This week, a new villain arrives in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Gravik, played by Kingsley Ben-Adir, is a Skrull leader who has spent years organizing a hostile takeover of Earth on Marvel’s Secret Invasion. He’s ruthless, cold, calculated, and downright terrifying. Throughout the show, Gravik shows there are no lengths he won’t go to in order to get what it is he wants. What drives a character like that?
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Speaking to Collider ahead of Secret Invasion’s premiere, Ben-Adir talked about the motives behind Gravik. He obviously wants what’s best for the Skrulls, but he also has a lot of anger driving him. Seeing others lose is even more important than seeing his side win.
“I think it’s seeing the pain that he feels in the eyes of other people,” Ben-Adir said. “I think as foul a feeling as he has about himself and what he’s been through, he needs Nick and Talos to feel, too. And actually, I think the first couple of episodes, now that I think about it and now that I’ve seen it, and it was definitely evident in reading the script, is that it is about wanting them to experience the pain that he feels they’re partly responsible for at least. And that kind of carries through. He’s not just trying to take over everything. He wants them to see him doing it.”
Later in the same interview, Ben-Adir opened up about just how deep into his own cause Gravik has become at the start of Secret Invasion. There’s no turning back for him.
“When this story starts, he’s gone,” the actor said. “He’s all the way down there, and there’s no bringing him back. And there’s some great stuff where Talos tries, and that was really interesting to play; like, how close can we get to seeing him coming back, and then he doesn’t, ultimately. Or perhaps he could! If you locked him in a room for long enough, maybe he could, but in this show, it wouldn’t be easy.”
What to Watch Before Secret Invasion
Secret Invasion will connect most closely to Captain Marvel, seeing as how the Skrulls are involved, so that may be a good one to catch up on. You could also watch back through some of the major Nick Fury movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The nice thing, though, is that Secret Invasion is a largely standalone event. Star Emilia Clarke recently spoke to Empire Magazine and revealed that Secret Invasion doesn’t require a big Marvel rewatch in order for audiences to know what’s going on.
“It’s definitely a show for the fans, but it’s also a show that my mum, who doesn’t watch Marvel, will watch and get, do you know what I mean,” Clarke said. “You can get into dangerous territory sometimes with this sort of genre where if you haven’t watched all 17 other films or shows, you’re not going to get it. This isn’t that at all.”
Secret Invasion Premiere Date
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.
