Secret Invasion's New Villain Could Be One Of The Most Complex MCU Baddies

This post contains spoilers for the first two episodes of "Secret Invasion."

"Secret Invasion" is the first series in Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which seems to be focusing on the Skrulls, an advanced alien race with shapeshifting abilities, who will serve as both antagonists and allies in the evolving story. This, of course, is not our first introduction to the reptilian-humanoid race — the Kree-Skrull war was the focal point of "Captain Marvel," which took place in the 1990s.

While the Skrulls were initially considered planet-invading antagonists, that was proven to be false halfway through the film, as they were simply refugees being targeted by the Krees, who sought to eradicate them completely. One renegade Skrull faction, led by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), found refuge in a spacecraft in Earth's orbit, and after much narrative friction, Talos was able to ally with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Carol Danvers (Brie Larson).

Since then, Talos has emerged as a dependable ally for Fury and co., and "Secret Invasion" picks this thread back up and hones in on a Skrul faction conspiracy to invade Earth and assume control over the world. Among the ranks of this renegade, pro-invasion group is G'iah (Emilia Clarke), who will stop at nothing to ensure the well-being of her people. This is not the first time we're meeting G'iah either — we met her as a young girl in "Captain Marvel," as the daughter of Talos and his wife, Soren.

Considering that Talos and G'iah stand at opposing ends of the central conflict, the latter emerges as a nuanced, complex antagonist with every reason to swing toward either side of the moral pendulum. What choice will G'iah ultimately make, and what role will she be playing in the events of the near future?

The mastermind behind the new rebel Skrull group is Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), who is certain that infiltrating Earth is the best way to restore the former glory of his race. Gravik is not just a villain for the sake of villainy — although his methods are twisted, he feels genuinely betrayed by Fury's absence over the years and his failure in upholding the promise of doing his part as their host on Earth. G'iah is loyal to Gravik's cause as they share the goal of finding a new home for their people, but she might not be fully aware of the extent to which Gravik is willing to go to achieve his ambitious goals. This is clear when G'iah stumbles upon a secret research effort spearheaded by a certain Dr. Rosa Dalton, who is helping Gravik with some illicit experiment to strengthen his cause.

G'iah's moral quandary is present from the very beginning: while she feels most at home when she welcomes new Skrull refugees into their community, she seems increasingly uncomfortable carrying out acts of terrorism to fuel worldwide tension at Gravik's behest. Talos' presence heavily complicates matters for G'iah, who suddenly learns about the death of her mother, which spurs her to silently question her actions and whether this is something she truly wants. Despite her complicated relationship with her absent father, G'iah decides to alert him about the Moscow bomb-attack plan, although Fury and the others are unable to avert the catastrophe. Around 2,000 innocent civilians die — while Gravik is remorseless, G'iah seems to be harboring some amount of guilt after the incident, which also claims Agent Maria Hill's (Cobie Smulders) life.

It remains to be seen whether G'iah will continue betraying her allies once she learns the entire truth about Gravik's operation.

Clarke deserves all the credit for the interesting complexity she brings to G'iah in the show, expressed through subtle facial expressions as opposed to grand, obvious gestures of internal turmoil. While her inner struggle is obvious to the audience, it is unclear whether it is as obvious to Gravik himself, who is ready to kill his own men to ensure the success of his grand plan. When Gravik orders one of his men to shoot a fellow Skrull, who he believes has compromised their secret base, G'iah is clearly in pain, as she does not agree with Gravik's cold, ruthless way of going about things. Now that she has stumbled upon the Dalton research, it is likely that she will seek out Talos to arrive at a temporary truce while still carrying out Gravik's bidding to evade suspicion.

If we are to glean more about G'iah as a person from the comics, she was first introduced in 2019's "Meet the Skrulls." G'iah marries fellow Skrull Klrr out of necessity to infiltrate Earth as a human, although the relationship blossoms into something more genuine later on. In their mission to topple the planet, G'iah and Klrr impersonated Pepper Potts and Tony Stark respectively, but their plan was soon exposed and Klrr was killed in the process. As "Secret Invasion" is charting G'iah's character in a completely different direction, her trajectory, at the moment, is completely uncharted territory. While there's hope that she might side with Talos and Fury later on, her brimming hatred for Fury (which is justified from her point of view) might set her on a path to destroy Earth for the sake of her people.