Since the premise of Disney+’s Secret Invasion was announced, fans on social media have been raising concerns about antisemitic themes in the series. The original Secret Invasion comics, written by Jewish writer Brian Michael Bendis, saw Skrulls taking the place of beloved Marvel characters. In the screen adaptation, Skrulls have used their shapeshifting powers to infiltrate the Earth’s major governments, manipulating world events in service of a secret, sinister agenda with uncomfortable similarities to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
Watching the first three episodes, I was able to look past the antisemitic parallels. What if, I wondered, the show feels antisemitic because historically, antisemites have slotted Jews into existing conspiracy theories? With antisemitism so foundational to Western culture, is there any way to tell a story like Secret Invasion without accidentally brushing up against antisemitic themes? It was hard to say.
That is, until Talos described the Skrulls as “a people without a planet.”
To recap: In episode 4, while talking with G’iah, Talos says that his plan for securing a permanent home for the Skrulls is to bargain with Earth’s leaders. “We’re a people without a planet,” he says. “We depend on the goodwill of our hosts.” Overall, the conversation is actually a pretty compelling look at the shortfalls of trying to be a model minority. G’iah is right to call Talos delusional. If your people are feared and hated, then simply being nice to those in power isn’t going to fix that. (Of course, one major plot hole in Secret Invasion is that there’s no reason to think that the Skrulls would have been hated and feared if they’d revealed themselves sooner, but that’s another matter.)
But that line. I should note here that Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Talos, has Jewish ancestry, but I can’t be the only viewer whose jaw dropped at “a people without a planet.”
You see, back in the 19th century, the phrase “A land without a people for a people without a land” was coined by Christian restorationists (an early form of modern day Christian Zionists) to support the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Clergyman Alexander Keith first used an early version of the phrase in 1843, and the phrase eventually became a slogan for the Jewish Zionist movement.
The problem with the slogan, of course, is that Palestine was not “a land without a people,” and the Zionist movement led to the Nakba, the violent expulsion of Palestinians from their ancestral homes. The parallel in Secret Invasion raises some really uncomfortable questions about Marvel’s portrayal of the Skrulls. Are the Skrulls meant to be Zionists in this equation? Are they Jews? Because, the thing is, the Skrulls also happen to be a shadowy cabal that’s trying to exterminate the human race and take over the world. Antisemites already inflate legitimate criticism of Israel into wild-eyed conspiracy theories about global Jewish domination, and it pains me to see that dynamic playing out in Secret Invasion.
Secret Invasion‘s proximity to antisemitism was already a little too close for comfort, but if the series simply hadn’t included that one line, they might have scraped by without getting into truly alarming territory. Now, though, as a Jewish Marvel fan, I feel a little less comfortable living in my own skin.
(featured image: Disney+)
