Secret Invasion was officially announced as a television series for the Disney+ streaming service in December 2020 during Disney's Investor Day presentation. Kevin Feige confirmed that Samuel L. Jackson would reprise his role as Nick Fury, with Ben Mendelsohn returning as Talos. The series was positioned as a key “crossover event” for the platform, promising to bring a unique tone to the MCU. Kyle Bradstreet, known for his work on the similarly toned series Mr. Robot, was attached as the head writer, signaling the show's intended direction as a psychological spy thriller. In 2021, the main cast began to fill out with high-profile actors, including Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Killian Scott. Ben-Adir was confirmed to be playing the primary antagonist, Gravik. Filming commenced in London in September 2021 under the working title “Jambalaya,” with Ali Selim directing all six episodes. Production spanned across the UK, with locations in Halifax, Leeds, and Huddersfield, before concluding in late April 2022. The series is a major installment in Phase Five of the MCU, bridging narrative gaps for Nick Fury between `Spider-Man: Far From Home` and `the_marvels`. The series premiered on June 21, 2023, and concluded on July 26, 2023.
The narrative foundation of Secret Invasion is built upon promises made and broken decades apart, establishing a complex and tragic backstory for the Skrull refugees.
The story's seeds were planted in the 1995-set film `Captain Marvel`. In that film, a younger Nick Fury and Carol Danvers discover that the Skrulls are not warmongering invaders, but rather a race of refugees fleeing genocide at the hands of the Kree Empire. After helping them escape a Kree attack, Fury makes a solemn promise to Talos and the surviving Skrulls: he and Captain Marvel will find them a new homeworld. For the next 30 years, this promise went unfulfilled. The post-credits scene of `Spider-Man: Far From Home` revealed that Fury was off-world commanding a massive space station (later identified as S.A.B.E.R.), while Talos and his wife Soren had been impersonating Fury and Maria Hill on Earth. This established that a significant Skrull population was now living secretly on Earth, working for Fury in exchange for his continued help. Secret Invasion picks up in the present day, post-Blip. An entire generation of Skrulls has been born on Earth, knowing it as their only home. A disillusioned and radicalized faction, led by the charismatic and ruthless Gravik, has emerged. They believe Fury's promise was a lie used to exploit their people as a covert intelligence network. Citing humanity's violent nature as proof they are unworthy of the planet, Gravik's faction initiates a series of terrorist acts designed to provoke a war between the United States and Russia, believing that the ensuing nuclear fallout will eradicate humanity and leave Earth ripe for Skrull conquest. The series begins when Maria Hill summons a weary, guilt-ridden Fury back from his self-imposed exile on S.A.B.E.R. to stop the invasion he inadvertently helped create.
The source material, the 2008 comic book storyline `Secret Invasion` written by Brian Michael Bendis, is vastly different in scale and execution. In the comics, the invasion was not the act of a desperate refugee faction but a meticulously planned, quasi-religious conquest by the Skrull Empire, led by Empress Veranke. The comic storyline was the culmination of years of foreshadowing. Following the destruction of the Skrull throneworld by Galactus, the deeply religious Empress Veranke rose to power, citing a prophecy that Earth was destined to become the new Skrull homeworld. The Skrull Empire spent years perfecting technology that made their agents completely undetectable to telepathy, magic, and even Wolverine's heightened senses. Over this period, they abducted and replaced dozens of key figures in the Marvel Universe, including superheroes like Elektra, Black Bolt, Hank Pym, and Spider-Woman (who was replaced by Veranke herself). The core theme was paranoia; the heroes discovered the infiltration and immediately turned on one another, unable to trust their oldest friends. The invasion itself was a massive, global military assault, with armies of Super-Skrull warriors attacking major cities. It was an epic superhero war that involved nearly every character on Earth, from the Avengers and the Fantastic Four to the Thunderbolts. The MCU series borrows the core concept of shapeshifting infiltrators but transforms the motivation from imperial conquest to a refugee crisis, making the conflict far more personal to Nick Fury.
