Secret Invasion director Ali Selim has reacted to the latest Marvel series’ mixed reviews.
The Disney+ series, which focused on the Kree-Skrull war storyline that was first introduced in 2019’s Captain Marvel, came to an end on Wednesday (26 July).
Following its finale, the show broke an unfortunate Rotten Tomatoes record, earning a dismal critics’ score of just 10 per cent, making it the lowest-rated Marvel title of all time.
Over the course of its six-episode run, Secret Invasion frustrated fans by “cruelly” killing off a popular character and by revealing that one character was actually a shape-shifting alien – a twist that could change the way fans view certain scenes from past Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) films.
In a new interview with Variety, Selim – who also served as an executive producer – was asked how he felt about the show’s reception.
“Oh, I don’t read reviews,” he answered. “With all due respect. For me, I view all the storytelling work I do as a dialogue with an audience.
“When the show is finished and put up on the screen, that’s my half of the dialogue. And the audience then starts their half of the response to it.”
Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill and Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury in Marvel Studios’ ‘Secret Invasion’— (Des Willie/© 2023 MARVEL)
He continued: “I don’t feel bad about mixed reviews. If you had unanimously good reviews, every movie would gross $10 billion, trillion dollars, right? [Projects] resonate with different people at different times for different reasons, and Marvel has a very devoted – even rabid – fan base who have expectations and when their expectations aren’t fulfilled, they move in the other direction; they give it a thumbs down.
“I don’t know – is it our job to fulfill their expectations? Or to tell the story that we’re telling? So, it’s a tricky thing. I would love it if everybody loved it, but I also don’t have that expectation myself, so I feel great about the response to it.”
There were some saving graces for the series; fans of Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) were left feeling vindicated following a groundbreaking moment involving her character, G’iah.
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Secret Invasion is led by Samuel L Jackson, who returns as Nick Fury, alongside Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Colman and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
Next on the MCU docket are Loki season two (6 October) and Echo (29 November), with Captain Marvel follow-up The Marvels set to be the final MCU film release of the year (10 November).
Next year’s releases, including Deadpool 3 and the Anthony Mackie-led Captain America: Brave New World, will most likely be delayed due to the ongoing actors’ and writers’ strike in Hollywood.
