Secret Invasion's Most Shocking Moment (So Far) Raises The Stakes For The MCU

This post contains major spoilers for "Secret Invasion" episode 1.

She tried to warn him. In the first episode of "Secret Invasion," there's a scene where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) sits across from Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) at a tavern chessboard. "Traditionally, we tell the truth in our chess games," Hill says, forcing Fury to admit that he had a crisis of faith that followed him up to the S.A.B.E.R. Space Station even after he abandoned Earth. Worried about his indecisiveness in both their game and the shapeshifting Skrull conspiracy that's unfolding, Hill laments, "The Fury I knew was always three steps ahead." She then warns him, "You're not ready for this, Fury. There's a very real threat out there. You were never the same after the Blip."

"Check your footing," she adds. "Otherwise, someone's gonna get hurt." About eight streaming minutes later, someone does get hurt: Hill herself. Again, she tried to warn him. To Hill and other "Secret Invasion" characters, like Fury's old MI6 contact Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman), Fury is a shadow of his former self. It leaves him ill-prepared to deal with the rogue Skrull, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), as he carries out a terrorist bombing in Russia, then takes Fury's appearance just long enough to get the drop on Hill, shooting her and leaving her dead in Fury's arms.

It's a sad end for the character, who Smulders played for over a decade since she entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe back in "The Avengers" in 2012. But while she was a steady fixture of the MCU — Smulders was part of six movies and three TV series — Hill died as she lived, playing second fiddle to Nick Fury.

At the time of "The Avengers," Cobie Smulders was still in the midst of her nine-year sitcom run on CBS's "How I Met Your Mother." As Maria Hill, she immediately took the baton from Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg), becoming Nick Fury's new second-in-command. Coulson helped Fury round up the Avengers in Phase One of the MCU, and his death at the hands of Loki (Tom Hiddleston) united the team before "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." resurrected him on TV.

Despite the comics version of Hill holding Fury's job and being a fierce presence in her own right, the MCU version never really rose above the level of Fury's lieutenant. As the Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., she was his right-hand woman. Even after S.H.I.E.L.D. fell apart, Hill and Fury continued to work together — they even turned to dust together at the end of "Avengers: Infinity War."

But now she's gone ahead of him into the great beyond. Seeing her fridged in "Secret Invasion" to move Fury's story forward and motivate him, like with Coulson and the Avengers, might rub some fans the wrong way. It appears Marvel Studios is willing to die on that hill — by killing off Maria Hill.

If nothing else, Hill's death does raise the personal stakes for Fury in "Secret Invasion." And though her live-action self may have never eclipsed Fury, at least "What If...?" gave us an episode where an animated Hill variant (voiced by Smulders) did take over from Fury as the Acting Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Maybe we'll see an episode next season like, "What If... Maria Hill Survived to Become Queen of the MCU?"

"Secret Invasion" episode 1 is streaming on Disney+.