The finale of Marvel's Secret Invasion finds Nick Fury and Maria Hill in the clutches of the Skrulls. With a Disney+ event series on the horizon, Marvel Comics has decided to revisit the classic "Secret Invasion" name for a new five-issue miniseries from writer Ryan North and artist Francesco Mobili. Instead of following Nick Fury, the new Secret Invasion casts his righthand woman Maria Hill as the leading lady. Maria Hill learns that the alien shapeshifting Skrulls are back on Earth, but true to the nature of their abilities, she doesn't know who to trust. And now she and Nick Fury are taking a serious beating in an exclusive preview.
ComicBook.com has the exclusive preview of Secret Invasion #5 by Ryan North, Francesco Mobili, Jordie Bellaire, and VC's Joe Caramagna. It begins with Nick Fury and Maria Hill both tied up to chairs, taking punch after punch from the Skrulls, blood flying everywhere. Even with her face bloody and beaten, Maria is still able to crack a joke at the Skrulls' expense. After Maria tells her Skrull abuser that they skipped her turn, the Skrull transforms her hand into a massive apparatus to once again strike at Maria.
In the background, we see images of a military general entering a facility using eye recognition. The next page reveals this person is really a Skrull, and now has access to nuclear codes. When Maria first learned the Skrulls impersonated Nick Fury, she went to Iron Man for help. To her surprise, Iron Man not only knew the Skrulls were on Earth, but was also working with them.
Will Marvel's Secret Invasion Debut on Disney+ in 2023?
Marvel fans looking forward to a slew of new shows for Disney+ this year are in for some bad news. It was only a few months ago that Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced six new series would debut on Disney+ in 2023 – Secret Invasion, What If... ? Season 2, Echo, Loki Season 2, Ironheart, and Agatha: Coven of Chaos. However, we're two months into 2023 and there hasn't been word on when the first of those five series will premiere. After the latest Disney earnings call, CEO Bob Iger revealed how the company will be taking a closer look at curating content that's on the expensive side. This means only Secret Invasion and Loki are likely to be released this year.
The report comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which claims the slowdown of content for Marvel Studios will result in only Secret Invasion and Loki's second season being locks for 2023. This is even with the knowledge that Echo, a spinoff of Hawkeye, and Ironheart, which spins out of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, have both wrapped production months ago. Marvel Studios' new strategy appears to be to spread its content out, which is good news for the overworked visual effects departments. The year will still see the releases of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Marvels.
The exclusive preview of Secret Invasion #5 is below. The issue goes on sale Wednesday, March 15th.