Secret Invasion has been one of the MCU’s most anticipated events, and we finally got our first trailer at D23. The Disney+ series has been set up since we saw the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home in 2019, but there are implications that Secret Invasion has been going on much longer than that. Still, since Far From Home, everyone has been wondering who’s a Skrull and who isn’t.
The Secret Invasion trailer plays like a Cold War-era spy thriller, reminiscent of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy or Tom Hanks’ film Bridge of Spies. But Secret Invasion really ups the stakes when it takes all the espionage and throws in some shapeshifting aliens. Get ready for the biggest mole hunt of your life!
Nick Fury will finally return to the MCU, a bit more wizened than before. We’ll see Samuel L. Jackson reprise his role as the man who always has the upper hand in the Marvel Universe, even if we’re not so sure this time. Secret Invasion will pit him against his biggest challenge yet when Fury is the only person who can save planet Earth from an invasion that no one even realizes is happening.
Many other familiar faces were also revealed in the trailer, including Cobie Smulders returning as Agent Maria Hill and Martin Freeman as Everett K. Ross. Secret Invasion is going to make a big splash when it hits Disney+. Here’s everything we learned from the trailer.
In a Secret Invasion, You Can't Trust Anyone
The only thing you can be certain of is that no one is who they say they are. A shot in the trailer shows Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) going to assault Kingsley Ben-Adir’s character, only to have ten other Kingsley Ben-Adir’s stand up to stop him. It feels like a true '60s spy thriller combined with a Steven Spielberg film.
In fact, the first shot in the trailer shows Nick Fury stepping out of a bright light that looks eerily similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Nevertheless, Fury has finally returned after spending long years on that massive space station we saw in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Maria Hill accuses him of avoiding Earth and ignoring her calls for help. But Fury tells her, “This is different.”
Secret Invasion will crossover with at least one Avenger showing up. The trailer sees Fury confront James Rhodes, A.K.A. War Machine (Don Cheadle), in a quiet restaurant. Fury asks him how much he knows about his security detail, implying that anyone could be a Skrull. But in the extended scene, Rhodes reveals he’s known about the threat of a Skrull invasion for 15 years.
This means that the government would have told Rhodes of the danger around the time of Iron Man 2 in the MCU timeline. That’s when War Machine was officially brought into a secret government project. It’s also when Don Cheadle replaced Terrence Howard in the role. Does that mean Don Cheadle has been a Skrull this whole time? Has Terrence Howard just been locked up somewhere, pleading that he’s the real War Machine? Is Kevin Feige really who he says he is?
All joking aside, this could be Marvel’s way of acknowledging the switch in actors all those years ago, similar to what they did in She-Hulk with Mark Ruffalo and Edward Norton.
Nick Fury's Personal War
As suspense builds in the trailer, we see Everett K. Ross sneaking through an alley when Carmen Ejogo’s character takes a gun out of an envelope. Talos tells Fury, “We’ve got to be very careful now.” There are shots of Olivia Colman’s character on the verge of torturing someone as e hear Fury say:
“This is my war. Alone. I’m the last person standing between them, and what they really want.”
After the president’s motorcade is attacked, Talos's voice comes in, asking why it happened. We then see another reveal of Nick Fury, wearing his eye patch for the first time in the trailer. Strange to see him appear this far in wearing the eye patch. Perhaps he's actually a Skrull as well, as we saw Talos impersonate him in a post-credits scene. Or maybe he’s had some modification to his eye that helps him see through a Skrull's disguise.
There is a lot to question after seeing this trailer. Like why has Fury been keen to remain in space this whole time? How long have the Skrulls actually been here? And if Talos is helping humanity defeat this Skrull invasion, then which humans are helping the Skrulls? There are plenty of Marvel government agencies involved, including the DODC (Department of Damage Control), which we don’t often see. If Agent Ross is there, the CIA knows what’s happening. We can probably assume that both S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.W.O.R.D. will make appearances. And if the president is involved, there’s no telling just how high this conspiracy goes.
The suspense is real as we build closer to the Secret Invasion release in 2023.