Secret Invasion was a six-episode miniseries on Disney Plus that starred Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Ben Mendelsohn, Don Cheadle, Martin Freeman, Dermot Mulroney, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Coleman, Charlayne Woodard, and Emilia Clarke. O.T. Fagbenle also made an appearance. The show was not received well by critics or audiences and is considered one of the weakest Marvel projects to date. The show had some good moments and some good character development for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), but it didn’t play out the way one would expect even if it took liberties from the source material.

MAJOR SPOILERS

Several of the controversial moments include killing off Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). The other major controversy was revealing that Colonel James Rhodes aka War Machine (Don Cheadle) was a Skrull and it appeared to suggest he was a Skrull after the events of Captain America: Civil War. If true, that meant that Rhodey was not present during the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.  Secret Invasion was a paranoid thriller. That concept could have still worked as a movie. If it were a movie, it would be one of the more unique Marvel movies and could have put it on a level like Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Would Secret Invasion have been better off as a two and half hour movie instead of a six episode miniseries. The series runs close to movie length with the series clocking in under four hours. Most of the episodes clocked in under forty minutes. It is also the shortest Marvel show to date. If Secret Invasion were a movie, would it have been an Avengers movie? The show did not have any superheroes in it. All the characters were either human or Skrull, who are an alien species from space. The only Marvel character to appear on the show as a guest appearance was Mason (O.T. Fagbenle) who was last seen in Black Widow. Even if superheroes were not going to be involved there were tons of other MCU characters who could have popped up. Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) is a major one and one that fans were hoping would be in the show. Another character who would have made sense to have some involvement would have been Valentina Allegra De Fontaine (Julia-Louis Dreyfuss). She works within the government, and it would have been interesting to see what she was up to during this. I think Secret Invasion the movie could still work without superheroes. It would need to include other MCU characters such as Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio), Dr. Selvig (Stellan Skarsgard), and numerous others. To be honest, if it was a movie, it also would mean there’d be a good chance that some of the heroes could be involved even if it’s just small cameos. One thing that did not happen on the show that would work better in a movie is the fact the Skrulls shapeshift into other people. In the comics the bad Skrulls disguised themselves as the heroes. In the show, they did not do that and were disguised as random people. In a movie it would be more effective and have major repercussions for the bigger world if the Skrulls were able to disguise themselves as Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and many others. It would actually be more impactful if the Skrulls played around with disguising themselves as characters who were dead. Imagine the confusion the public would feel if they saw Tony Stark aka Iron Man flying around even though his death was made public knowledge. Imagine what that would do to the other Avengers as well as Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). The same could be said for Nathasha Romanoff aka Black Widow as well.

The Skrulls can shape shift into whoever they want. That could also provide some fun cameos if they were to shape shift as Spider-Man but the Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire version. A Skrull could disguise themselves as Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and do a lot of damage while the real Captain Marvel is off world. Imagine what that would have done if she returned to Earth? What damage could the Skrull Captain Marvel have done?

The Skrulls have not had a lot of screentime in the MCU. The only prominent role they had was in Captain Marvel and Secret Invasion up to this point. They had a brief role in The Marvels which also contradicted some of what was said in Secret Invasion. Talos was the main viewpoint into learning about the Skrulls and with him being killed off on the show, it seems there is no major Skrull character to help push the Skrull storyline forward. At this point in time not a lot is known about the Skrulls or what happened with the Skrull-Kree war. It was left fairly open ended after Captain Marvel and was not really touched on much in Secret Invasion or The Marvels.

There is still a future for the Skrulls. The Skrulls could play a role in the Fantastic Four franchise. In the comics the Fantastic Four had a lot of dealings with the Skrulls including Super Skrull which Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) was meant to be in Secret Invasion. The Skrulls could also play roles in the upcoming Avengers movies. There are still opportunities for them. It really depends on what Marvel wants to do with it.

One big question regarding Secret Invasion is if it is cannon to the MCU. Yes, it is cannon but to what degree? The Marvels which featured Nick Fury did not reference anything from the show. It was stated by Marvel that The Marvels was set after the events of Secret Invasion. Nick Fury had a different personality and seemed unchanged by everything he dealt with from Secret Invasion including losing both Agent Hill and Talos. Talos’ death was not referenced at all during The Marvels which is odd given he was introduced in Captain Marvel and Carol Danvers knew him. Also, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) knew him as well. Secret Invasion ended with Nick Fury heading back up to Space with his wife Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard). In The Marvels Priscilla was nowhere to be found, not even in a brief cameo appearance. She was not referenced at all either, which makes slightly more sense since Nick Fury keeps things very private. However, she could have been referenced as someone who was helping out especially since the show revealed she was a Skrull herself. Loki Season 2 also made no references to Secret Invasion either although that makes more sense since Loki is set outside of Time, and they were dealing with the multiverse. Even Echo made no references to any of the events of Secret Invasion. One other thing that has yet to be revisited is Secret Invasion also ended with a change politically. President Ritson (Dermot Mulroney) declared war on all extraterrestrial beings and banned them from Earth. The show even had a montage of people believed to be Skrulls being killed and that some of the deaths were not Skrulls. That is a big change politically not to mention that also means characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) are not allowed on Earth. Captain Marvel actually would also be on that list since she is half Kree. None of that has been dealt with at all. Echo may have been a more grounded show but there could have been some references to the political climate. It is still early to tell if any of this will get revisited in future projects, but it does seem highly unlikely. I don’t think Deadpool and Wolverine will deal with it. I highly doubt it will be revisited at all in Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. The best bet would be Captain America: Brave New World since Thaddeaus Ross (Harrison Ford) will be the President which means President Rixton will no longer be in office. I would not be surprised if they gloss over how Ross is president. Amor Wars could also deal with the events of Secret Invasion since it stars Rhodey. At this point there is no date set for when Armor Wars will actually happen. It seems Armor Wars is a few years away minimally.  Secret Invasion may be the least impactful MCU project yet. It may end up getting retconned which could then undo the deaths of Agent Hill and Talos. It could be said Secret Invasion was set on another Earth which may be the easiest way to explain all of that. There also could still be futures for all the characters from the show. Gravik could return and have a larger role in the MCU. The same can be said for G’iah (Emilia Clarke), another Skrull and the daughter of Talos.

Secret Invasion probably would have been better off as a movie. The tone of the show still could have worked for it. I think it would have been a really cool paranoid thriller movie. Something darker and intense which would provide a lot of great material for the cast. If it were a movie this is who I think could have had roles in it. Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, Don Cheadle, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsly Ben-Adir, Emilia Clarke, Dermot Mulraney, Charlayne Woodard, Michael MacDonald, Olivia Coleman, O.T. Fagbenle, Emily VanCamp, Wyatt Russell, Vincent D’Onofrio, Clark Gregg, Frank Grillo, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennett, Ryan Reynolds, J.K. Simmons, Stellan Skarsgard, Kat Dennings, Randall Park, Teyonah Parris, Lashana Lynch, Robert Downey Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jon Favreau, Daniel Bruhl, Ross Marquad, Toby Jones, Julia Louis-Dreyfuss, Florence Pugh, Iman Vellani, Angela Bassett, John Kani, Letitia Wright, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Brie Larson, Andrew Garfield, Rosemary Harris, Emma Stone, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford.