Where Are All Of Earth's Superheroes During Marvel's Secret Invasion?

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

"Secret Invasion" feels like a breath of fresh air for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It takes a genre that was already exquisitely explored in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" and brings it to an even more grounded level, playing up the paranoia found in spy thrillers with a story where it is legitimately hard to know who you can trust. 

Inspired by the comics storyline of the same name, "Secret Invasion" finds Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) at his most tired, vulnerable and alone as he tries to stop a renegade Skrull group from conquering Earth. This is a cool, tense thriller with a phenomenal cast that also includes Olivia Colman chewing every scene she's in, and Kingsley Ben-Adir as one of the MCU's most complex villains to date.

This is a very grounded story for the MCU despite the plot involving a plan that threatens the entire planet. Like most MCU titles after the first "Avengers," however, it's hard not to ask yourself, where the hell are the Earth's mightiest heroes when their planet needs them? Sure, some of them are dead, but what about the rest? If you wondered this while watching the premiere episode of "Secret Invasion," you are not alone. And while the episode evades answers, we have hints as to where the main heroes are at this point in time, as well as plenty of wacky theories. So hold on to your butts and let's ponder the question: Why did everyone abandon Nick Fury?

During the Skrull Council meeting, one of them asks, "What if the Avengers come back?" We know Rhodey (Don Cheadle) is working for the president, so even if he doesn't help, it's likely he'll continue to be involved. But where are the others?

"Secret Invasion" takes place after "Avengers: Endgame." The Avengers are still in a place of limbo — they technically disbanded after "Endgame" when both Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) and Natasha (Scarlett Johansson) died, and Steve (Chris Evans) disappeared into the past. 

So who does that leave us with? Of the official, founding members of the team, we know Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is quasi-retired and spending time with his family while reluctantly training a new Hawkeye (Hailee Steinfeld). Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) was off on Sakaar for a while during the events of "She-Hulk," only reappearing at the end of that show alongside his son Skaar, so he probably has a lot on his mind right now. Then there's Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who also has entered fatherhood following the events of "Thor: Love & Thunder," and is off having adventures in space.

But where are the rest, like Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) and Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie)? Couldn't Fury call Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch)? Those are all good ideas, but there's one problem: Does Nick Fury even know these guys? As far as we've seen, they've never interacted, though they were all at Tony's funeral. But even if they are acquainted, it's likely Fury doesn't trust them, and because those three just had big-budget movies, the in-universe rules of the MCU dictate they can't appear in anything for a while. If you save the world, you get a holiday, especially Strange, who was involved in three back-to-back-to-back multiversal threats — which Fury probably isn't too happy about.

Let's go back to the surviving heroes Fury knows about: Captain Marvel (Brie Larsen), Thor, Hulk, and Hawkeye. Other than Danvers, who is in space, the rest still (presumably) live on Earth and should care about the fate of the planet, but would they care about helping Nick Fury specifically? Hawkeye worked with him the longest but even then he seems to be in it mostly for Natasha. Now that she's gone, he has no reason to answer Nick's calls. It is entirely possible they are pulling a Peter Parker and just ghosting good old Nick.

Speaking of Spider-Man, he did help Maria Hill and Talos (disguised as Fury), but he is in a nebulous zone where we don't know who remembers him and who doesn't, so it might be that Talos doesn't even remember him or wants to get into that mess with J. Jonah Jameson.

Of course, there is a simpler explanation — Fury doesn't trust any of them to not be Skrulls. When was the last time he saw one of the heroes — Tony's funeral? That's plenty of time for them to be replaced, and for someone as paranoid as Nick Fury, that's enough time to not want to risk tipping off the enemy. Still, this is an MCU title, so we're bound to have some sort of superhero cameo here other than just Rhodey. My money is on someone unexpected who would really grind Nick Fury's gears, meaning it has to be a jokester or a young person. One of the Netflix heroes like Daredevil (Charlie Cox)? Or what about Kate Bishop or Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani)? Sure, the latter seems to be in space having swapped places with Captain Marvel, but wouldn't Kamala and Nick Fury make for a hilarious buddy-cop duo?