Secret Invasion Reviews Are Mixed, From "Slick and Polished" to "Dour and Dull"

Like a shapeshifting Skrull, the first Secret Invasion reviews can be deceiving. Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige has teased the Samuel L. Jackson-starring series as a "twisty political thriller," its tone likened to the 1970s conspiracy thriller vibe of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. After TV critics shared their mostly positive social media reactions online Tuesday night, the early reviews that landed online Wednesday are more mixed. At 65% on Rotten Tomatoes, Secret Invasion is the lowest-rated Marvel Studios series behind Ms. Marvel (98%), What If...? (94%), Hawkeye and Loki (92%), WandaVision (91%), Moon Knight (86%), The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (84%), and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (80%).

"Instead of 007 or Mission: Impossible levels of spy goodness, viewers are ultimately left with an amalgamation of Diet Captain America: The Winter Soldier and The Expendables," writes Adam Barnhardt in a review for ComicBook. "That may not be a criticism, yet it's a jarring shift from what Marvel Studios has promised of the show." Still, Secret Invasion is Jackson "at his best," and the six-episode limited series is a past-due "examination of the character in only a way Jackson could accomplish."

Secret Invasion is set in the present-day Marvel Cinematic Universe, picking up with Nick Fury (Jackson) learning of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), and the Skrull Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity. See more review samplings below.

The Hollywood Reporter: "Through two episodes, the series itself is a disappointment. A tremendous cast, led by Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Olivia Colman and Don Cheadle, keeps things generally watchable and, when they're given the opportunity to interact, you can spot the best version of the show. But for the most part, Secret Invasion is more dour and even dull than one might expect from its John le Carré/Graham Greene trappings."

London Evening Standard: "It's fun enough. This is a Marvel show, after all, which means it's a slick and polished affair that speeds along, throwing in Easter eggs and zingers with abandon for the fans to savor. It just all feels a little bit… tired. The action sequences have been done before; the disaffected revolutionaries have been done before (most recently in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier); hell, the threat of nuclear Armageddon has been done before, many times. Much like Fury himself, the Marvel train has been chugging along for years now. Maybe it's time for a well-deserved retirement."

Variety: "That Jackson excels when given the chance to lead a project comes as no meaningful surprise: He's Samuel L. Jackson. But, in the show's first two episodes, he's a part of a show that makes a case for itself as, specifically, television, which is a fairly welcome surprise for a brand that's had mixed results in this arena."

IndieWire: "To say the first two episodes are suspense-free wouldn't be entirely fair. The premiere's climax works well enough, and the hourlong entries move along without the obvious bloat of past MCU TV shows. Still, Secret Invasion proves as tepid as it is inert. The cast, featuring multiple Oscar winners and future recipient Ben Mendelsohn, is barely given room to do anything — even Jackson, who has the most screen time, barely fits in a raised eyebrow or trademark shout."

SuperHeroHype: "Secret Invasion plainly would like to be the MCU's Andor. The 'mature,' 'serious' show for people who generally bash the rest of the franchise for its CG and whimsy. Just as Captain America: The Winter Soldier practically begged everyone to compare it to '70s political thrillers, Secret Invasion seems to seek comparisons to John le Carre and similar Cold War spy dramas."

Empire Magazine: "As one of the MCU's most mature projects to date, Secret Invasion is a riveting, tense drama that gifts its actors with weighty material and encourages its audience to look beyond the sheen of superheroism."

Also starring Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charlayne Woodard, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Christopher McDonald, Katie Finneran, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle, Marvel's Secret Invasion is streaming June 21st on Disney+.