It was in 2019 when the Skrulls were finally introduced into the Marvel movies timeline as the seeming villains of Captain Marvel. However, the shape-shifting alien race will soon be put front and center, along with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, in the Secret Invasion TV show on Disney+. The title of one of the most anticipated upcoming Marvel TV shows is certainly not a misnomer as little has been revealed about it thus far (as per tradition in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), but the things that we can tell you are pretty amusing.
What Is The Secret Invasion Premiere Date?
According to a press release, the premiere episode of the first season (or sole season) of Secret Invasion will be available to stream with a Disney+ subscription on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, with subsequent episodes dropping weekly. It was initially announced at D23 in 2022 that the series -- which will consist of six episodes -- would premiere on the platform, in 2023.
Fans began to speculate that a Secret Invasion TV show was in the works when it was reported that a new “secret” series was in development by Marvel Studios in September 2020. At the Walt Disney Company’s Investor’s Day Expo in the following December, Kevin Feige formally announced Secret Invasion, proving the fan theories as true.
The Latest Trailer Hints At Secret Invasion Being Nick Fury’s “Last Fight”
Along with the news that Secret Invasion is dropping on Disney+ in June 2023, a brand new, second trailer was released. The two-minute promotional video lays on the suspense thick, strongly accentuates the urgency of this global threat, and makes us wary of Nick Fury’s future with his claim that this is “one last fight” for him. See for yourself by watching action-packed teaser below:
The teaser certainly has a different feel to the series’ first official trailer, which debuted at D23. While the new promo features many of the same key shots from the last one, much of the previously unseen imagery in this video is even more disturbing – such as Emilia Clarke’s character discovering a lair of unconscious people or Kingsley Ben-Adir’s arm morphing into a something like tentacles. The trailer also hints at some of the intense action we shall see in Secret Invasion, from terrorist bombings to assassination attempts, promising that this is going to be one of the MCU’s absolutely darkest projects yet.
A NEW CLIP SEES FURY AND MARIA HILL REUNITED
The marketing campaign for Secret Invasion has done an exceptional job indicating the high-level intensity of the threat that Fury and co. are facing this time around. However, few teases have been as perturbing as the clip below that Marvel Studios shared in this tweet on Monday, June 12th:
“You were never the same after the Blip.”Nick Fury and Maria Hill return in Marvel Studios’ #SecretInvasion, streaming June 21 on @DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/mYskZ3olKcJune 12, 2023
Seeing Maria Hill warn Fury that he is the one who is "not ready for this" after reminding him of a time when he used to be "three steps ahead" during a game of Chess is a very intriguing and chilling role reversal. Not to mention, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent has always been known to be cool under pressure, so her apparent anxiousness over their situation only worsens the matter.
Secret Invasion Is Based On An Acclaimed Marvel Comics Crossover Event
The Secret Invasion TV show is based on an eight-part, Marvel Comics crossover event of the same name that was crafted by acclaimed writer Brian Michael Bendis and published in 2008. Its inception came at a time in the mid-to-late 2000s when the publisher was in need of a little reinvention after fans voiced concerns over characters not acting like themselves, especially during the events of the story arc that later inspired Captain America: Civil War.
The solution they decided on was to explain that these heroes were not themselves at all, but had been replaced by Skrulls in disguise. Considering how the Skrulls were reinterpreted as good guys in Captain Marvel, fans questioned how this popular arc would be adapted to fit in with the MCU timeline. Based on the trailers, it looks like it might not be too far a deviation from the source material after all.
Samuel L. Jackson And Ben Mendelsohn Lead The Secret Invasion Cast
Before its title was officially revealed, Secret Invasion was merely announced as a spin-off series centered on Nick Fury at first. Indeed, Samuel L. Jackson is reprising the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director along with Ben Mendelsohn returning as Talos – a Skrull who, as the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home revealed, has been working with (and occasionally posing as) Fury ever since they met in the mid-1990s. The trailer (and a tense clip Marvel shared on Twitter) also confirmed that Cobie Smulders is coming back as Maria Hill, along with Don Cheadle as James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Martin Freeman as Agent Everett Ross.
Also part of the Secret Invasion cast are former Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke as a Skrull radical named G'iah, Kingsley Ben-Adir (Malcolm X from the One Night in Miami cast) as a Skrull resistance leader named Gravik, and Oscar winner Olivia Colman as a rival MI6 agent -- according to Vanity Fair. Irish actor Killian Scott also has a role and Happy Gilmore’s Christopher McDonald has been rumored to play Norman Osborn – a Spider-Man villain who actually plays a major part in the original source material. Speaking of rumors, some suggested Dermot Mulroney’s role is the MCU’s new U.S. President, which he later confirmed to ComicBook.com, while Fantastic Beasts star Carmen Ejogo’s character may remain a mystery until the show premieres.
Thomas Bezucha And Ali Selim Are Directing Secret Invasion
In May 2021, The Hollywood Reporter revealed the directors of Secret Invasion to be Thomas Bezucha and Ali Selim, both of whom are newcomers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe but have some amusing blips on their respective resumes so far. Bezucha is known for writing and directing the 2005 holiday dramedy The Family Stone and crime thriller Let Him Go in 2020 and Selim broke out in 2005 with the historical drama Sweet Land before earning gigs for TV shows like HBO’s In Treatment or the Hulu original miniseries The Looming Tower.
Marvel Studios has been blessed with some talented filmmakers at the helm of some of the best Marvel movies and Disney+ exclusive TV shows thus far, such as the dual efforts of brothers Joe and Anthony Russo on 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Avengers: Endgame in 2019 most recently. It is nice to see that a new duo is sharing directorial duties on Secret Invasion.
Kyle Bradstreet Is Writing and Executive Producing Secret Invasion
As for the showrunner of Secret Invasion, we have Kyle Bradstreet, whom Variety reports was first announced as the head writer and executive producer when the series was still known just as an untitled Nick Fury TV show. Bradstreet’s television career dates back to when he joined the staff of the short-lived James Purefoy-led drama The Philanthropist on NBC and really hit its stride when he was hired as a writer and producer on the acclaimed USA hit Mr. Robot, which earned him an Emmy Award nomination in 2015. That may be all the evidence I need to determine that Secret Invasion is in good hands and cannot come soon enough.
The U.K. Production Of Secret Invasion Wrapped in August 2022
According to The Ronin, cameras started rolling on the Secret Invasion set in London, England, in the Fall of 2021 under the working title “Jambalaya.” We also know from Samuel L. Jackson’s Instagram post, that production officially wrapped on August 12, 2022.
Even with the information we have, this still leaves us with many questions. For instance, which characters will be revealed as having really been Skrulls the entire time, is Emilia Clarke (or even Olivia Colman) truly meant to play S.W.O.R.D. director Abigail Brand, and how will the series’ inevitable plot twists change how all the previous Marvel movies are perceived and what to expect from upcoming Marvel movies? We certainly look forward to finding out once Secret Invasion premieres on Disney+ soon.
