Warning: this article contains full spoilers for Secret Invasion’s finale. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out IGN’s review of the final episode.
Secret Invasion just wrapped up its six-episode run on Disney+. Over the course of the series, we’ve watched Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury unravel a vast conspiracy involving clandestine alien invaders, false flag attacks and a plot to make Earth the new home of the Skrull race. Now that the dust has settled, we still have some major questions about what happened and what it all means for the future of the MCU.
What does the future hold for the Skrulls now that Gravik’s plot has been stopped? Are there still Skrull impostors lurking in the shadows? Let’s break down the biggest burning questions surrounding Secret Invasion’s final episode.
Is Fury Back to Business as Usual?
Secret Invasion showcased Nick Fury in an unusually vulnerable state. This was a Fury feeling the weight of his many mistakes and trying to get back in touch with his inner secret agent. He also lost a great deal over the course of these six episodes, both professionally (being fired as Director of S.A.B.E.R. by Rhodey) and personally (losing close friends like Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos).
But by the final episode, it seems as though Fury has gotten his mojo back. The fact that he’s wearing his eyepatch again is clearly meant to symbolize that he’s gotten over his recent slump. But is it really business as usual for Fury? We never actually get confirmation that he’s been given his job back, or that he’s been cleared of wrongdoing after being framed for the murder of Maria Hill. Should we just assume Dermot Mulroney’s President Ritson made all of Fury’s troubles go away in exchange for saving his life? Or is Fury operating so far off the grid now that he no longer cares if he’s been given a mandate by the US government?
More importantly, what is the psychological toll of Fury’s recent losses? The series doesn’t devote a great amount of time to exploring Fury’s grief over the deaths of Hill and Talos. That’s to say nothing of Sharon Blynn’s Soren, who was quietly killed off in between Spider-Man: Far From Home and Secret Invasion. Will we see Fury grapple with these losses somewhere else? Will The Marvels reference the fates of Talos and Soren? Or is Fury back to simply being the implacable spymaster?
What Happens to G’iah and the Skrulls Now?
While the series ends on a relatively happy note for Fury (even reuniting him with his wife), things aren’t exactly looking up for Emilia Clarke’s G’iah and the other Skrulls still on Earth. President Ritson has essentially declared open war on the Skrulls, giving his own citizens a mandate to hunt down and kill any Skrull impostors they can find. Already, the finale shows the terrible cost of that rampant xenophobia.
So what happens to G’iah and the million hidden Skrulls now? Do the Skrulls attempt to maintain their cover? Do they flee Earth in search of a new home? Does seeing her people massacred by vengeful humans wind up radicalizing G’iah in the same way Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik was driven to evil by Fury’s broken promises? That’s a sobering thought, considering that G’iah is now effectively the most powerful being on the planet in her new Super-Skrull form.
As a sidebar, it’s interesting that the notion of xenophobia in the MCU comes up just as Marvel is gearing up to introduce the X-Men. Is this just a coincidence, or could this anti-alien sentiment wind up growing to include a fear of all uncontrolled superhumans? A few years from now, will there be any difference between mutants and aliens in the eyes of the general public?
This also raises the question of what happens to the many Skrulls living and working on Fury’s S.A.B.E.R. station. Even assuming Rutson has given Fury his job and responsibilities back, is he going to tolerate letting a valuable asset be in the hands of the Skrulls? Again, we almost have to wonder if Fury is operating completely independently now.
The finale introduces an interesting wrinkle to all of this with the apparent alliance between Olivia Colman’s Sonya Falstaff and G’iah. Whereas the US government has a strictly zero-tolerance policy for Skrull agents, Falstaff clearly sees the benefit in working with G’iah and her kind. So what’s next for G’iah? Will she lead a Skrull super-team of some sort? Could this even be the next step in introducing the MI:13 organization in the MCU? If so, maybe Clarke will reunite with Games of Thrones costar Kit Harington as G’iah joins forces with the Black Knight.
Will There Be Peace Between the Kree and Skrulls?
Despite this darker future for the Skrull people, there is one ray of light for G’iah and her people in the finale. Fury learns that the Kree have extended an olive branch and are seeking to finally forge peace with the Skrulls. One of the oldest and most destructive conflicts in the universe could finally be ending.
The implication seems to be that we’ll see Fury try to broker a peace treaty in an upcoming MCU project. Maybe the S.A.B.E.R. station will serve as a neutral bargaining ground. And assuming those talks break down, that could leave Earth uncomfortably close to a new outbreak of cosmic warfare. If the MCU is ever going to get around to adapting the seminal graphic novel Avengers: The Kree-Skrull War, this may be the perfect setup.
The real question is where this plot thread will be continued. Is Secret Invasion laying some groundwork for The Marvels? Will the Kree/Skrull peace talks serve as the backdrop of the new film? We know Zawe Ashton’s character Dar-Benn is attempting to harness the power of a mystical artifact (the double of Ms. Marvel’s bangle) to restore her war-ravaged home. She may want to sabotage any peace talks between the Kree and their ancient enemy.
Or is this setting up a different project entirely? Will there be a Secret Invasion: Season 2, or another Skrull-centric series with Fury at its center? We may have to wait until Marvel reveals more of its post-Avengers: The Kang Dynasty road map.
How Long Ago Were Rhodey and Ross Replaced?
Like the comic that inspired it, Secret Invasion is a series that forces viewers to question who can be trusted and who is actually an alien impostor. How many MCU favorites are actually Skrull double agents in disguise?
The series proved to be fairly conservative on that front in the end, with only two major MCU characters - Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes and Martin Freeman’s Everett K. Ross - exposed as Skrull impostors. Still, these reveals raise an interesting question. How long ago were Rhodey and Ross replaced? How much of recent events in the MCU have they missed out on?
With Rhodey, the only clue we’re given is the fact that he has to be supported by two soldiers after waking up in the Skrull facility. This indicates that Rhodey was replaced sometime after the events of Captain America: Civil War, where he was partially paralyzed during the airport battle. Still, there’s a lot of time separating 2016 and the present-day MCU. How much of that does Rhodey remember? Was it he who was picked to be Secretary of Defense, or the Skrull? Does he even know his friend Tony is dead? As we’ve explored before, this could all be setting the stage for the upcoming Armor Wars movie.
As for Ross, it’s interesting that this reveal comes after the character’s status quo was radically changed in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Was the Ross seen in that film the real deal or an alien spy? Will this allow him to brush off the legal trouble he faced in Wakanda Forever, or is he still an international fugitive?
Are There More Skrull Impostors?
Though Rhodey and Ross are the only two major MCU characters to be revealed as Skrulls in Secret Invasion, we have to wonder if there could be more. After all, Talos reveals that there are roughly a million Skrulls hiding in plain sight on Earth. Who’s to say Rhodey and Ross are the only two members of the superhero community to be replaced?
What if Gravik had backup plans and other crews? What if other Skrulls have been using the same tech but pursuing their own agendas? There’s still plenty of room to reveal that more familiar MCU characters or global politicians have been replaced by Skrulls.
In short, the potential is there for a direct follow-up to Secret Invasion, whether that takes the form of a second season, a Kree-Skrull War adaptation or something entirely different. With so many Skrulls still hiding on earth, and with G’iah now wielding the combined power of the Avengers and Black Order, there’s a lot of unfinished business left to explore.
For more on the future of the MCU, brush up on every Marvel movie and show in development and find out how the three heroes of The Marvels are connected.
Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.
