3 Years After Disastrous Finale, Marvel Star Apologizes for the MCU’s Biggest Blunder

May 29, 2026, 2:56pm

Since the Marvel Cinematic Universe began in 2008, the biggest movie franchise in film history has delivered a surprising amount of consecutive home runs. There was once a time when a new Marvel Studios release would send every other studio’s films running for the hills, when the studio took a team no one knew, the Guardians of the Galaxy, and made them a household name. Funny enough, the MCU almost got derailed immediately by the lesser receptions of The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2, but even they couldn’t have predicted the biggest blunder of the franchise would arrive in 2023.

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When Secret Invasion was first announced, it seemed like a good comic book event for the MCU to bring to life, a political thriller set against the landscape of a superhero franchise fans had come to love, with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury finally getting a starring role, and the Skrulls finally putting their sinister side on screen. What arrived, though, is one of the worst-reviewed MCU releases ever, and now one of the stars of the series, Emilia Clarke, has offered an apology in a new interview, though she was laughing about it the entire time.

Marvel Star Emilia Clarke Apologizes for Secret Invasion

Speaking with Variety in a new profile, Emilia Clarke, who played the Skrull character G’iah in the series, opened up about her forays into other franchises after she achieved a certain level of notoriety thanks to Game of Thrones. Regarding Secret Invasion specifically, Clarke noted (in a “goofy voice,” apparently), “I don’t think no one liked that show, guys. I’m sorry!” The actress then went on to note the same about her appearances in Star Wars, adding “They didn’t like it,” about Solo: A Star Wars Story, while noting that 2015’s Terminator Genisys “should never have happened.”

“But these were jobs I said yes to, you know what I mean?” Clarke added. “I entered into already existing franchises, so when they don’t work out, it’s not personal…My connection to a project ends when they say, ‘Picture wrap.’ Because it’s not for me to decide what people will think of it.”

Secret Invasion is a major blimish across the MCU for a few reasons, none of which, to be fair, have anything to do with Clarke as a performer. The series started off on the wrong foot with Marvel fans when the first episode arrived and very quickly killed off Cobie Smulders’ long-running MCU character, Maria Hill, an event that appeared to have no real narrative reason and was done for the shock value of it all. Even the opening credits for the series brought it under fire from Marvel fans, as the team behind the series confirmed they had been created using generative artificial intelligence.

The missteps by Secret Invasion continued across its six episodes as well, with reveals like Don Cheadle’s James Rhodes had been replaced at some unclear point by a Skrull, making some of his previous appearances not even the character that fans loved. Secret Invasion‘s big finale also delivered a major error, as it created a device that loaded up Clarke’s character with the combined superpowers of Drax the Destroyer, Thanos, Hulk, Cull Obsidian, Korg, Abomination, Thor, Captain America, and Captain Marvel, effectively making her one of the strongest characters in the MCU. This would have been fine, but the visual effects around it were a complete failure. Not only do those CGI shots haunt the MCU, but it marked the last time this character was ever even heard from in continuity.

The good thing for Clarke is that she can seemingly laugh about Secret Invasion, now, even if the reaction to the series was scathing at the time of its release, and it remains one of the most poorly received entries in the entire MCU. Luckily for her, the performer seems to have found the right balance of figuring out what projects she wants to pursue. It also seems unlikely that the plot thread of G’iah will ever be addressed in the MCU again.