The first series of Phase 5 of the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe, Secret Invasion, is all set to debut on the streaming platform Disney+ Hotstar today at 12:30 pm IST. It will be the first time the recurring supporting character Nick Fury will be in the spotlight ever since the inception of the franchise in 2008. The series will be set after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home where the latest whereabouts of the character were shown in space surrounded by Skrull refugees while the Skrull general Talos posed as him on Earth in the orbital lab of Mar-Vell, the former mentor of Carol Danvers. Out of all the material supposed to release this year for streaming from the franchise, this will be the most monumental one out of the three series debuting this year, the other two being Ironheart and Echo. Why is Secret Invasion the most important one out of the lot, let's find out
THE SKRULLS
The shape-shifting extraterrestrial beings made their franchise debut in the 2019 film, Captain Marvel where their history was the Kree empire was explained, and how they looked for peace in a new homeland, resulting in a good alliance with both Nick Fury and Carol Danvers. That film explored just the good side of the Skrulls but here the plot enters on the pack infiltrating the planet Earth which was evident with Talos posing as Fury. There are many unanswered questions that are to be explored in the series about them as their political situation has changed drastically over the last 30 years. Another question their abilities and the post-credit scene of Far From Home raises about how many characters are actually Skrulls posing as them and the series promises to answer them.
CLOSER LOOK AT NICK FURY
The character has been a major supporting guy for the heroes ever since the franchise started but with his presumed death in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, he made very brief appearances in all the following Avengers movies and Spider-Man: Far From Home where Talos was posing as him for the entire film except the reveal that Nick is residing in space. Despite being the supporting character with the most amount of appearances in films, his past and personal life has been largely undiscovered which will also be in the spotlight in this series alongside the mission. This will be the first Disney+ series since Hawkeye not centering around a brand-new character thus giving the fans and viewers some incentive to know more about a character not explored on a deeper level.
TIES WITH FUTURE MCU MOVIES
With the other two shows being spinoffs for already existing characters that were introduced quite recently, this series focuses on characters that have been in the game for a very long time who will have ties with many future MCU projects coming, such as The Marvels, Armor Wars and the arrival of the X-Men in the universe. The series will set up the events of The Marvels in an interesting way as the Skrulls play an important role in the life of Carol Danvers, the protagonist of that film, and also with the presence of
Abigail Brand, a mutant and an agent for SWORD, it will play a major role in the integration of mutants in the franchise before the X-Men join in the action.
Overall, Secret Invasion promises to be a game-changer for the franchise with its unique approach to the leading character and the exploration of the espionage thriller genre which has been untouched since Captain America: The Winter Soldier where the character supposedly died for the world after the disbandment of S.H.I.E.L.D. Its originality coupled with a darker tone will distinguish it from the rest of the pack