Warning: SPOILERS for Secret Invasion and The Marvels are ahead!
As someone who’s watched nearly all the Marvel movies in order on the big screen (The Incredible Hulk being the sole exception) and followed along with each MCU TV show during their original runs to Disney+ subscribers, I’ve enjoyed most of what this superhero franchise has delivered over the last 15 years. However, in recent months, Secret Invasion has cemented itself as one of my least-favorite projects from this shared universe. There are various issues I had with the limited series, but after seeing The Marvels, one of its most glaring problems has become even worse: how it’s largely unnecessary viewing for the MCU experience.
How The Marvels Made Secret Invasion Feel Less Important
2023 has been a big year for Samuel L. Jackson in the MCU, as his Nick Fury finally got to be a leading character thanks to Secret Invasion, and he’s now back in a supporting capacity for The Marvels. Going into the latter project, I was curious to see how Fury’s experience dealing with the Skrulls in the former show would be addressed. After all, shapeshifting aliens infiltrating human society is a pretty big deal even by MCU standards, so surely it would come up in conversation during The Marvels since Fury played an integral in foiling this plot, right?
Nope, not at all! While we did get quick mentions of events from other MCU shows, such as Monica Rambeau gaining her superpowers in WandaVision and Kamala Khan’s superhero exploits in Ms. Marvel, Fury’s conflict with Gravik and his rebel Skrulls wasn’t brought up. Fortunately, the absence of anything Secret Invasion doesn’t impact the flow of The Marvels, but this also serves as a further reminder of how this show isn’t nearly as important to the MCU mythology as we thought it would be.
Remember that prior to Secret Invasion, the MCU’s Nick Fury was last seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home’s end-credits scene, when it was revealed that the Fury we’d followed with in the main story was actually Talos, and that the real deal had actually been hanging out in space with other Skrulls. Cut to The Marvels, Fury is seen commanding the S.A.B.E.R. space station, and while Fury’s work off Earth was repeatedly mentioned in Secret Invasion, one could easily go from Far From Home to this latest Marvel movie and not feel like they’re missing a beat with this character. He came back to Earth at the start of Secret Invasion and went back to space by the end. Everything that happened in between might as well be a footnote in the timeline of Nick Fury’s life as far as The Marvels is concerned.
Secret Invasion Feels Like One Of The Least Necessary MCU Watches
Now to be fair, most of Marvel Studios’ TV shows have so far felt like supplementary projects meant to enhance the MCU experience, but don’t serve as mandatory watches. The main exception to this so far has been Loki, which, following the wacky and emotional Season 2 finale, has set up a new status quo for the Marvel multiverse. I’d hoped that Secret Invasion would be more along the lines of Loki in terms of importance, but so far that’s not the case whatsoever.
I could spend hours talking about everything that was dissatisfying about Secret Invasion, but for the purposes of this piece, The Marvels straight up ignoring the series is just another example of how pointless of a watch it nows feels. Need more proof? Throughout Secret Invasion, it’s presented as though there aren’t any other worlds left for the Skrulls to set up a new home, with Earth being the only safe place of refuge. And yet, in The Marvels, we see Emperor Dro'ge and a Skrull colony on Tarnax. Granted, that colony was destroyed by Dar-Benn, but you can understand what I’m talking about.
Additionally, Talos sacrificing his life to save President Ritson in Secret Invasion amounted to nothing considering that he not only later ordered all Skrulls discovered on Earth to be killed, but he won’t be Commander in Chief much longer, as Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross will be president in Captain America: Brave New World. I also have my doubts if G’iah’s alliance with Sonya Falsworth will ever amount to anything, and I’ll be shocked if Maria Hill’s death in the premiere is mentioned in any movies going feared. At the point, there’s only one Secret Invasion plot point that looks like it’ll have any major bearing on the MCU going forward, although not one I particularly like.
The Main Way Secret Invasion Looks Like It Will Impact The MCU
Halfway through Secret Invasion’s run, viewers learned that Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes was actually the Skull Varra carrying out Gravik’s orders. The real Rhodey was freed in the finale with other prisoners on New Skrullos, including Martin Freeman’s Everett Ross, and while it wasn’t spelled out how long the man who pilots the War Machine armor was held captive, it is telling that was shown wearing a hospital gown.
Director Ali Selim later told CinemaBlend that he envisions Rhodey being kidnapped shortly after Captain America: Civil War. In other words, the Rhodey we saw between then and the end of Secret Invasion was Varra the whole time. If you’re like me, this mildly diminishes the emotional impact of Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame, as it’s Varra who’s saying goodbye to him, not his actual best friend.
Cheadle is next set to reprise Rhodey in the Armor Wars movie (which was originally developed as a TV show), which will take place after Secret Invasion and follow the character trying to get Tony Stark’s technology out of the wrong hands. Interestingly enough, before the Secret Invasion finale aired, Cheadle teased that Rhodey is going to be in “a very different place” during Armor Wars. So not only was the actor aware that a Skrull was impersonating Rhodey, but it also sounds like this will be directly addressed in the upcoming Marvel movie.
Whether or not that actually happens remains to be seen though, because if The Marvels can get away with not bringing up anything that happened in Secret Invasion, I won’t be surprised if Armor Wars gets away with this too. In any case, despite being touted as a big event even by MCU standards, Secret Invasion feels insignificant overall in the grand scheme of things, and The Marvels only further hammers this home.
With The Marvels now playing in theaters, we’re done with MCU content in 2023. Echo is the next of the upcoming Marvel TV shows, with all its episodes dropping on January 10. The next MCU movie is Deadpool 3, which is now slated for release on July 26, 2024.
