NOTE: Some mild spoilers from throughout Disney+ miniseries, “Secret Invasion” may be present in this review. That said, the review is written to accommodate those who have not yet seen the miniseries, and as such, will avoid discussion of major plot turns.
Oh geez, what happened?
Despite claims to the contrary in some circles, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Disney+ series arm has actually had more hits than misses for the most part. WandaVision, Loki, What If…? and Hawkeye have all presented superb long-form storylines that wouldn’t be possible to achieve in a feature film. Likewise, even less consistent Disney+ shows such as The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Ms. Marvel still managed to present a lot of good ideas amid a few shakier ones, with the highlights nicely setting the stage for exciting MCU projects to come. That’s also before considering the MCU’s current duo of one-off Disney+ specials, Werewolf by Night and The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, both of which were fantastic, despite being side chapters that took place within the MCU, but didn’t directly connect to another MCU plotline, at least not at this point.
Secret Invasion though? Oof. Something went wrong here.
This miniseries had the makings of a hit, in concept. It was adapting a famous Marvel Comics event storyline, albeit on a much smaller scale, similar to 2016 movie, Captain America: Civil War, for starters. Likewise, this miniseries would finally thrust Samuel L. Jackson’s spymaster, Nick Fury into a starring role, a surprising first for the MCU. Finally, Secret Invasion would pay off one of the most surprising twists from 2019 movie, Captain Marvel; Shapeshifting alien race, the Skrulls, normally a villain faction throughout most of Marvel Comics canon, are actually more benevolent refugees in the MCU, refugees that Nick Fury promised to find a new home planet for upon the conclusion of Captain Marvel. That movie took place during the 90’s, and it’s been several decades of MCU time since then. Nick Fury has not delivered on his promises, and the Skrulls are not happy.
Seeing the Skrulls finally become a proper threat in this live-action universe would be more exciting if the Avengers, among other recognizable superheroes, were allowed to participate in the MCU’s take on this concept. Still, Nick Fury is finally in a starring role!… Right? That prospect can present plenty of appeal on its own, even if Secret Invasion’s decision to be a semi-grounded spy thriller, despite being a bridging miniseries between the events of cosmic-scale blockbuster, Captain Marvel, and this November’s upcoming sequel, The Marvels, feels like a bit of an odd creative direction. It might have still worked though. Had Secret Invasion presented actual intrigue, and not made some truly baffling character choices for the sake of setting up future MCU offerings, it maybe could have been at least decent.
In the end however, Secret Invasion is a confused, frustrating mess that falls well short of its Marvel Comics inspiration. Captain America: Civil War may have improved upon the Marvel Comics arc it was loosely adapting in several respects, despite shedding most of the superheroes present in the original comic event, but Secret Invasion simply feels like it wastes a concept that Marvel’s comic books did a better job presenting; Skrulls infiltrating the ranks of the world stage by posing as key media personalities and politicians, in an effort to drive Earth to a war that destroys the native human population. This would theoretically leave Earth for the Skrulls to take as the spoils of victory. It’s an insidious, scary and genuinely exciting premise, but without the incredible breadth of heroes that Marvel Comics could use in an alien takeover storyline of this nature, Secret Invasion simply becomes a drawn-out bore.
Worse than that however is the fact that Secret Invasion ends up being a massive waste of talent. Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn start the miniseries off decently enough through their returns as Nick Fury and Talos, respectively, desperately trying to detect where a faction of rogue Skrulls is hiding, as they begin to unseat the balance of power on Earth. The tense rapport between these two characters is better than ever, and it nicely builds off of a fun twist from 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home; That movie’s Nick Fury was actually Talos in disguise, because the real Nick Fury has remained up in space since The Blip. That’s yet another MCU movie that Secret Invasion subtly links itself to.
“Seeing the Skrulls finally become a proper threat in this live-action universe would be more exciting if the Avengers, among other recognizable superheroes, were actually allowed to participate in the MCU’s take on this concept.”
Then Mendelsohn disappears from the latter storylines of this miniseries, and immediately, something critical is lost. This is despite the surprise introduction of G’iah, Talos’ now-adult daughter, played by Emilia Clarke, who was seen as a young child played by a different actress during the climax of Captain Marvel. G’iah is aiding the Skrull invasion effort, and has since ended up in the thrall of Secret Invasion’s main antagonist, Gravik, played by Barbie’s Kingsley Ben-Adir, a Skrull freedom fighter that’s had it with Nick Fury’s failed promises, and is intending to take Earth as the Skrulls’ promised new planet.
