Skrulls come out of the shadows

It was only a few years ago when Marvel dropped Wandavision, its first limited series on Disney+. The show was a big success and fairly well received by the fans. Marvel followed that with Falcon and the Winter Solider and Loki, which were also pretty successful despite some probably justified criticism for both.

It seemed that these limited series’ were going to continue to be successful and well-received, but then Marvel started to get over-zealous with the shows. There was a stretch where it seemed they were releasing a new show almost immediately after the previous one had ended. It started to become obvious that quantity was being valued over quality, which led to absolute letdowns like She-Hulk and Ms. Marvel.

The last show Marvel released was all the way back in September (She-Hulk), meaning for the first time, they have taken their time towards really getting back to quality T.V. show content. The Marvel fans now have their sites set on June 21, 2023, the release date for Secret Invasion.

Secret Invasion will be Marvel’s first political thriller-type project since Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which is regarded as one of the best films in the MCU by many. The premise of the show looks to be that a group of not-so-nice Skrulls invade Earth, and disguise themselves as some of the most important political figures in the world.

As you would recall, the Skrulls are actually good guys, helping both Captain Marvel and Nick Fury in prior MCU projects. In the comics, the Skrulls are like this, except for a faction of evil Skrulls, who are up to wrongdoings like we’ll likely see in this show. 

In Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was revealed that Nick Fury has been off Earth for a while, and the “Nick Fury” we’ve seen on Eart,h has actually just been Talos mimicking him. In this series, it appears that the real Nick Fury is going to be forced into coming back to Earth and help defeat this faction of Skrulls that is bringing chaos to Earth.

As mentioned, Talos will also play a key role in this show, being the Skrull that has really held things down on Earth and will likely have some connection with the evil Skrulls trying to do whatever it is that they are trying to do on Earth. Ben Mendolsohn has really done a good job with the character in his previous appearances, and it will be cool to see him get some more extended time on-screen in this show.

One character that will play a major role in this series is one many may not be all that familiar with: G’iah. G’iah is Talos’ daughter, in which we see a young version of in Captain Marvel. In this series, she will be grown up, and played by infamous actress from Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke. We don’t know all that much about how her on-screen presence will be portrayed, but Clarke is a good enough actress to the point where we can trust that G’iah will be a good character.

Of course, with it being a political thriller in which the Skrulls pose as prominent political leaders, we will see appearances from many well-established MCU characters that have some role in politics. Don Cheadle is back as James Rhodes (or War Machine if that’s how you remember him). Martin Freeman is back as Everett Ross. Cobie Smulders is back as Maria Hill, and of course, Samuel L. Jackson is back in his 205th Marvel appearance as Nick Fury.

Honestly, with this show only having had one teaser and one trailer being released thus far, there really is not that much that we know. In the trailer, we see an explosion in Moscow, Russia, meaning this show likely has some of the already strong Cold War connections within the MCU.

Other than that, we genuinely are going into this show with very little prior knowledge, which is definitely a good thing. A problem with MCU projects of late has been that it feels like too much is revealed in the trailers leading up to the movie/show. Secret Invasion is meant to be one of those shows that keeps the fans guessing and on their toes at all times. With people going into the series cold turkey, that secretive element needed to pull off a political thriller of this prominence is needed.

As someone who has been critical of Marvel’s Disney+ shows as of late, I have super high hopes and aspirations for this show. The cast is great and the show’s concept is one that has been used to pull off many successful comic book runs revolving around the Skrulls. I am extremely excited for Secret Invasion, and I have June 21st marked on my calendar.