Can Marvel’s Secret Invasion Still Pull Off A Game-Changing Ending?

Can Marvel’s Secret Invasion still pull off a game-changing ending? Now is definitely the time to ask, as at the time of writing this there are only two episodes of Secret Invasion left to debut on Disney+, and there a lot of Marvel Cinematic Universe fans who are feeling like there’s been very little significance to the series, two-thirds of the way through. 

(SPOILERS FOLLOW!) 

Yes, Secret Invasion Episode 4 ended with a major death (Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos), the second major character death of the series (following Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill dying in the premiere). Secret Invasion has also introduced the Super Skrulls to the MCU and revealed that there are a LOT more Skrulls hiding out on Earth than we originally thought – including Don Cheadle’s Rhodey being a Skrull (for an unknown length of time). All that is a significant development for the franchise, yes, but it’s clearly not so significant that fans are praising the series. 

There have been many breakdowns about what Secret Invasion could do to flip the MCU upside-down,  and there is arguably still time to pull off a couple of those ideas, for sure. However, the odds are not necessarily looking too good. 

Secret Invasion Episode 5 will have to deal with the fallout of Rhodey being revealed as a Skrull, and Gravik’s (Kingsley Ben-Adir) failed attempt to assassinate and/or replace President Ritson (Dermont Mulroney) while inciting World War III between the US and Russia. G’iah (Emilia Clarke) will have to deal with her father Talos’ death, and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) will have to carry the emotional weight of losing all trust in his wife, Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard), as well as his closest confidant (Maria Hill) and best friend (Talos). In essence, Nick will be all alone in the world, and hopelessly outmatched. 

Giving Nick Fury his groove back will be a logical character arc for Secret Invasion’s final episodes, but not necessarily the overarching shared universe development twists fans are itching for. That’s not necessarily a failure of fan expectations: Marvel Studios chose the title “Secret Invasion” knowing full well what the implications of the classic 2000s comic book story were. If this Secret Invasion Disney+ series doesn’t honor its namesake with a compelling story of deception and re-aligned perception (beyond Rhodey), it’s a fail on the studio’s part, in what continues to be a disjointed and often disappointing post-Endgame era for the MCU. 

Here’s hoping that Secret Invasion Episodes 5 and 6 have more in store for us than just a emotional mustering of forces for a final showdown with Gravik. Otherwise the biggest twist it pulls maybe changing the shape of one of Marvel’s most famous modern stories into one of the most disappointing TV spinoffs yet.