Marvel’s Secret Invasion: Samuel L. Jackson Returns as a Nick Fury Fans “Haven’t Seen Before”

Nick Fury may have been a Skrull the last time we saw him in Spider-Man: Far From Home, but Marvel’s Secret Invasion will peek behind the curtain of the real Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Decades after the ’90s-set Captain Marvel introduced a sect of shape-shifting aliens known as Skrulls, the Far From Home post-credits scene revealed friendly Skrulls Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and Soren (Sharon Blynn) impersonated Fury and former S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in the wake of Avengers: Endgame. When Fury returns to Earth in the thriller series, Jackson’s Avengers co-star teases Secret Invasion will declassify the master spy’s secrets.

“The great thing that the series gives us the opportunity to do is really dive into the characters more, really explore their relationships with each other,” Smulders told EW after revealing the first look at Secret Invasion during Marvel’s panel at San Diego Comic-Con’s Hall H. “It was just really exciting to shoot these scenes with Sam that were like, we weren’t just talking about ‘How are we gonna get the thing to fix the thing?’ And we’re able to show sort of their relationship that is seen behind the scenes.”

Hill has served as Fury’s right-hand since 2012’s The Avengers, appearing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and episodes of the dubiously-canon ABC series Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 

In Secret Invasion, fans will see “a version of Nick Fury that they haven’t seen before,” Smulders said. “You know like, what does he do to relax? Does he ever relax? What are his hobbies, you know? Does he have a family? What is his backstory? And they really do a deep dive into him and his life in this series.”

Named after the 2008 comic book crossover that revealed the shape-shifting Skrulls had secretly infiltrated Earth for years, Secret Invasion reunites Fury with Hill and Talos in the paranoia-laced thriller about an on-the-ground alien invasion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

“Even though we have Skrull aliens running around, it is a very grounded, on-this-earth drama,” Smulders teased. “It is really human — again, even though there are aliens in it. We’re dealing with real human issues and dealing with trust. Can I trust you? Are you who you say you are? And do you have my back? In our story, because we don’t know exactly who everybody is — if they’re a Skrull or they’re a human, if they’re good or they’re bad — it creates a lot of tension. It creates a lot of friction among the characters. And also it’s a stressful environment.”

Starring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn as the Skrull Talos, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, Emilia Clarke, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Killian Scott Carmen Ejogo, Christopher McDonald, Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle as James “War Machine” Rhodes, Marvel’s Secret Invasion is streaming Spring 2023 on Disney+.