Marvel’s New Spy Thriller Borrows a Classic Trick from Mission: Impossible
Can anyone be trusted?
In spy thrillers, not everyone is as trustworthy as they seem, and Marvel’s Secret Invasion will push that truth to its limit. The long-awaited series will follow Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury as he works to uncover a conspiracy involving the Skrull. The shape-shifting aliens have already caused a bit of mischief in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe as the initial antagonists in Captain Marvel, and while they’ve since become valuable allies for Fury, a much more hostile sect is poised to take over the world — and Fury will need all his resources to stop them.
With Secret Invasion hitting Disney+ soon, Marvel has unveiled a new batch of character posters. The new marketing introduces us to old and new faces, but it does come with a disclaimer, at least on Twitter. The images include fake additions resembling Twitter’s new misinformation notices, which allow users to correct misleading tweets. “Not everyone is who they may seem in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion,” the notices read. “Be careful who you trust.”
With the Skrull finally taking center stage, mistrust will be a given. But Secret Invasion’s new ad campaign shows us that no one can be trusted, not even Fury himself. Anyone could be a Skrull in disguise, which adds further layers to the shifting allegiances inherent in a spy thriller.
Not unlike the MCU’s first foray into espionage, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Secret Invasion is bringing a fun genre twist to a time-worn genre. The series is shaping up to be a mash-up of pulpy sci-fi like Invasion of the Body Snatchers with the techy thrills of Mission: Impossible. The Mission: Impossible films have already taken the art of a good disguise to an uncanny level; there’s bound to be at least one use of a hyper-realistic mask, and throughout the franchise they’ve been used for countless hijinks, heists, and fake-outs. Secret Invasion will undoubtedly be going the same route to keep fans on their toes, and it could make this series the most exciting MCU project in a long time.
With Skrulls on both sides of the conflict, there’s no limit to what Secret Invasion can accomplish. We could see Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos impersonating Nick Fury again, as he did in Spider-Man: Far From Home. Olivia Colman’s MI6 agent may also be a Skrull plant, one working for antagonist Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir). And Fury will have his work cut out for him. According to the series’ new teaser, he’s already the most wanted man on the planet. Is that a result of doing things his own way, or the work of Gravik’s Skrull agents? Time will tell, but let’s hope we don’t need corkboards and red string to figure everything out.
