Secret Invasion, the Disney+ series about Nick Fury’s fight against a group of militant Skrulls trying to exterminate the human race and take over the world, brought back a popular character: Talos, played by Ben Mendelsohn. Talos is the leader of the peaceful faction of Skrulls, who have spent decades working with Nick Fury while he tried to find them a permanent home.
Or, well, Talos was the leader of the peaceful Skrulls.
At the end of Secret Invasion episode 4, Talos helps Fury thwart the villain Gravik‘s attempt to assassinate the president of the United States. However, once Gravik sees what Talos is up to, he has him shot, and then stabs him for good measure. At the end of the episode, we see Talos’ body in Skrull form, instead of his human form—usually a sign that a Skrull is dead.
But Talos’ death comes on the heels of a huge fake-out. At the end of episode 3, Talos’ daughter G’iah seems to die of a gunshot wound to the chest. At the beginning of episode 4, though, she wakes up, revealing that she’s transformed herself into a super Skrull.
So is Talos really dead? Or will he miraculously come back to life, like G’iah?
Is Talos Dead?
Unfortunately, it looks like Talos isn’t just kind of dead—he’s very dead.
After the attack on the president, Fury returns Talos’ body to G’iah. Together with Varra, G’iah holds a cremation ceremony for her father. In a poignant moment that will ring true to many young members of diaspora cultures (see, for example, me at any Jewish life cycle event), G’iah admits that she doesn’t know the prayer. Varra says the prayer for her, and G’iah says goodbye to her father.
Of course, Talos’s death is a complicated event for G’iah. On top of the grief she’s feeling at the loss of her father—which, after her mother’s recent death, makes her an orphan—there’s the fact that G’iah turned her back on Talos when she didn’t think his strategy was realistic. In episode 3, G’iah goes so far as to call Talos delusional when he tells her that the Skrulls can earn a permanent home on Earth simply by showing that they’re good people.
This being Marvel, there’s always the chance that Talos could return. However, for now, it looks like he’s gone for good.
(featured image: Disney+)