The series unfolds as a tense, six-part narrative, with each episode escalating the stakes and revealing new layers of the conspiracy.
The series opens with Agent Everett Ross uncovering a Skrull conspiracy before being killed by a rogue agent, who is then killed by Maria Hill. Recognizing the threat, Hill summons Nick Fury back to Earth from S.A.B.E.R. Fury, visibly aged and disillusioned after The Blip, returns to Moscow to reconnect with Talos and Hill. Talos reveals that a million Skrulls are now living on Earth, far more than Fury knew. They learn of a plan by Gravik's faction to obtain a dirty bomb. Fury's attempt to intercept the exchange fails due to his rustiness. Gravik, disguised as Fury, detonates several bombs in a public square, killing hundreds and branding the real Fury a terrorist. In the chaos, Gravik, disguised as a Russian, shoots and kills Maria Hill, who dies in Fury's arms. This shocking death establishes the series' brutal stakes.
In the aftermath of the Moscow bombing, Fury is a wanted man. Talos reveals that his own daughter, G'iah, has joined Gravik's extremist faction. Flashbacks to 1997 show a younger Fury meeting a newly orphaned Gravik, whose parents were killed during the Kree-Skrull war, and promising to find his people a home. In the present, Gravik solidifies his power on the Skrull Council by executing a dissenter. In London, Fury meets with MI6 agent Sonya Falsworth, an old and sharp-witted acquaintance. The episode concludes with a major revelation: Fury is married, and his wife, Priscilla (who uses the name Varra), is a Skrull.
G'iah secretly feeds intel to Talos about Gravik's plan to attack a UN delegation. Gravik, aware of the mole, tests G'iah's loyalty. She passes by confirming the false intel he fed her. Meanwhile, Priscilla/Varra makes a mysterious phone call, hinting at her own divided loyalties. Fury and Talos learn of Gravik's true plan: to launch a submarine-based missile strike on a UN plane to trigger a war. They manage to avert the strike with help from Sonya Falsworth. However, Gravik's forces ambush the US President's convoy. In the ensuing firefight, Gravik, having now imbued himself with Extremis powers, stabs and kills Talos in front of a horrified Fury. Before escaping, Gravik orders his soldiers to shoot G'iah, whom he has exposed as the traitor. She is seemingly killed.
The episode begins by revealing G'iah survived, having secretly used Gravik's Super-Skrull machine to give herself Extremis healing abilities. Fury and his wife Priscilla have a tense confrontation, where it's revealed she was assigned to kill him by Gravik. They ultimately reconcile, choosing their love over their respective missions. The Skrull impersonating James "Rhodey" Rhodes manipulates President Ritson, convincing him that Fury and the Skrulls are responsible for the attacks. “Rhodey” shows the President photos of New Skrullos, Gravik's secret compound in a decommissioned Russian nuclear plant. He also reveals a critical piece of information to Fury: Gravik is searching for “The Harvest.” G'iah, now allied with Fury, explains that The Harvest is a collection of DNA samples from the Avengers, gathered from the battlefield after the Battle of Earth by Fury's Skrull operatives. Gravik plans to use it to create an unstoppable Super-Skrull.
Fury takes President Ritson to a hospital after the attack, but Skrull forces, led by “Rhodey,” infiltrate the building. Fury, using advanced disguise tech, manages to evacuate the President. He then travels to Finland to a private gravesite bearing his own name, which serves as a secret safehouse. There, he retrieves a special coat and The Harvest vial from a hidden compartment. He meets with Sonya Falsworth, who has also tracked him there, and they form an uneasy alliance. Sonya provides him with a “widow's veil” disguise. G'iah and Priscilla/Varra team up to fend off an attack on Fury's home by Gravik's forces. Fury, now fully recommitted to his role as the world's protector, prepares to confront Gravik at New Skrullos, seemingly ready to hand over The Harvest.
