Marvel's 'Secret Invasion' Series Casts 'One Night In Miami' Star Kingsley Ben-Adir To Play The Main Villain

On the heels his breakout turn in One Night in Miami, Kingsley Ben-Adir has been cast in Marvel's upcoming Secret Invasion series on Disney+. He'll be joining Samuel L. Jackson, reprising his role as Nick Fury, and Ben Mendelsohn, who brings back his Skrull character Talos from Captain Marvel. 

Kingsley Ben-Adir is going from playing Malcolm X to playing a Marvel villain. The One Night in Miami star, who turned in a tremendous, stirring performance as the Civil Rights leader in Regina King's directorial debut, has been cast in the Marvel series Secret Invasion, according to Deadline.

While character details are being kept under wraps for Ben-Adir's role, sources tell both Deadline and Variety that he will be playing the main villain of the six-episode series. Who could that lead villain be? Who knows!

There is, of course, a rich Marvel rogues gallery from which Secret Invasion could pull, but the Disney+ series seemingly shakes things up a bit from the comic book storyline of the same name. The Marvel Comics' Secret Invasion was a massive crossover event that chronicled the slow invasion of shapeshifting alien Skrulls, who posed as Avengers for years, setting the stage for many twists and betrayals. It featured big-names like Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Spider-Man, Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, Guardians of the Galaxy, Deadpool, and more. Marvel's Disney+ series will be significantly smaller-scale, simply "tapping into the paranoia elements of the Secret Invasion comic series that was great with the twists and turns that that took," per Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige. That, and the twist would have to be significantly changed, as Mendelsohn's Talos and the Skrulls in Captain Marvel were revealed to be benign aliens who used their shapeshifting abilities out of desperation — and to give Fury a much-needed space vacation. Instead, the Secret Invasion series will follow "a faction of shape-shifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years."

So it's likely that Ben-Adir will play one of these Skrulls who have waging the long invasion. As for which Skrull, I'm sure that we will find that out at a later date. And while it's a shame that such an expressive and emotive actor will have to be hidden underneath layers of prosthetics, it's exciting that Ben-Adir has earned as much attention as he has, and is already set to make his blockbuster (of a sort) debut.