Secret Invasion Has A Practical, And Cheeky, Reason For Skrulls To Remain In Human Form

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

The Skrull could be anyone. They could be the person sitting next to you on the train, a world leader, or the kid playing across the street. They could even be in your house ... or in your bed. "Captain Marvel" showed us that, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Kree are the evil alien species we're supposed to hate, and the shape-changing Skrull are the good guys. Of course, no species is a monolith. When you can appear as anyone or anything you like, someone will succumb to the temptation to use their powers for their own gain.

In Marvel's new Disney+ series "Secret Invasion," a splinter group of the Skrull is rebelling, trying to make Earth their new homeworld. They've infiltrated the highest levels of government, and there is no way to tell who is human and who is not. Spycraft is already a dangerous game, but when your enemy can shapeshift into anyone they can see — even into you — how do you fight that?

They're hiding well, and it's even stated in the first episode that the Skrull rebels in training are being asked to stay in human form because the longer they do that, the less detectable they are. It also helps them master their human form and not slip up under pressure.

While that might be the narrative reason for staying in human form, there is another, really important reason for the Skrulls to keep themselves undercover, and that reason is as green as the Skrulls. It's money, of course.

I don't want to give the production too much guff. Narratively, it's actually better not to see the Skrull form all the time. After all, they're trying to hide, and keeping the transformations minimal makes them stand out more. You want it to be a shock when they change their form, and too much of that visual takes away the thrill of it. It also means that we're likely to get more scenes in the safe house, which is important when you're trying to understand the drive behind what this group of Skrull refugees is doing.

Still, it would be nice to see a little more. For instance, there is a moment in episode 2 — out next Wednesday, June 28 on Disney — which I won't spoil when we see a Skrull hand but not the entire person. It's very obvious that it was a budgetary decision, and it pulls you right out of it. You'll know it when you see it. Whether that trend continues or we're saving most of the transformations and big extra scenes with Skrulls in Skrull form for later episodes, they're certainly keeping it to a minimum in the early episodes.

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