When Marvel Studios - after the sadly defunct Marvel Television - went into TV series, broadening its range of offerings, it overdid it. There were no less than eight series and miniseries (nine if we count Eu Sou Groot) that reused characters from the films and presented others still unpublished in the Marvel Cinematographic Universe, not counting two specials, all in a period of less than two years and only in Phase 4 which, in the same period of time, had seven feature films. Although the endeavor on the small screen was, for me, much more positive than negative, it was undeniably exhausting, seriously contributing to that fatigue of works of the genre that, at least in my case, remains firm and strong.
That's why, for the most diverse reasons, when the studio decided to reformulate the cadence of releases of its new series and films, spacing them in a more civilized way, my reaction was one of relief. What's more, when Secret Invasion, starring Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, long gone, became the first series (a miniseries, actually) in Phase 5 of this ever-expanding universe, I appreciated the possibility of a return even if momentary to simpler times with less flashy costumes and a little more down to earth. And, to remove that argument that asks why existing superheroes are not called upon to deal with a crisis like the one presented in Resurrection, my answer is simple: because it is not necessary, because it is already tired and because it is much more challenging. Follow the path of normal humans dealing with incredible threats rather than putting a guy in armor to deal with all the problems. And even if superheroes do end up showing up - Don Cheadle's presence in the episode is an obvious indication of this that I hope doesn't materialize as War Machine or Iron Patriot or whatever he decides to be now - I'm rooting for May the focus remain on Fury and Talos, the good Skrull embodied by Ben Mendelsohn who was introduced to us in Captain Marvel.
With that preamble done, let's go to Secret Invasion, which is an adaptation of the homonymous comic book saga written by Brian Michael Bendis and published between 2008 and 2009 by Marvel Comics and which has as its premise a "silent invasion" of the Skrulls to Earth that, transmorphs that are, have taken to kidnapping important humans, including superheroes, and replacing them, slowly taking strategic positions around the world. It was, of course, a Marvelian dressing up of similar alien invasion films from the 50s and 60s which, in turn, represented the paranoia established by the Cold War, something that the series tries to replicate by introducing the story to Russia, establishing that Rebellious Skrulls, disgusted with the alleged inaction of Fury and Talos in finding them a new home, have taken to using the abandoned nuclear power plants there as hideouts that serve as both home and headquarters for their invasion due to their physiology to be immune to radiation.
This premise - in general terms, of course - had already been used by Marvel Studios itself in Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, still one of its best films, and Secret Invasion wisely maintains the same more down-to-earth and more mature approach to the aforementioned long for everything we see in this first episode that works very well to align the story and re-establish Nick Fury as an important cog in this vast gear. It's not an extraordinary, jaw-dropping start or anything like that, but it promises not only to place Fury for the first time as an effective solo protagonist of some MCU work, something that should have happened before, by the way, but also to deliver a story of intrigue and betrayal that surrounds itself with a classic and elegant aura, without ceasing to easily merge with the macro universe in which it operates.
To do this, the script co-written by Kyle Bradstreet (the egressed showrunner of Mr. Robot) and Brian Tucker (who only has Line of Action in his resume) drinks a lot from Fury's mythology established in the MCU, notably from what we see in to the end of Infinity War, where he turns to dust, and the events of Captain Marvel, where he meets the Skrulls, especially Talos. However, Secret Invasion's Nick Fury is a profoundly changed, aged, and saddened man, something the script verbally hammers out far more times than actually necessary, with Thanos' blip contributing to his deciding to leave the planet to help build a space defense base, even though it is clear that there is more behind his abrupt decision. This undoing of the MCU badass Fury image is welcome and Jackson recreates his iconic character very well, keeping the shadow of what was in check for the person he now is, although I envision a more standard return - the "no beard, with an eye patch, leather clothing and a trebuchet" - very soon (but I hope I'm wrong).
In terms of structure, Resurrection makes good and brief uses of Martin Freeman as an infiltrated Skrull and Cheadle as an advisor to the President of the USA, in addition to the imposing presence of none other than Olivia Colman as Sonya Falsworth (character created for the series), an MI6 agent who is an old acquaintance of Fury and who seems to have somewhat opposing interests to him. This expansion of scope right at the beginning, using Everett K. Ross as a spearhead for the premise that anyone can be an alien, is important for the development of the narrative and to mark well the broad scope of the silent invasion, in addition to contributing to the reconstruction, in its own way, of the Cold War atmosphere I mentioned at the beginning. In turn, the special participation of Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill fulfills its function of being the important and necessary sacrifice to inform us that the miniseries wants to bet big, even though I have my doubts if it will really follow that path.
On the purely alien side, it's always a pleasure to see Mendelsohn acting and his partnership as Jackson promises to pay off. In turn, the villainous core is still shy, with Emilia Clarke as the treacherous G'iah, daughter of Talos, and Kingsley Ben-Adir as Gravik, leader of the invading Skrulls, not exactly managing to show what they came to beyond the basics that is expected from characters like this, something that victimized Falcon and the Winter Soldier, for example. I hope they gain plot space and complexity and that their plans for world domination aren't just what's on the surface.
Secret Invasion is off to a great start, and the return of Nick Fury is a great way to kick off the MCU's Phase 5 series. It remains to hope that what was presented at the beginning does not get lost in approaches that only try to be something more than the basics, but that, in fact, are full of easy exits and script conveniences, as it would be to bring superpowered beings to this game of espionage and infiltration. The superhero genre sometimes needs to leave its characters more colorful on the bench and go down paths with less fireworks and this miniseries is the perfect vehicle for that.
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