Secret Invasion has one of the most engaging hooks of any Marvel series: a group of Skrulls has infiltrated Earth’s population, living among us. They could be anybody, which makes it especially interesting that Episode 1 introduces so many new characters.
However, one of those characters seems a bit too suspicious to not be a Skrull, and news from the upcoming Marvel movie Thunderbolts makes it seem undeniable. But is it really a tease of a big reveal, or just a red herring meant to distract us from the real threat at hand?
Spoilers for Episode 1 of Secret Invasion follow!
Secret Invasion Episode 1 introduces Dermot Mulroney as the president of the United States, a great casting choice but also a very confusing one.
We don’t know much about the government system in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but we do know one thing: by the time of Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts, the president of the United States is Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, previously played by the late William Hurt and now recast with Harrison Ford.
If Ross is president in those movies — which, presumedly, aren’t set too long after the events of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, then how could the president be someone else in Secret Invasion? It’s hard to deny the evidence that this character isn’t what he seems to be.
Maybe there is just a simple explanation to this — maybe there’s an election cycle right between the events of Secret Invasion and Captain America: Brave New World, for example. But the coincidence of a strange new character in a show all about impostors is too convenient to ignore.
Since this series is sure to include some huge shocks about the true identities of the characters we know and love, it might be time to get out your bulletin board, thumb tacks, and yarn and start speculating. It may just be that the Commander in Chief is actually an identity thief.
