On to episode 2 of Secret Invasion! When we left off, Fury had just failed to stop a Skrull attack and got Maria Hill killed in the process, so this episode focuses on the fallout from that and moves each players’ pieces forward. Let’s see how the plot thickens…
1. Broken Promises
As the title suggests, promises made and broken are a big part of the episode thematically. It begins with Fury in the 90’s, recruiting Skrulls with a promise: they use their shapeshifting to protect the world from the shadows, and he’ll find them a new home.
But, given that it’s about 30 years later and the Skrull people are still on Earth, clearly that didn’t work out. Admittedly, Fury has been a little busy between everything with the Avengers and getting erased from reality for a few years, but those he worked with are still feeling pretty hurt and betrayed.
It’s that sense of betrayal that helped radicalize Gravik and several other Skrulls, and it all comes back to trust. Even at the start of the episode, the flashback has Talos saying he trusts Fury, and he doesn’t use that word lightly. So that builds on the theme by not only making it so the characters and viewers alike aren’t sure who they can trust, but also shows what happens when trust and faith are broken. It makes for a decent theme.
2. Apocalypse Soon
So far, Gravik’s plans are going pretty smoothly. Not only did his attack go off, but already news reports are talking about how Russia blames the US and is right about to counterattack. In fact, it’s going all too well, with everyone already blaming America for the actions of an online fringe group with the incredibly unsubtle name “Americans Against Russia.”
Though it makes more sense once we meet the Skrull Council and see how many of them are high-ranking officials in human governments, and learn that the British Prime Minister is already working with Gravik. Then, all it takes is a quick punch to the throat and a little speech for Gravik to get all but one on his side (that’s the most easily convinced council I’ve ever seen).
Still, we start getting an idea of how many Skrulls are working on the inside, both by spreading misinformation and stirring up hatred and directing things from inside world governments. They’re bringing the world one step closer to war, where the only survivors will be the Skrull.
3. Rhodes and Fury
One more character from the movies that’s playing a role in Secret Invasion is James Rhodes, AKA War Machine. In this case, Rhodey is acting not as a superhero or Avenger, but as the US President’s military advisor.
There’s a great scene where he and Fury meet and talk, which hits on a few key points. First, Rhodey knows about the Skrull, as the Pentagon was already concerned about an invasion from the inside. Secondly, Fury brings up how they’re both Black men that have had to struggle and work hard to reach the point they’re both at, whereas many a “mediocre white man” managed to coast by through their name and connections, but Rhodey does not take that as a good reason to cut Fury any slack.
(In fact, that’s the second time in the episode that Fury brought up his own personal struggles against systemic racism, and his use of the phrase “people who look like us” when talking to Rhodey are starting to make it feel like the show is building a parallel between the struggles of minorities and Skrulls, although that’ll be a point to explore in more detail if the show goes more into it.)
Finally, we get to the part where Rhodes snaps and tells Fury that he’s fired and needs to back off. From his perspective, Fury has already done enough damage, but of course, Fury won’t give up that easily. Thus we have more conflict and stakes added, while building on more of the episode’s themes.
And of course, there’s always the chance that Rhodey was replaced by a Skrull and is just trying to get Fury off the case. That’s always a distinct possibility in this show.
Continued below4. DNA Harvesting
Meanwhile, what else are the Skrull up to? Well, we get a few key details dropped:
• There’s a lab where they’re harvesting DNA, although lately supply has been hard to come by.
• A captured Skrull mentions they’re building a machine to make them stronger.
• G’iah sees a list of DNA samples, including Groot, Cull Obsidian, a Frost Beast from Jotunheim, and even something about Extremis. It’s quite a selection from across the MCU.
All of this adds up to one conclusion: they’re going to make Super Skrulls.
These scenes foreshadow not only their plan, but some of the power sets they’ll be using (of course, trailers also made this pretty clear). Between Groot’s vines, Cull Obsidian’s might, and the fire powers Extremis gave characters in Iron Man 3, they’re building up a power set that comes pretty close to how Kl’rt, the Super-Skrull from Marvel Comics, has all the powers of the Fantastic Four, only without needing the Fantastic Four to exist in the MCU.
5. Fury’s Best Kept Secret
While the plans to create Super Skrulls comes as very little of a surprise, the last moments of the episode included a twist I can honestly say I didn’t see coming.
This is the part where there are big spoilers for the end of the episode.
We see Nick Fury get into a hidden car and head out into the countryside. Surely he has some sort of plan; a bunker or safehouse filled with weapons or plans for defeating the oncoming invasion, or a new team he’s been assembling. After all, this is Nick Fury, what else could he possibly be up to?
That’s when we meet his wife, who is also a Skrull. Now, this is a little similar to the reveal that Hawkeye has a family in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but with the added fact that she’s a Skrull, and again, this is Nick Fury we’re talking about; it was a safe assumption that he was married to the job and had no time or interest in a personal life.
So, well-played, Secret Invasion, in a show where we’re primed to suspect anyone and everyone could be a Skrull in disguise, the biggest surprise came from one who isn’t hiding who she is.