Things get further complicated after Secret Invasion’s surprise revelation that Nick Fury also has a heretofore unmentioned family connection, one that becomes a major part of the miniseries’ storyline. This helps to further develop Nick Fury’s character beyond being an all-seeing eye figure for the MCU’s biggest, dirtiest conflicts of the past, while also sort of helping to bring more stakes to what’s otherwise a frustratingly dull, plodding MCU miniseries.
Even so, Secret Invasion is quickly caught between struggling to be a family drama, an espionage thriller, and an offshoot of several much more colourful, light-hearted MCU movies that it meshes poorly with in terms of tone and plot structure. Gravik’s grand plan is ultimately a boilerplate affair that fails to provide a true sense of unpredictable menace to the storytelling, while also failing to capture the opportunity of forcing viewers to re-examine several major events in MCU canon, which the disguised Skrulls likely meddled with to some degree. This canonical implication is meant to be highlighted once a major MCU character featured in Secret Invasion is revealed to have been a disguised Skrull for many years, with their true self taken hostage by the alien shapeshifters some time before Thanos came to Earth and caused The Blip. Even that huge twist is ultimately resolved in an anti-climactic fashion though, leaving no real question as to whether a Skrull presence may still be hidden among the MCU’s heroic forces.
“Maybe Secret Invasion is a rare example of a Disney+ miniseries that should have just been a two-hour movie.”
To be fair, Secret Invasion at least tries to nail some shocking spy drama. Most of these more successful efforts are achieved through Olivia Colman’s brand new character, Sonya Falsworth, a personality that doesn’t exist in Marvel Comics lore at this point, though I imagine she’ll make the leap to the printed panels eventually, considering that Colman is easily the best part of this otherwise tedious miniseries. Her strangely upbeat, almost cuddly MI6 fixer not only makes for an unpredictable and fun foil to Nick Fury, but also a fantastically engaging presence in a miniseries that desperately needs a shot in the arm as it meanders around, struggling to find a direction.
Secret Invasion’s action scenes can be quite fun as well, when they bother to show up. They’re also done with a surprising desire to minimize visual cheats in most instances, within reason anyway, as the Skrulls inevitably wield certain powered forces once they’re detected, and have to defend themselves. Sure, we do still get a CGI-filled climactic superhero battle for the finale, because why wouldn’t we? Even this manages to be kind of a cool fight though, despite a few shaky effects in it, because at least it represents something exciting and genuinely intense happening on-screen. If you enjoy these big MCU power battles, you still get one to cap off Secret Invasion, thankfully, but that alone can’t ultimately elevate six episodes that contain far too much boredom and filler.
Maybe Secret Invasion is a rare example of a Disney+ miniseries that should have just been a two-hour movie. It would have been paced better, it probably could have featured actual MCU superheroes doing what they do best in that case, and even if it would have nonetheless been a watered-down adaptation of a superior Marvel Comics storyline, at least it would have been an engaging one. In fact, I’m inclined to wonder if the upcoming Armor Wars’ sudden retooling into a feature-length movie, after originally being announced as a six-episode Disney+ miniseries, might have had something to do with Marvel Studios realizing that Secret Invasion was too drawn-out and dull in the miniseries format. On that note, Armor Wars is yet another MCU project that Secret Invasion sports connective tissue with, further highlighting that this miniseries should feel like it carries a lot more weight than it ultimately does, at least in the moment.
Sadly, Secret Invasion does indeed represent a frustrating low point for the MCU’s Disney+ shows. This miniseries is full of so many problematic creative choices, from its sluggish pacing to its absolutely awful, fully A.I.-generated opening credits. Those A.I-made credits couldn’t have had worse timing either, instinctively making one tug at the collar, considering that Hollywood’s writers and actors are currently on strike over concerns regarding A.I. use by Hollywood executives. Yeah, Secret Invasion ends up being a great case for why letting A.I. fully design anything in lieu of actual, living human beings is a very bad idea!
I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Secret Invasion is fundamentally misconceived, but it does end up being an enormous missed opportunity after how the MCU chose to present it. It wastes Nick Fury’s first (and hopefully not only) starring role in this shared universe, it amasses a very impressive roster of actors, only to hamstring them with frequently bad writing (only the standout Olivia Colman seems to have been spared here), and worst of all, it fails to deliver a true sense of spy-flavoured suspense or intrigue throughout its entire duration. Secret Invasion does at least lay a decent foundation for what are surely better MCU movies and shows to come in the future, but an event of this nature definitely shouldn’t feel like a filler chapter in Marvel’s live-action canon, especially after the MCU has already spun its wheels far too much lately.