Secret Invasion wrapped up its six-episode run on Disney+ this week, bringing the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s newest Disney+ unique collection to a shut. Despite bearing the identical identify as Marvel’s fan-favorite 2008-2009 comedian storyline, Secret Invasion was undoubtedly a departure, as a substitute getting down to be an espionage thriller led by Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and an ensemble of MCU supporting characters and new additions. The finish outcome, culminating in a finale that (on the time of this writing) is well the worst-rated Marvel Studios entry on Rotten Tomatoes with a whopping 13%, has provoked an fascinating dialog. There have been questions not solely in regards to the present’s clear deviations from the Secret Invasion comedian, but in addition about precise new plot twists it introduced, which ranged from predictable to nonsensical. Now that the Secret Invasion finale has aired and the mud has begun to settle, an argument could be made that it wasn’t even one of the best distillation of the concepts of its supply materials — the primary season of DC’s Peacemaker collection was. Spoilers for each Peacemaker and Secret Invasion beneath! Only look if you wish to know!
Both exhibits had wildly completely different tones — Peacemaker was violent, often-crude, and hair-metal-inspired, whereas Secret Invasion told us over and over again that it was a “grounded, gritty spy thriller” — however their premises did overlap barely. Peacemaker follows Christopher Smith / Peacemaker (John Cena) by some means surviving the violent battle of The Suicide Squad, and returning house to be greeted with one closing probability at freedom. Reluctantly becoming a member of forces with a new squad — which accommodates a revamped tackle Adrian Chase / Vigilante (Freddie Stroma) and a mixture of obscure Task Force X workers and entirely-new characters — Peacemaker carries out a collection of missions, which he quickly learns are a part of a large alien conspiracy of parasitic “Butterflies” which have taken over an ever-growing variety of human hosts. Secret Invasion, in the meantime, sees Fury return to Earth years after the cataclysm of Avengers: Endgame, crossing paths with a mixture of supporting MCU characters and entirely-new characters. Fury quickly discovers that a million of the shape-shifting Skrulls he got down to assist a long time prior in Captain Marvel have change into hidden amongst people, and that a terrorist faction of them led by Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) have begun to reap DNA to show into Super Skrulls and take over Earth for themselves.
The Scale
Let’s begin with the alien antagonists of each collection, and the methods every present determined to weave their menace into the fold. Across Secret Invasion, a lot of Skrull lore was introduced — some have canonically been on Earth for the a number of a long time since Captain Marvel, whereas numerous extra had slipped onto the planet undetected in the course of the five-year hole of Thanos’ blip. Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes / War Machine (Don Cheadle) has by some means been impersonated by a Gravik-supporting Skrull ever since 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, however Gravik’s plans to secretly slip Skrulls into the world’s governments had been solely kicked in movement… after Avengers: Endgame‘s occasions in late 2023. While we’re advised that Gravik has an ever-growing variety of Skrull supporters, we’re solely ever proven a small group of them — and that group needs to remake the world by way of nuclear or literal conflict, but in addition get revenge on Fury in a very private approach.
Sure, we do not all the time see the complete scope of Peacemaker‘s Butterflies both, however what we see is efficient, whether or not by way of Peacemaker unintentionally seducing and killing a lady possessed by one within the first episode, or by way of the ghastly scene of the native police division getting taken over in one of many present’s final episodes. We additionally by no means definitively find out how lengthy the Butterflies have been on Earth — simply that a lot of individuals have already been taken over by them, and all of humankind could possibly be at risk of being taken over by them subsequent. Neither precisely seize the years-long arrange that the Secret Invasion comedian had, each by way of intentional new plotlines and retconning different Skrull-related tales from years previous. But it may be argued that Peacemaker higher captured the unsettling and overwhelming nature of that sort of alien invasion.
