Secret Invasion Review: Marvel's Nick Fury Spy Thriller Hits The Ground Running

By design, it's difficult to praise a new Marvel project because you're only ever seeing part of the story. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is built in such a way that even if the third act of a film isn't as satisfying as its opening stretch, you're always teased about what's coming around the corner, what new characters or worlds may be introduced later on. It's equally as noticeable among Marvel's recent TV projects, which often boast immensely talented actors and intriguing setups (both "Moon Knight" and the first season of "Loki" fall into this camp) without fully paying off on the promise of those setups by the time the final episodes air. 

So it is with "Secret Invasion," the latest miniseries from Marvel. Over the next month and a half, this six-episode series will drop on a weekly basis, and critics have only gotten access to the first two installments. Those opening episodes are indeed encouraging, presenting a moody spy thriller with potential large-scale ramifications to the greater MCU. But without knowing where the other four episodes go, any praise feels like it needs to be heavily weighted with caution. A good start and a weak finish is close to the MCU standard.

Set primarily in the present of the MCU, "Secret Invasion" posits an even greater existential threat to the eyepatched spy Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) than what he realized was going on between SHIELD and HYDRA back in the era of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." What if there was a new infiltration of spies, and you couldn't even tell who said spies were? Though Fury has, over a quarter-century in the MCU world, helped find the vestiges of the Skrull alien race find a new planet on which to build their home, some of those Skrulls have chosen to lash out against Earth for failing to actually make good on that promise. When Fury realizes the scope of this Skrull invasion, it's up to him and his cohort Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), friendly Skrull Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), and a few scant others to stop the invasion. That, at least, is the promise of "Secret Invasion." By providing a glimpse at the rebellious Skrulls, led by Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and aided by Talos' daughter G'iah (Emilia Clarke), the show makes clear that the Skrulls are too big an enemy for Fury to take on by himself.

Where "Loki" and "WandaVision" had playfulness built into their DNA, "Secret Invasion" is a darker show, though it does allow for some glimmers of personality to burst through, often during any scenes where Jackson and Mendelsohn get to bounce off each other, or any time when the incomparable Olivia Colman (as a ruthless MI6 agent) gets to waltz on screen, chew some scenery with brio, and earn her paycheck more than once over. Kyle Bradstreet (who serves as creator on the series, basing the work on the crossover comic series from 2008) manages to gradually build out the world of the show, while at least clarifying the Skrulls' mentality even without forgiving their choice to fight back against humanity.

But again, the problem with reviewing one-third of a miniseries is that it is impossible to judge how well the entirety of "Secret Invasion" works. Certainly, these two episodes are a more encouraging setup than the start of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier," which brought together two solid actors and left them adrift in a creatively defunct enterprise. Though some of the shadowy dealings here aren't terribly compelling, lengthy scenes where Jackson can bring out a spark of chemistry with his co-stars (also including a sharpish Don Cheadle, returning as James Rhodes) are effective enough and serve as a reminder that hiring a famous actor is one thing but giving them good material to work with is even better. 

The equally encouraging sign is that each of the two episodes feels like an episode of television. (That this is an encouraging sign tells you how rough the streaming television landscape can be.) Where some of Marvel's other shows (as well as other Disney+ originals) get a multi-episode premiere in part because the truly impactful material doesn't start for more than a full installment, that much is not the case with "Secret Invasion," whose premiere hour ends with a notable twist that hopefully manages to stick in the long run. The second episode ends similarly with a moment meant to raise tension, as opposed to just concluding because there has to be a break in the story. The key question at this point is where the story will go for the next four episodes, and how much of the series will rely upon returning favorites versus new characters to be successful.

Aside from Colman, few of the newer actors — even the very familiar Clarke — make much of an impact in the opening hours. Ben-Adir, serving as the closest thing to an antagonist, has less to work with in terms of establishing his baddie's bona fides. So for now, there is only hope that we have for a satisfying payoff. "Secret Invasion" starts well enough, and mostly sidesteps the easy twist built into the concept of the shape-shifting Skrulls. (There are a couple of moments when we realize that a seemingly human character is actually a Skrull in disguise, but they're well-parceled-out for now.) The setup is solid. But the setup is almost always solid in the MCU; sticking the landing is the hard part — and something we can't get a sense of for a few more weeks.

"Secret Invasion" is streaming on Disney+ on June 21, 2023.