Secret Invasion Director Ordered to Avoid Reading Comics

After months of waiting, the latest television series from Marvel Studios has finally arrived. Wednesday morning, Secret Invasion released its first episode on Disney+, introducing fans to the first spy drama of the franchise since the days of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Though the live-action series bears the same name of a wildly popular comic book series, watchers were quick to notice the stories don’t necessarily match up. While the comic series was a universe-wide event, Secret Invasion on Disney+ is largely restrained, only featuring a few known characters from the source material.

Because of that, Marvel Studios wanted the filmmakers behind the series to avoid reading too much into the source material. That much comes straight from Ali Selim, the director behind all six episodes of Secret Invasion. “When I took on this job as director, I didn’t write the script. So a lot of those decisions were made by Kyle Bradstreet and the other team of writers that we had. The first thing I was told is don’t read the comics. It had nothing to do with what we’re trying to do here,” Selim said in a recent chat with ScreenRant.

He added, “This story was really born out of the electricity created between Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn or Nick Fury and Talos in Captain Marvel. And they said, “Oh, we got to do something with that.” So they found a story that would serve that relationship and would expand the MCU and other characters who are not in the comic books. I think it’s a story unto itself.”

This isn’t the first time a Marvel filmmaker has said the studio is careful to avoid the source material. Last November, producer Nate Moore said the studio looks for filmmakers who aren’t fans of the material.

“One thing I think is interesting, and specifically for writers, I would say, a lot of times, we’re pitched writers who love Marvel. And to me, that’s always a red flag. Because I go, ‘Oh, I don’t want you to already have a pre-existing idea of what it is, because you grew up with Issue 15 and that’s what you want to recreate…,’” Moore said on an episode of The Town with Matt Belloni (via The Direct).

He added, “I want somebody who’s hard on the material, who goes, ‘What is this? I think there’s a movie here, but maybe we should be looking at it in this way.’”

The MCU’s top superspy Nick Fury is back in Secret Invasion, the limited series premiering 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.