The Aliens
It additionally helped that, regardless of its larger-than-life antics, Peacemaker devoted a stunning quantity of display screen time to sympathizing for the Butterflies. Early on within the season, Peacemaker worries in regards to the ethics of killing a Butterfly-possessed baby. Even the Butterfly chief’s closing scene casts their whole operation in a extra altruistic mild, revealing that the aliens truly arrived from their very own uninhabitable planet, and needed to take over people with a view to cease Earth’s personal impending extinction. The pinnacle of this earnestness occurred halfway by way of Peacemaker‘s season, when workforce member Clemson Murn (Chukwudi Iwuji) is revealed to have been a Butterfly the whole time. By that time, Murn’s fellow teammates and the whole viewing viewers have change into endeared to this model of him, which solely makes his dying instantly after sting much more.
Secret Invasion had its personal model of that with Fury’s Skrull spouse, Varra (Charlayne Woodard), who delivers a highly effective monologue halfway by way of the season about assembly and making guarantees to her terminally-ill human alias, Priscilla. But that tact is juxtaposed with an virtually disregard in different Skrull storylines — we by no means uncover the human id that Gi’ah (Emilia Clarke) continues to imagine, or how lengthy Black Panther supporting character Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) was impersonated by a now-dead Skrull, or so many logistics concerning Rhodey’s supposed years as a Skrull. Even the present’s two massive deaths, Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), are introduced as each surprising cliffhanger endings and doable fake-outs, solely to stay… and be barely mourned by different characters onscreen. Sure, the Secret Invasion supply materials had years of points and time to marinate in related feelings — nevertheless it’s weird that the ever-sprawling MCU solely barely tried to do the identical.
The Cameos
On the subject of “trying”, there’s one diversion that Secret Invasion makes from its comedian counterpart that has perplexed followers since earlier than it even premiered — the shortage of cameos from established characters. Again, the one costumed hero proven throughout the six episodes was Rhodey, which made his Skrull reveal virtually too apparent till it wasn’t. The narrative Secret Invasion makes use of to elucidate this away is each intelligent and convoluted — at first, Fury is frightened that calling the Avengers to battle Gravik and his faction would result in them being impersonated and turned in opposition to the general public. Then, we study that he is not calling the Avengers as a result of he most likely does not need them to know that he secretly stole samples of everybody’s DNA after Endgame‘s closing battle. The closest connection we get to the remainder of the MCU comes with that soup of DNA, because the finale turns Gravik and Gi’ah into Super-Skrulls with the flexibility to summon dozens of various heroes’ powers at will. For those that had been hoping that the present would thread the needle between disparate elements of the MCU, this reveal was a little disappointing, particularly when the comedian contained such a large and stunning ensemble. There’s a motive why followers spent months theorizing that Quake or Sharon Carter or Valentina Fontaine might seem on the MCU’s Secret Invasion — as a result of it might have made the universe really feel even a little bit greater.
So, how does Peacemaker justify not calling in additional outstanding DC heroes to cease the Butterflies? The mission — and even the existence of Task Force X — are too covert to even remotely share with the remainder of the world. Still, by the point we get to the season finale, we find yourself getting these cameo appearances after we least anticipated them. Team Peacemaker fights the Butterflies over their large alien “cow”, the day is saved… and the Justice League present up, together with appearances from Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and The Flash (Ezra Miller). The second not solely completely matches Peacemaker‘s tone, nevertheless it does assist make the present really feel like a a part of one thing greater, and provides an additional sense of aid to the Butterflies being defeated.
Peacemaker and Secret Invasion would possibly solely be two small elements of a bigger superhero growth. Heck, each of their tales are confirmed to proceed — Peacemaker is renewed for a sophomore season, and Secret Invasion is anticipated to tie into this fall’s The Marvels film. But with the primary seasons of each within the books, it is clear that they illustrate a number of the proper and improper methods to inform an alien invasion story amongst gods and monsters (and, in Peacemaker‘s case, pet eagles).
The first season of Peacemaker is now obtainable to stream on Max. All episodes of Secret Invasion at the moment are obtainable to stream on Disney+.
Discussion about this post