Secret Invasion Director Praises ‘Stunning’ Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle Scene

Secret Invasion’s director says that Nick Fury and James Rhodes’ back-and-forth in episode 2 is a career highlight. Ali Selim spoke to TVLine about the exchange between the two long-tenured Avengers. The filmmaker argues that the scene was like “a play for the two of them.” It’s hard to disagree with that sentiment. On social media, that conversation between Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle is one of the most highly-regarded moments of Secret Invasion so far.  It would be hard not to enjoy two brilliant actors just having that kind of verbal sparring match. However, the weight of the conversation doesn’t get approached very often in the MCU. That could explain why it connected on such a level with the audience. Check out what the director had to say down below!

“I can’t say much, because it’s two of our greatest living actors — who have wanted to work together for decades, if i understand correctly, and have never had the opportunity,” Selim recalled. “And they were handed a brilliant piece of text that went on for eight pages. It was like a play for the two of them.”

Samuel L. Jackson Says That Marvel Wasn’t Afraid to Tackle Racism In Secret Invasion

Now, there have been attempts to grapple with racism in Phase 4 and beyond. The sequence between Sam Wilson and that banker still rings out for a lot of MCU fans. (That and that run-in with the police…) However, in a recent conversation with Variety, Jakson revealed that Marvel wasn’t afraid to talk about it in Secret Invasion. As evidenced by the exchange between Rhodey and Fury, the series is better for the attempt to grapple with real-life issues alongside Skrull espionage.

“[What it’s like for Fury to have] that much power as a Black man, and how they can be diminished at any moment by someone else just saying a specific thing or changing the trajectory of one’s career path because of it,” Jackson told the trade in a new interview. “Rhodey and Fury have risen to this place where we have a certain amount of power, even though we’re better than the people who have power, we still got to suppress ourselves in a specific way. And Marvel’s not afraid to let us explore that.”

Secret Invasion Pulls From Jackson’s Backstory to Develop Nick Fury

In another moment of Jackson’s life influencing his old spymaster, Fury and Talos’ talk on the train car also drew a lot of praise. Fans might not know that the actor infused a little bit of his personal experience into that exchange as well. The former SHIELD director would have had to live through segregation in America. It also gives Fury the chance to ferret out some more details that Talos has been hiding from him.

“I used to take the train every summer from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Washington, D.C. I couldn’t go in a dining car because it’s segregated. When they put me on the train, they gave me a shoebox with food in it, then I ate that food,” Jackson began. “We used things that were real for me as a person to give Nick Fury the kind of history that he has, to inform the story in a real way about, you know, how he wasn’t always this [powerful], or he does look at America in another kind of way.”

What Else Will Happen During Secret Invasion?

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

Did you love the Rhodey and Nick Fury moment From Episode 2? Let us know in the comments!