Secret Invasion’s finale had its flaws. The CGI Super-Skrull powers went viral for looking awful, and the reveal that G’iah was posing as Nick Fury in the final confrontation with Gravik made the heartfelt monologue he delivered completely meaningless. But credit where credit’s due: Skrull HQ, the venue for the final fight between G’iah and Gravik, provided the perfect gritty, Cold War setting for the series’ climax.
Unfortunately, it also created a massive plot hole.
In Episode 1, when Nick Fury asks Maria Hill where Gravik is, she says, “Skrulls are immune to radioactivity, and Russia has the most abandoned nuclear plants on Earth.”
That sounds like a foolproof way to create a Skrull-only base of operations. However, as Redditor AWT23 points out, there’s a big flaw here. After G’iah defeats Gravik, she releases all the humans the Skrulls held in stasis while they impersonated them. Some of these people had been captive for months, even years. But if the radiation is so bad that humans can’t survive prolonged exposure, how are these prisoners still alive?
Maybe the radiation isn’t as intense as Gi’ah pretends it is when she’s posing as Nick Fury, or maybe the prison for humans is sheltered from the worst effects. However, Rhodey has been detained for an entire decade. Even a moderate amount of radiation would have a crippling effect over that time. Forget starring in Armor Wars; the man needs a hospital.
It’s a pretty glaring plot hole, and it’s hard to think of a way to explain it away. Is the plant decontaminated, and the Skrulls are just lying to keep humans away? Are the prisoners held in a lead-lined building? Do the Skrulls have some advanced anti-radiation technology they never bothered to mention? These ideas technically work, but it just feels like Marvel got lazy.
As the MCU moves on from Secret Invasion, there are a lot of loose ends that need to be tied up. This one may not be the most pressing, but it could still warrant a future explanation. At the very least, let’s hope Rhodey didn’t want kids.
