Let’s Talk about Secret Invasion Episode 1-1

After years of anticipation, the Secret Invasion has finally arrived.

Announced in 2020 but delayed by the pandemic, Secret Invasion signifies the culmination of a story started in 2019’s Captain Marvel.

Skrulls have arrived on our planet, causing even Earth’s Mightiest Heroes to wonder whom they can trust.

Let’s talk about Secret Invasion episode 1-1, the return of Nick Fury that ends with a shocking climax.

Take Me to Your Leader

The new series starts with a familiar face and a new character. We quickly learn which one is an ally to humanity, and it’s not the one you’d expect.

Agent Everett K. Ross – or should I say someone who looks like the agent – receives a phone call.

“Ross” meets with a fellow spy named Prescod. The latter gentleman has apparently gone off the deep end.

Prescod reveals a Wall of Crazy that connects the dots on a series of attacks in places like Argentina, Colombia, and The Philippines.

“Ross” dismisses these accusations, but Prescod expresses confidence that he knows who is behind the violence. It’s Skrulls, folks.

We’ve known this for a while – and much longer if you’re a comic book reader from back in the day.

The Skrulls famously replaced several Avengers in the comics, leading to an intergalactic conflict centralized in the United States.

As a television series, Secret Invasion intends to mine this mystery in hopes of creating an espionage masterpiece.

After all, “Ross” and Prescod don’t even know whether they can trust one another, a fact that comes to light by the end of the scene.

“Ross” promises to take Prescod’s findings to Agent Nick Fury, whom the latter spy knows is off-planet. Yes, “Ross” says something a Skrull would say.

As recently predicted, “Ross” is a Skrull who eventually shoots and kills Prescod. Somehow, that’s not the end of this encounter, though.

A fellow Skrull chases “Ross” and eventually forces the recently outed Skrull to jump from building to building. “Ross” fails and falls to his death.

Familiar Faces on a Somber Night in Russia

At this point, “Ross” returns to his Skrull appearance, an action witnessed by the other Skrull and…S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill.

As fate would have it, the other Skrull is Talos, the heroic friend of Carol Danvers, Hill, and their mutual ally, Nick Fury.

Hill reaches out to Fury, who grudgingly returns to his home planet. That’s the method through which the creator of The Avengers comes back to Earth.

For reasons we don’t understand yet, all these people (and Talos) have assembled in Russia.

Talos and Fury enjoy a decidedly intimate reunion wherein Talos reveals that his wife, Soren, has died. His daughter, G’iah, has also left.

Hill briefs her old boss, Fury, on what he’s missed. Throughout the episode, people question whether The Snap has changed Fury, which it clearly has.

We later learn that Fury remembers turning to dust, and it has paralyzed him with fear or at least something close to that.

Ever the soldier, Fury demonstrates a singular focus on the disaster unfolding in Russia.

He wants to know more about Gravik, the leader of the Skrull rebellion.

Talos and Hill fill in the blanks that Gravik has gained power and influence due to the frustration of many Skrulls.

They’d expected a new home world. Instead, they’d been left to fend for themselves on Earth for 30 years. It led to resentment.

Gravik promises that these Skrulls could make Earth their new home…by force. The current attacks represent his attempts to dismantle society.

Gravik has taken up residence in Russia because it’s home to the most abandoned nuclear facilities.

Radiation doesn’t bother Skrulls, but it keeps the pesky humans away.

Fury and his team are about to go in search of Gravik.

Welcome to Skrull Island

We meet a familiar face and learn about two new ones. The recognizable figure is James Rhodes, the War Machine.

Rhodes now advises the President of the United States, whom he informs that Maria Hill and Fury have effectively gone off the reservation.

Soon afterward, random thugs kidnap Fury on the streets of Russia, which almost feels like something he wants to happen.

When the thugs remove Fury’s mask, he comes face to face with MI6 agent (or leader?) Sonya Falsworth, an old acquaintance.

Falsworth tries to pump Fury for information before quickly realizing he’s clueless.

For his part, Fury bugs Falsworth’s residence to spy on her later…but not in a creepy way. Okay, it’s in a creepy way but not a sexual way.

Anyway, while this happens, somewhere else in Russia, a person seeks asylum. He walks to a heavily guarded facility.

The security team asks him what he wants, and he replies, “Home in my own skin.”

Coincidentally, our old friend G’iah appears. She’s an adult now, although the math gets a little shaky.

