Marvel’s Secret Invasion is nearly upon us, and the clip released on Monday makes it look even more intriguing than before. It will be exciting to see how this story changes the landscape of Earth 616, or Earth 199999, or whatever the Marvel Cinematic Universe main time line is. Having said that, there is cause to wonder how much affect the Secret Invasion will have on the Multiverse. It seems that it will be very little, but that’s okay as long as the main time line gets a great story.
Street Level Mixed with the Cosmic
Don’t get me wrong, I really want the MCU to lean into the Multiverse aspect of the Multiverse saga, but not everything needs to be a multiverse project (although I would like them to acknowledge it). Since Nick Fury, Maria Hill, and Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman’s character) will be playing big roles, it seems that this project will go back to the political thriller/espionage vibe that was created with Captain America: Winter Soldier. And we know that there will be aliens involved so adding variants, alternate time lines, and strange dimensions may be a tad too much.
Identity Crisis
The clip revealed on the website, “theinvasionhasbegun,” was a promising scene that definitely highlights the excitability of this premise. We don’t want to be secretly invaded (or regularly invaded) by aliens (at least, I don’t), but a story about that is fascinating to think about, and the clip shows a lot of promise. If you haven’t watched the clip, I highly recommend that you go and do that now. The secret code isn’t too hard to find now that some dedicated fans discovered it. If you don’t want to watch it or read about it because of spoilers then I recommend skipping to the next heading.
The Invasion Has Begun clip just has two characters, Everett K. Ross, and I believe the other guy is “Russian Spy,” played by Andy Mulligan. I don’t remember him having a Russian accent, but I think that was Andy Mulligan, and Russian Spy is his credit on IMDB. Of course, a good spy can have whatever accent they want. What stood out to me, though, was this character’s voice, and animated movements. I almost felt like I was watching a Pixar short, but a Pixar short that had a serious tone.
The Russian Spy is revealing to Everett that he believes there is a Skrull invasion that has already taken place. At the end of the scene, Everett appears to be convinced, and says that he will pass on the information to Nick Fury. The Russian Spy doesn’t seem to like Everett’s response, because he ends up tackling him, and the scene is over. I can only suspect that he suspects that Everett is actually a Skrull. I wonder if there was something a little more obvious in the scene that I missed. I am tempted to go back, but I think I’d rather wait until I can watch the whole thing.
Experience the Comic Book Series that Inspired the Show
Secret Invasion By Brian Michael Bendis
Secret Invasion in the Comics
In the comics, Tony Stark is a big part of the Secret Invasion story line. Echo and Elektra are fighting, and Echo kills Elektra, but when she dies, Elektra turns into a Skrull. Iron Man finds out about this and immediately suspects an invasion. It sure would be fun to have Robert Downey Jr for this, but my excitement for this series is still moderately high. I say moderate because as we all know, the MCU has been a bit hit and miss lately.
Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four also plays a big role in the comic book version as he is the one who invents a way for the heroes to tell who is a Skrull, and who is not. What if he was a Skrull himself, and tricked the heroes into targeting other heroes? I don’t believe that’s how it went down in the comics, but it could be a nice twist for the MCU series. Anyway, though, without the Fantastic Four, I am curious as to which smart hero will discover a way to differentiate between humans and Skrulls.
Setting up the Thunderbolts
The comic book version of Secret Invasion also sets up the Thunderbolts team. With the Thunderbolts movie coming out next year, it doesn’t seem like much of a leap to think that the two projects could be related. General Ross isn’t slated to be in Secret Invasion, but I’m sure he’ll have a strong opinion about the events and we’ll learn what it is in Captain America: Brave New World, or at least in the Thunderbolts movie.
The Thunderbolts team in Secret Invasion was organized by Norman Osborn, and included himself, Doctor Doom, Loki, The Hood, The Sub-mariner (Namor), and the White Queen. That roster is significantly different from the one that we know about for the upcoming movie which is made up of the new Black Widow, Red Guardian, U.S. Agent, Winter Soldier, Ghost, and possibly Task Master. And of course, General Ross whose nickname is Thunderbolt Ross along with Valentina Allegra de Fontaine will be calling the shots for them.
Check Out the Comic Book Team Before the Movie Comes Out
Thunderbolts Vol. 3 Secret Invasion
Those two team rosters are wildly different, but the Secret Invasion series could still set off a chain reaction that will result in the formation of the Thunderbolts. Of course, we already know that recruiting of certain individuals has already begun (Yelena at the end of Black Widow, U.S. Agent at the end of Falcon and the Winter Soldier), but there hasn’t been an event to bring all of the characters together as a team quite yet. Perhaps the inventor of the Skrull detection formula is also the inventor of the formula that creates Sentry/the Void.
Whatever happens, I’m excited to see it, and I hope we get some surprise cameos in their as well, because a Marvel Secret Invasion won’t seem right without several superheroes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Nick Fury, and Maria Hill are back in action, but I think this series should definitely have some major heroes in it. Hopefully, their identity for now is just a secret that will be revealed when we see the show.
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