Secret Invasion Episode 1 Review: Resurrection

The Secret Invasion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has started. The Skrulls have infiltrated Earth and it is up to Nick Fury and his allies to stop them. Who can you trust?

The Skrulls have infiltrated

The show starts well with Everett Ross looking for Skrulls and finding conspiracist agent Prescod in Russia. Prescod has kept up with all kinds of Skrull activities and warns that the Skrulls are all around.

The 2 men start talking and the conspiracies just keep coming, or is Prescod right and the Skrulls have fully infiltrated Earth? The 2 men start fighting and eventually, Ross kills Prescod with a gun. Yes, it was self-defense but this doesn’t sound like Ross at all.

While Ross is being chased by an unknown assailant, he jumps on and off rooftops. This is odd because the stunts he performs would have killed a human being straight away. So I guess, Ross isn’t who he says he is.

And then we find Maria Hill, she is called by Ross for a quick extraction. We haven’t seen Hill since Spider-man: No Way Home and where it turns out that she is a Skrull. And Nick Fury was on S.A.B.E.R.

Nick Fury leaves S.A.B.E.R.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury has left S.A.B.E.R. to join forces with his friends and allies on back on Earth. The first thing he does is get kidnapped by Special Agent Sonya Falsworth after he goes for a walk.

It turns out that the Ross imposter was trying to get schematics for a dirty bomb. Meanwhile, the White House with James Rhodey (Warmachine) is informed of Fury’s leave of absence.

Since Fury is the lead on the most advanced space defense system, he can’t just leave. So they are a little worried that he left without saying. I am pretty sure that’s going to be a plotline. Because you wouldn’t want your lead developer to run around in the wild while there is a timeline to complete things.

The team of Fury is looking for a clandestine branch of the Skrulls. They want to weed out humankind and take Earth for themselves. The group is led by G’iah, who is also the daughter of Talos, one of the Skrulls who is fighting for peaceful co-existence between humans and Skrulls.

The Skrulls recruitment is torturous

There was a scene in Secret Invasion that was really harsh but showed the clandestine Skrulls are willing to go above and beyond to fulfill their mission to wipe out humanity from Earth.

The Skrulls basically kidnapped a random person and brought him to a chamber where a Skrull took over his appearance and memories. And after they disposed of the original while the Skrull goes through life as that person.

The process didn’t look pleasant, there was lots of screaming and crying, and then coldly disposed of. If this is the way these clandestine Skrulls recruit then Earth is in for a tough fight.

The scary part is that the Skrulls can look like anyone. They can be your neighbor, your brother, your sister, your child, or your grandchild. It adds to the paranoia of the invasion, because who can you trust when their looks and character can be taken over by a Skrull? Noone of course!

Secret Invasion: Resurrection conclusion

I liked the first episode. Some of the extra plotlines that are set up add depth to the show. For instance, the White House is worried that Nick Fury has run off while he has an important project to finish.

The other one is an interesting theme, it’s Talos versus G’iah. Father against daughter who are both protecting and executing the will of Soren, Talos’ wife, and G’iah’s mother who passed away before the events of Secret Invasion.

According to Talos, Soren died due to the actions of Gravik, who is the leader of New Skrullos. New Skrullos is also the clandestine organization that engages in terrorist attacks across the globe. The one that Prescod found in the opening scene. And you thought your family had issues!

I mentioned that Nick Fury has left S.A.B.E.R. in order to stop the invasion of Earth. We finally find out that S.A.B.E.R. is an Earth defense system against alien attacks. The first time that idea was pitched was during Avengers: Age of Ultron when Tony Stark wanted to set up something similar. And S.A.B.E.R. is tied to the upcoming Marvels movie.

The first episode is doing a great job of setting up plotlines, of course, it is not very clear where they want to go. It would take an extra episode for that in order to figure out the direction the show wants to take.

I loved the Special Guest Star Martin Freeman, who reprised the role of Everett Ross. Even if he was a Skrull, it’s nice to see Freeman in any part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Maria Hill has played a large role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I really wished that she turned into a Skrull when she was shot. Unfortunately, I think the real Maria Hill has passed away. That would be a big shame since I really liked the character and I love the acting of Cobie Smulders.

Emilia Clarke is wonderful as well but she is wonderful in any show or movie she appears.

Secret Invasion in the comics

The title Secret Invasion comes from a crossover from the early 2000s. In the comics, the Skrulls had taken over the bodies and personalities of several superheroes and tried to take over Earth as well. With Nick Fury and Maria Hill at the helm and their friends and allies, such as Deadpool, they managed to win.

The TV show draws inspiration from the comics but obviously having a Skrull run around as Deadpool or Spider-woman would cost a lot. So I understand why they changed that to regular people. I also agree with the choice to use regular people. As I said before, it adds to the paranoia of who can you trust.