Secret Invasion’s Dermot Mulroney Didn’t Know His Character Already Existed in the MCU

Secret Invasion is now four episodes deep on Disney+, and fans are eager to find out how the series will wrap up. The show features the return of some longtime Marvel Cinematic Universe stars like Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) and Don Cheadle (James Rhodes) in addition to exciting newcomers. The series marks the Marvel debut of Scream VI star, Dermot Mulroney, who plays President Ritson. Ritson is the second fictional president we’ve seen in the MCU after William Sadler played President Ellis in Iron Man 3 and Agents of SHIELD. While Secret Invasion is the first time Ritson has been seen onscreen, the character was previously mentioned in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. However, while speaking with Collider, Mulroney admitted he had no idea there had been previous mentions of his character. 

“None – to the point that I’m only now, this moment, learning that Ritson had mentions in other films,” Mulroney admitted. “That might have helped the sense of intimidation that I had about how many Marvel movies there were and what else I was working on. I had lines learned before I’d been able to have time to watch all those movies and figure out where President Ritson fits into the Marvel Universe when somebody just could have told me, ‘Watch [these] movies,’ and I’d have been fine. I can do movies, but I have to concentrate on figuring out the Marvel Universe at present. During that time, I couldn’t even figure that out.”

Dermot Mulroney On His Big Secret Invasion Stunt:

The fourth episode of Secret Invasion involved a big stunt for Mulroney, and ComicBook.com‘s Brandon Davis recently had a chat with the actor about his big moment. 

“You got it exactly. It was its own separate set, its own separate day. It had nothing to do with the cars and the helicopters and the guns and all that,” Mulroney revealed. “They built a gimble. That’s what the machine is called and it spins this way like a clothes dryer, a front loading clothes dryer. And so to these big iron wheels that they weld together and they make for this stunt shot, one shot, maybe there’s two cameras built into the car. They’ll strap me in. It’s been tested completely with stunt men. With the way they strapped me in, double strap, clipped in harness, et cetera. This is how they would do it. And then then they turn the mother on and we go. I’m in there alone like a Disney ride. It literally is. It was exhilarating.”

“I think we did it maybe a half a dozen times. It would go about four or five times. They had it perfectly programmed, but it’s an electric mode. I mean, it’s a guy with a stop button and a go button, but it had some either go faster or go slower. So they were refining that and tweaking camera. My tie landed in my face one time. That’s no good. We gotta go again.” The Secret Invasion star added.

What Is Secret Invasion About?

The MCU’s top superspy Nick Fury is back in Secret Invasion, the limited series that premiered June 21st on Disney+. Samuel L. Jackson returns in the new Marvel Studios series, showcasing Fury’s attempt to get to the bottom of a Skrull invasion that goes all the way to the most powerful positions in various governments and organizations on the planet. In Secret Invasion, Fury teams with allies Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), while James Rhodes AKA War Machine will appear in a mysterious capacity. Other newcomers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe include Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Kingsley Ben-Adir.