If you’ve been following my coverage of Marvel’s Secret Invasion on Disney+, you know that I’m getting more and more frustrated with the lack of team-ups in Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Why is Nick Fury trying to take on an entire Skrull rebel group on his own? Why does he offer such a flimsy excuse for not assembling a new Avengers team, claiming that they’ll just get replicated by Skrulls? If the future of humanity is at stake, why aren’t more superheroes getting involved?
In episode 3, which is now streaming, we get one tiny hint that maybe Marvel knows what it’s doing after all. Maybe we really will get some guest appearances by other beloved Marvel characters, or at least a set-up for a bigger MCU story arc.
Gravik is anticipating some superhero brawls
In episode 2, we found out that Gravik, the leader of the Skrull rebellion trying to take over Earth, has been building a machine to produce genetically modified super Skrulls. In episode 3, he confirms these plans, telling the other Skrulls that when the war begins, “the heroes of Earth will react,” and the only way to fight them off is for the Skrulls to “become super” themselves. Gravik hints that the new super Skrulls will have a variety of powers.
Later in the episode, we find out that Gravik has apparently already used the machine on himself. Talos stabs his hand with a knife, and as Talos walks away, Gravik’s hand glows and knits itself back together, in what looks like a callback to the Extremis power in Iron Man 3. It seems that conventional weapons won’t have much effect on the super Skrulls.
By the end of episode 3, we don’t see any hint that the Avengers are coming, since Talos and Fury stop the nuclear attack that would have been the first strike the Skrulls’ apocalyptic war. However, Gravik’s glowing hand indicates that the super Skrulls have already arrived.
And who’s going to stop them? It’s possible that, for one reason or another, Gravik will turn out to be the only modified Skrull, which makes it feasible that Fury could take him out. However, if Fury finds himself trying to prevent a nuclear war and fight an army of super-powered genocidal aliens at the same time, he may finally put out a call for help. And with all the new characters introduced in Phase 4, he’ll have his pick of young and eager superheroes to choose from.
(featured image: Disney+)
