This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion episode 6.
In the Secret Invasion series finale, U.S. President Ritson makes a bold proclamation: thanks to the extremist Skrull plot to destroy humanity and take over the world, all aliens living on Earth are now considered enemy combatants.
Ritson’s declaration is alarming enough when you consider that most of the million Skrulls living on Earth aren’t actually members of Gravik’s extremist group. What happens next is pretty predictable: human vigilantes take it upon themselves to root out and execute any Skrull they find, sometimes taking out other humans in the process. The move is clearly meant to be reminiscent of real life racist policies, in which an entire group is blamed and punished for the actions of a few.
What makes Ritson’s declaration downright weird, though, is that there’s already a colony of aliens living peacefully on Earth: New Asgard. Does Ritson know about the Asgardians?
You’ll recall that in the Infinity Saga, the Asgardians move to a fishing village in Norway after Ragnarok destroys Asgard. When we catch up with them in Thor: Love and Thunder, the Asgardians have transformed their colony into a thriving tourist destination, complete with rides, live theater, guided tours, and merchandise. Everyone on Earth seems to know about the Asgardians and accept them—not to mention the various other alien species living in New Asgard.
Everyone except the characters in Secret Invasion, that is.
New Asgard has become a bigger and bigger plot hole as Secret Invasion has progressed, with the show’s constant rhetoric about humans being incapable of sharing the planet with another species. Now, with Ritson declaring war on all aliens, it’s just a bizarre omission. You could argue that Ritson is including New Asgard in his declaration, but why would he want to make an enemy out of space vikings if he didn’t have to? Wouldn’t another character at least mention the Asgardians? Honestly, it feels like the Secret Invasion writers just didn’t feel like addressing it.
Or, even worse—it feels like the writers literally don’t know about New Asgard, even though it was established as canon in other Marvel projects. I’m reminded, here, of the Scarlet Witch’s story arc in phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Wanda essentially goes through the same story arc twice in a row, and Elizabeth Olsen eventually told the media that the filmmakers of WandaVision and Doctor Strange 2 hadn’t consulted with each other when working on Wanda’s character.
Secret Invasion is a disappointment in a lot of ways, and while a detail from another Marvel movie might seem minor, it’s the kind of world building that would have made the series much stronger. Marvel fans go into each MCU project hoping to see the world developed and enriched a little bit more, and it’s a big letdown to come away feeling like we’re more invested in the Marvel universe than the people at its helm.
(featured image: Disney+)
