Where to begin with Secret Invasion… You may have read some of my thoughts in a previous post, or heard me talk about my disappointment in a Youtube video, but in this post, I’m going to expound upon my thoughts and feelings about the Disney Plus series, Secret Invasion.
I must say that there is a lot that I didn’t like about it. Admittedly only some of it was difficult to watch. For the most part, it felt like it was almost good, or just about to get good. Nick Fury’s relationship with his wife seemed to have a good arc, but that wasn’t enough to carry the entire show. And it seemed odd that in thirty, or so years, Nick Fury, and especially Captain Marvel never found a new home planet for the Skrulls. Captain Marvel was out in space for the better part of those thirty years. It seems like Nick Fury would ask her to keep an eye out for hospitable planets.
I believe they explain that humans may not be ready to share Earth with another intelligent species, but it seems likely that the Xandarians might have a place for them in their society of different alien races. And if not, then the planet that Thanos went to live on after he defeated everyone in Infinity War would have been a great place for the Skrulls to live.
Living space aside, Secret Invasion had more issues to deal with, but before I get into that, I want to say something nice about it. The cast was excellent. Kingsley Ben-Adir as the main Antagonist, Gravik was phenomenal. His character was one of the better written characters, but he also brought a strong sense of reality to the situation. Emilia Clarke as Gaia did a good job, but didn’t seem to have a lot to work with. Samuel L. Jackson is always a phenomenal screen presence, but there were many times where his character wasn’t written very well. He did the best he could.
Another thing that bothers me about the characters is that there were two characters who I thought would play larger roles in the show. Cobie Smolders long time role as Maria Hill was about to get some serious character development when the show just decided to kill her off at the end of the first episode. It seemed like they were trying to reveal to us that this show is a serious one like Game of Thrones, but it honestly just felt like they didn’t want to pay Cobie Smolders for more than one episode.
Martin Freeman’s role as Agent Everett Ross felt like another bait and switch. It makes sense that a Skrull was posing as him, but I think it would have been better if Fury had freed him halfway through the series instead of just having Gaia do it at the end. Speaking of Gaia again; her character was decent, but should have been more interesting to watch. Talos played a good part, but his death felt a little cheap. Maybe, I missed something, but I was confused about why he couldn’t break into the car. I guess it was because it was Secret Service vehicle (made with stronger materials)?… Honestly, I can’t remember.
Don Cheadle’s character was mostly a Skrull imitating Colonel James Rhoadey, and that has caused its own great controversy. People say that just because he was saved while wearing hospital garments that a Skrull took his place at the end of Captain America: Civil War. That’s interesting because Rhoadey was only annoying in this series and not in the movies that took place after Captain America: Civil War. Maybe he waited until Secret Invasion to show his true colors, and at this point, I think I may just be hypercritical because of everything combined. I think it would have been good to also rescue Rhoadey somewhere around the halfway mark.
Since Maria Hill, and Agent Ross were quickly thrown out of the picture, Secret Invasion replaces them with characters like Nick Fury’s wife, Priscilla, and a tough Mary Poppins also known as Sonya Falsworth. Priscilla was interesting enough with her conflict between her love of Nick Fury, and her desire to find her people a home. And she and Fury had a good dynamic. I also did enjoy the shootout with her and Gaia against some of the other Skrulls as well. Sonya Falsworth on the other hand was just a one note character to me. It seemed like she was a super tough, and capable, but really had no other personality. There were hints of a personality, but not much. When her and Gaia teamed up at the end, I had no desire to see what would come of that. Hopefully, they will continue their journey in another universe that won’t be a part of a movie, or series (although honestly if other people want to watch that then they should go ahead and make it, and I’ll probably give the first episode a try since I’m a sucker for superhero stuff).
That leads me to my last point (although, I probably could talk about more), and that is the thing that everyone is raving about, Gaia and Gravik’s Super Skrull abilities. Let me start off by saying that I love that they brought in the Super Skrull concept, and I like that they changed it up, but they did too much with it. It wasn’t bad enough that they give these two characters the powers of essentially all of the superheroes, but also the bad guys, and also the powers of a Frost Giant? I remember them talking about getting this DNA from the Battle of Earth in the events of Avengers: Endgame. I don’t remember any Frost Giants there, but I did see Gaia stab Gravik with an ice sickle in Secret Invasion.
Those two were way overpowered, and then all of a sudden, Gravik died from being stabbed with an ice sickle. With all of those powers, it’s hard to believe that the ice sickle wouldn’t just explode into pieces against his super strong skin, and even if it did break through, the Hulk’s healing abilities would save him. I’m still not sure if they split the abilities between the two of them, or they both got all of them, but either way it was ridiculous. It might have been fun to see them both get a few different powers, and have a better fight.
Leave a Reply