WARNING: This post contains spoilers!!
The fact that Disney delayed the release of Secret Invasion quietly after announcing it earlier this year should’ve been a sign. Now, Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, said the abundanc MCU’s series have diluted the franchise’s quality. Yeah, no shit, Bob! Despite a slow start, WandaVision was a surprise hit mainly because its format worked. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had some good moments but a horrible main villain and some sloppy plotlines showed cracks in the system.
Then, there was Loki, which was a disappointment, followed by Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel and the underrated She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. But for the most part, it seems most of the shows, especially Ms. Marvel, were stretching the stories thin. Worse, they seem to be set-ups for the bigger feature movies. That being said, there could have been a lot of hope for Secret Invasion if it was done right.
But I think the series, coming out the disappointing Black Panther: Wakanda and the horrible Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania didn’t have a prayer. It’s possible after how Quantumania was such a big letdown both with critics, fans and at the box office, Disney didn’t want Secret Invasion hurting the third Guardians of the Galaxy, which in turn got good reviews and was a big hit at the box office.
The biggest problem with every MCU entry almost since Avengers: Infinity War, is that they are more concerned with killing off a major or semi-major character that it’s really losing its appeal. I don’t know where Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders) would rank in her ranking of characters, but she’s the latest along with Tony Stark, Aunt May, Natasha Romanoff, and even Jane Foster, who they brought back just to have her die in the fourth Thor. Why can’t the characters just go out to a literal farm somewhere. The catharis of seeing them die is starting to get old like people used to wonder who was going to bite the dust next on The Walking Dead.
And the MCU has gone down the rabbit hole that comic-book adaptation was. It’s been 15 years since the first Iron Man. But it seems a lot longer. Maybe Martin Scorsese was right to a degree. The movies and TV shows have become parodies of themselves. I don’t think anyone really enjoyed Quantumania, espcially the actors who were in it. And so help me, Thanos, if they reference the Battle of New York one more time, it’s getting old. No one mentions the emergence of the Clestial Tiamut in the Indian Ocean that happened at the end of Eternals. But the less said about Eternals, the better especially the end credits scene.
Secret Invasion finally lets us know why Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) was off world, which was first shown in the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home, which seems like a long, long time ago. Apparently, Fury hasn’t been himself since the Blip, which could be understandable but the series never really examines this the way it could. Imagine one minute you’re minding your own business and then everyone around you including yourself start turning to dust. Next thing you know, it’s five years later and a lot has changed. Some people are mad that you’re even back.
The MCU has never really handle the Snap/Blip as well as they should. It makes me to think they had a plan that got screwed up following the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s hard to watch the movies since then with the laissez faire attitude they have done it. Peter Parker and the rest of his classmates wouldn’t be taking a European trip. To be honest, they should’ve never called it Avengers: Endgame.
Fury returns to Earth to help Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), a Skrull, as there is a conspiracy by regeneade Skrulls led by Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) to gain control of Earth. Since the alien Skrulls can shapeshift, they can impersonate anyone. And that’s the problem if you’ve seen any Mission: Impossible movies or just have some common sense, seeing a character die or acting strange, we just know it’s a Skrull. When Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) pops up being more antagonistic, you know he’s really the Skrull Raava.
To be honest, this may have worked better as a two-hour movie, but it’s over four-and-a-half hours long with credits and recaps and even if you take out 10 minutes per each of the six episodes, it’s still too long to remain interesting. While the series delves further into Fury’s life, there really isn’t much. The big reveal is that Fury is married to Varra, a Skrull who poses as Priscilla Davis. She’s played by Charlayne Woodward and the scenes between her and Jackson work, but they’re too few and far between.
The only good part is a performance by Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth who is a high-ranking MI6 official who has the right mixture of seriousness and sardonic humor that the rest of the series needed. Ben-Adir is another problem with the MCU as he’s an ineffective villain. Emilia Clark is wasted as G’iah, the estranged daughter of Talos who works for Gravik. It seems like a form of stunt-casting that Disney and Marvel is casting big names and unsuspected faces in roles like this such as Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ role as Vallentina Allegra de Fontaine.
Since most of the series involves people talking and double-crossing and triple-crossing and then discovering that one person is a Skrull and they’ve shape-shifted, there’s little action to keep us really interested. And while that could’ve work, the direction by Ali Selim feels more like a low-budget thriller. I also feel that this is leading up to The Marvels which is scheduled to be released in theaters in early November. And now that we know that the Skrulls are pretending to be major officials, you don’t have to put two and two together to realize how Sharon Carter was acting the way she did in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
At 74, Jackson has been the glue that has kept the MCU together first appearing in cameos before bigger roles and even as a joke in Infinity War where he blurts out a dirty word he is famous for but it’s cut off as he turns to dust. If this was going to be his spotlight, he deserved better. It’s a different portrayal of Fury than what we’ve been used it. Jackson does what he can with the material.
But this is another problem with other MCU movies and shows. It’s Nick-Motherfuckin-Fury! Why doesn’t he just call some people up to help him? They try to make it appear that Fury kills Hill when it’s a Skrull posing as Fury but it’s a wasted opportunity to show Fury kinda on his own for the first time in a while because he’s got no one to turn to. And why can’t he just notify Captain Marvel or anyone else, like Dr. Strange, Everett Ross, the Eternals themselves (who sat idly during the Snap/Blip), Falcon/Captain America, etc. I seriously doubt Fury would go into what he does with just Talos and some Skrulls helping him.
While on the comic book page, a writer and artist can just have a character appear for a few pages, it costs a lot to get the actors on the set for a few scenes. It’s obviouisly become a joke that from the first Deadpool that the studio didn’t have the movie to hire other X-men actors. I don’t think the people writing these series and movies realize that the characters exist in an universe. If there was a conspiracy by the Skrulls to take over Earth, you’d definitely call in some support.
Maybe now that Disney is wondering what to do with the allegations of domestic violence against Jonathan Majors. Seeing what happened to Warner Bros. and DC with The Flash about all that happened with Ezra Miller, they may have to skip the Kang Dynasty and just go toward the Secret Wars like everyone wants them to do.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 