In the series finale, Fury arrives at New Skrullos to confront Gravik. In a stunning twist, it's revealed that G'iah has used her shapeshifting abilities to pose as Fury, delivering The Harvest to Gravik as part of a plan. Believing he has won, Gravik uses The Harvest in his machine, empowering both himself and G'iah with the combined powers of dozens of heroes (including Captain Marvel, Hulk, and Thanos's army). An epic battle ensues between the two newly-minted Super-Skrulls, with G'iah ultimately killing Gravik. Meanwhile, the real Fury and Sonya Falsworth rescue the real James Rhodes and other captured humans, revealing Rhodey has been a Skrull captive for a significant period. President Ritson, now safe, makes a televised address declaring all extraterrestrial species on Earth as enemy combatants, inciting global panic and violence against Skrulls. G'iah is recruited by Sonya to protect the innocent Skrulls from human extremists. The series ends with Fury returning to S.A.B.E.R., but this time he is joined by his wife, Varra, who will act as a Skrull ambassador in peace talks with the Kree.
The conclusion of Secret Invasion leaves the MCU in a precarious and hostile state.
While the series is named for an event, its strength lies in its deep character work and the interplay between its key figures.
The series introduces several game-changing pieces of lore into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In the comics, the Super-Skrull is a singular, iconic character named Kl'rt. He was a decorated Skrull soldier who was artificially augmented by the Skrull Emperor to possess the combined powers of the Fantastic Four: the super-stretchiness of Mister Fantastic, the invisibility and force fields of the Invisible Woman, the pyro-kinesis of the Human Torch, and the superhuman strength and rock-like hide of The Thing. Later comics introduced entire armies of Super-Skrulls, each with a different combination of powers copied from Earth's heroes.
The MCU introduces the concept via a machine built by Skrull scientists under Gravik's command. Initially, it imbues subjects with a curated set of powers from specific alien DNA samples they have acquired:
This program culminates with the use of The Harvest, transforming both Gravik and G'iah into the ultimate Super-Skrulls, with a vast and not-yet-fully-defined powerset drawn from nearly every participant of the Battle of Earth.
This is perhaps the most significant retcon and lore addition from the series. The Harvest is a vial containing a potent cocktail of DNA from the universe's most powerful heroes. Nick Fury reveals he had his Skrull operatives, disguised as emergency workers, secretly collect blood samples from the ground at the site of the Battle of Earth in `Avengers: Endgame`. He considered it a last-resort deterrent, the ultimate ace up his sleeve, but in Gravik's hands, it became the key to creating a god-like being.
Secret Invasion distinguished itself from other MCU projects with its willingness to kill off established characters permanently.
The reveal that James “Rhodey” Rhodes, a.k.a. War Machine, had been replaced by a Skrull named Raava sent shockwaves through the fandom. When rescued, the real Rhodey is wearing a hospital gown, leading to intense speculation about when the switch occurred. While the show remains ambiguous, director Ali Selim has suggested the switch happened after the events of `Captain America: Civil War`, implying that the Rhodey seen in `Avengers: Infinity War` and `Avengers: Endgame` may have been an impostor. This long-term infiltration has massive implications for the character and the security of Stark technology.
Secret Invasion received a mixed reception, becoming one of the most divisive MCU projects. Critics and audiences were polarized.
The legacy of Secret Invasion will be defined by how its dramatic changes to the status quo are addressed in future projects. President Ritson's declaration of war on all aliens creates a powder keg on Earth. The existence of an incredibly powerful and benevolent Skrull, G'iah, operating in the shadows with Sonya Falsworth, creates a new clandestine power dynamic. The series directly sets the stage for the `armor_wars` film and creates a volatile political backdrop for `Captain America: Brave New World`. The ultimate fate of the million Skrulls remaining on Earth remains one of the MCU's most pressing unresolved plotlines.