Nick Fury, the former director of SHIELD, is making a comeback in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with Secret Invasion. In this six-episode miniseries, Fury and his longtime colleague Maria Hill, played by Cobie Smulders, investigate the Skrulls, a shapeshifting alien race. Fury first encountered the Skrulls during the events of Captain Marvel in the 90s, and while they were once friends, their relationship has become strained over the decades.
The Skrulls, led by Talos, played by Ben Mendelsohn, have infiltrated key positions around the world to make Earth the new home of the Skrulls. Emilia Clarke plays G’iah, Talos’ grown-up daughter, who is part of the sect of Skrulls taking matters into their own hands.
The miniseries is based on the 2008 comic book event by Brian Michael Bendis and Lenil Francis Yu, and has previously been adapted for TV with the second season of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. However, Secret Invasion differs from its predecessors in that it won’t have “which Marvel hero is secretly a Skrull?” as its primary hook. Instead, showrunner Jonathan Schwartz likened the show to Homeland and The Americans, with the primary conflict being between loyalty and identity. “What you find is there are people that you trust or you think you can trust—or you can only trust to a certain point,” he explained in an interview with Vanity Fair.
As the other MCU heroes deal with their own problems, Fury and Hill are tasked with uncovering the truth about the Skrulls and their plans for Earth. Secret Invasion promises to be an intriguing addition to the MCU, with a focus on character development and complex relationships rather than just superhero action.
