Asking any actor about their potential to join an upcoming Marvel movie or TV show can be a double-edged sword thanks to the studio’s adherence to secrecy, but that has yet to curb fans’ curiosity. Case in point: Cobie Smulders has been in nearly a dozen Marvel projects as former S.H.I.E.L.D. head Maria Hill, and was tragically killed off in Disney+’s Secret Invasion, making the fandom livid. But that’s not stopping anyone from asking if we’ll see her again, or from getting newly aggravated at Secret Invasion.
Smulders appeared at Terrificon on August 17 to talk about her career in full, from the world of superhero cinema to her network sitcom success with How I Met Your Mother and others. During the panel moderated by Joe Stuber of Comic Book Central, the Stumptown vet was asked her interest level in jumping back into the MCU, and while she sounds positive about it with her answer (via @AgentsofFandom), it would take major narrative reconfiguring. As she put it:
I would love to go back, but I have no idea what they have in store for the future of Marvel or my character at this point.
To be sure, it’s unlikely Maria Hill would have played naturally into upcoming Marvel TV shows like the horror-tinged spinoff Agatha All Along or the Man Without Fear’s return in Daredevil: Born Again. But with the Russo brothers returning for more Avengers movies with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom as the overarching baddie, the universe continues to grow in ways that Nick Fury’s right-hand-woman could bring her own influence to.
If only she hadn’t been gobsmackingly murdered by Gravik in Secret Invasion’s series premiere, a moment that continues to get fans riled up just from thinking about it. And despite the overall positive nature of Cobie Smulders’ answer, it sparked a new wave of complaints about how that went down. Here's a handful of the responses that the MCU vet's comments inspired:
- They really should bring her back considering her character died on that fan-made not canonical tv-series called Secret Invasion or something like that... - @Jesse_L58
- the way no one knows that Maria literally fucking d!ed in a series that no one gaf about… just erase it and bring her back - @vanniloner
- Killing her off was such a huge slap in the face to me and to those who grew up with her. And if they were gonna kill her off why not do it in a big screen movie instead of a freaking Disney plus show 💀💀💀💀 - @JonathanGedeon4
- Soooo…it sounds like #SheHulk was/is better than #SecretInvasion and we should ignore the whole series and Cobie Smulders should return to the MCU and we’re gonna act like she never died? Is that correct? - @AlexLampley
- I still can’t believe they did her this way, especially in that crap show. Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) deserves better!! - @ClayBallenger
- I think everyone is willing to simply banish Secret Invasion from MCU canon no questions asked at this point - @PaulTassi
- They could probably bring her back via a clone or something. Or just retcon it to where the Maria Hill we saw die was just a skull. God I didn't like secret invasions at all. It was supposed to be something good but completely ruined and stifled. Redo the whole thing. - @kaisenz_
Rarely does the Internet all jump onto the same side like this, but it's definitely a case where the majority of (vocal) MCU fans think both the actress and character were robbed by that on-screen death. One might get endless blisters from scrolling around social media trying to find anyone attempting to justify it, or even saying anything remotely positive about Secret Invasion.
To be sure, there were definitely other kinds of negative comments, such as those that questioned why Maria Hill get so much love despite not being central to very many huge plotlines. And there's also a large chunk of the fanbase that laughingly predicted that Marvel will just explain it all away with multiverse shenanigans or with the reveal that Secret Invasion's Maria was a Skrull the whole time.
Not to mention those who are still skeptical that the character actually died in that show. The randomness and questionable nature of the scene have inspired quite a few fan theories about Maria still being alive within the MCU, despite the outside world believing her to be dead.
Also worth noting: Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill appeared two more times following the character's on-screen death, albeit in animated series. Smulders reprised the role for an episode of Marvel's What If...? as well as an ep of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. It's unclear if she's recorded any other voice-acting performances for future seasons or episodes from other projects.
Secret Invasion can be streamed in full with a Disney+ subscription, although I'm not sure anyone out there will be rushing to do so.
