all of these abilities in a span of 5 minutes. That doesn’t sit right with me and I am pretty sure they will write their way out of this but I don’t see it being a good one.
The MCU must stop killing off their villains for the sake of the resolution. It is a waste and it solves the ending of the storyline way too easily which I feel is not necessary since you are continuing to build a cinematic universe. It would also be nice to have not only heroes but villains/anti-heroes as well too.
Overall, Secret Invasion had a lot of promise throughout my weekly watching but in the end, it was unable to stick its landing and leaves a lot of us fans disappointed and discouraged with future MCU properties. Here is to hoping that they are able to turn it around!