At one point in the episode, Talos states that he’s 136 years old, which makes him about 40 in human years.

G’iah would theoretically look about nine years older than we last saw her in 1996.

But she takes on the appearance of the Khaleesi from Game of Thrones instead.

G’iah is apparently a leader in the rebel Skrull faction. She authorizes the guards to allow the person into “New Skrullos.”

We get a look inside the compound, where Skrulls remain. The only ones who can leave are “warriors” for the cause. Eep!

Evil Science and a Family Reunion

G’iah watches a “shell” conversion, which involves a Skrull meeting a human.

The Skrull proceeds to adopt the face of the human, who gets thrown into some kind of science-based device. It holds them in place.

This allows the Skrull to “take his mind” and become the person inside and out. G’iah doesn’t seem torn up about this monstrous act.

Soon afterward, Fury intercepts a message that suggests “Vasily Poprishchin” is the most likely person to be involved in the terrorist plot.

Sure enough, Poprishchin proves to be a Skrull who has given G’iah bombs in exchange for cash.

Maria Hill spots and recognizes G’iah and follows her while Talos and Fury fight Skrull-Poprishchin.

The underlying theme throughout the episode defines Talos as a well-intended pacifist who hates harming his own kind.

Also, Skrulls are super-strong, and no human could ever take one in an arm-wrestling competition. They are susceptible to bullet wounds, though.

Fury kills Poprishchin, but Hill finds herself overmatched against G’iah. At this point, Talos intercedes.

The daughter appears dismissive of her parents, which leads to Talos informing her that her mother’s last words were, “Find G’iah.”

She’s gonna need a lot of therapy to get past that fact.

After the conversation, G’iah goes off for a crying session – who can blame her? – and then self-reflects about her alliance.

G’iah decides to tell her dad what’s happening. The rebels will carry three explosives in backpacks and set them off in Vossoyedineniye Square on United Day.

A lot of people will die if Gravik pulls off this plan. This thought causes G’iah to reconsider, and she marks the backpacks with infrared.

Fury, Hill, and Talos can follow the three bags and prevent the explosion.

R.I.P. You Know Who

I will warn you not to read further until you’ve watched the episode, as the series premiere features a shocking climax.

If you’re still here, I’ll presume you’ve watched. And yes, that’s really who you think that is, not a Skrull replacement.

During the chase through the square, the three heroes lose sight of the bags, as a planned exchange confuses everyone.

Gravik has guessed that Fury will find out what’s happening and try to interfere. So, he has taken countermeasures to prevent that.

That’s when everything goes pear-shaped.

Gravik himself appears and seemingly taunts Fury. Then, the Skrull takes on Fury’s form and proceeds to murder Maria Hill.

In the moment of chaos, Hill doesn’t understand it’s not Fury. Her final thought is that her longtime cohort has killed her.

Hill says as much when the real Fury arrives to hold her as she expires. Her final words are a confused, “It was you.”

It’s a haunting moment.

Even worse, the explosion still happens as the bags they retrieve are decoys, not the real thing.

In one fell swoop, Gravik has killed thousands, murdered Maria Hill, and tormented Nick Fury. He’s…a villain.

On Skrulls and Murders

While Marvel has named the episode Resurrection, we could easily call it the opposite.

This episode could have more accurately been named The Death of Maria Hill. That’s what everyone will remember from this story.

Still, the focus here centers on updating a plot left hanging throughout several Marvel stories.

We hadn’t seen Talos and G’iah in ages. Nick Fury had been gallivanting around in outer space in the aftermath of The Snap.

Hill and Fury both had famously disintegrated, leading to the return of Carol Danvers to fight Thanos.

This episode filled in some blanks, but it raised just as many more.

How long has a Skrull been masquerading as Everett Ross?

Is the real Ross hidden in a bunker somewhere just like the one we saw at the Skrull compound? Or is he dead?

Does this explain the weirdness between Ross and his ex-wife in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, or is there more to come?

The brilliant part of this concept is that we won’t know what’s real and what isn’t until after the fact.

Every conversation comes with an asterisk that one (or more!) of the participants could be a shape-changer.

At this point, all we know is that Prescod and Maria Hill are dead, Fury has lost faith in himself, and G’iah will probably face ramifications for her actions.

Then again, G’iah could have feasibly set up her dad by pretending to help when she really didn’t. We just don’t know.

That’s the genius of Secret Invasion. We’ll be off-balance throughout all six episodes. This was a good one, and I’ll give it a solid A.

 

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