Disney Plus’s Marvel original series Secret Invasion, Season 1 Episode 1, called “Resurrection,” explores the story of Nick Fury working with his allies to stop renegade Skrulls from taking control over Earth by taking over positions of power in the world. The episode begins with a renegade Skrull disguised as Agent Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) meeting with former SHIELD agent, Agent Prescod (Richard Dormer), regarding the conspiracy that renegade Skrulls are trying to take over Earth and orchestrating many conflicts to do so. However, Prescod later learns that the Ross he met is a Skrull, leading to “Ross” killing Prescod, stealing Prescod’s conspiracy data, and attempting to escape. However, “Ross” was killed via an attempted rooftop jump while being pursued by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn).
The story continues with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) meeting former SHIELD Agent Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in an unknown location so she can take Fury to Talos. Talos told Fury about the renegade Skrull situation. The Skrulls were deeply unhappy that they couldn’t find a permanent home where they could be themselves and always disguise themselves as human beings. The crisis led many Skrulls, like Talos’ daughter Gi’ah (Emilia Clarke), to become renegades, and Talos was exiled and kicked off the Skrull council for failing as a leader. The situation worsened when Fury became more isolated and paranoid following the events of the Blip (Avengers bringing back those Thanos killed with the Snap). As a result, Fury “abandoned” the Skrulls and turned many into renegades scheming to take over Earth. Following Talos’ exile, the Skrull Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), who took Fury’s “abandonment” very hard, took Talos’ place and is now leading the Skrull renegades and their missions.
Following the conversation, Talos, Hill, and Fury looked through Prescod’s data which covered information that a terrorist group in Russia, the AAR (Americans Against Russia), is the next front for a Skrull terrorist attack. The Skrull renegades operated in Russia because the country has many secretly abandoned nuclear plants surrounded by radioactivity which Skrulls were immune to, unlike humans. Overall, the Skrull renegades plan to start a war between America and Russia with a dirty bomb.
In America, U.S. President Nitson (Dermot Mulroney) talks with Lieutenant Colonel James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) regarding Fury’s return to Earth following his extended stay in a space station called S.A.B.E.R. and has gone AWOL. Due to this, Nitson ordered Rhodes to deal with the situation. Back in Moscow, Fury walks in the streets and allows MI6 agents to kidnap him. The reason was that Fury wanted to meet his old ally, high-ranking MI6 Agent Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman). Falsworth started the conversation on the past Battle of London (Spiderman: Far From Home’s final battle between Spiderman and Mysterio). The conversation then turned to the Skrull renegades, with Fury asking Falsworth about a recent heist at a black market storage facility in Kazakhstan the Skrull renegades were involved with. However, Falsworth refuses to share the information with Fury, so Fury leaves; but, not before installing one of his spy devices in Falsworth’s owl statue. Fury asks Falsworth to call him once she is ready to share the information.
Later, Gi’ah takes a Skrull renegade recruit, Beto (Samuel Adewunmi), to New Skrullos, the Skrulls’ new home. In New Skrullos, the Skrull residents keep their Skrull forms while the Skrull warriors wear their human disguises, called shells, to make them more comfortable wearing them in their crusade to conquer Earth. After helping Beto settle in New Skrullos, Gi’ah witnesses the new Skrull warrior, Brogan, take a human’s identity and absorb his memories. In Fury’s hideout, Fury briefs Hill and Talos that MI6 Agent Falsworth is their enemy and opponent because they are now on a race to see who ends the Skrull renegades’ crusade to conquer Earth first, and Fury wants to end it his way. A way in which Talos’ people can still be safe from persecution by human governments following Gravik and his renegades’ defeat.
Fury’s first mission is to track Vasily Poprischchin (Uriel Emil), a Skrull in league with Gravik. Before Fury and Talos confront Poprischchin, the latter makes a deal with Gi’ah and settles it before the former two arrive. The two want answers from Poprischchin regarding the dirty bombs Gravik plans to use to start a war between America and Russia while Hill tracks Gi’ah. However, the mission fails, with Fury killing Poprischchin to save Talos. Poprischchin’s death is problematic because Fury and Talos failed to get information about the dirty bombs. Soon, Fury and Talos caught up with Hill, and Talos managed to confront Gi’ah. Talos sadly tells the news of Soren’s death, Gi’ah’s mother and Talos’ wife, to his daughter. Soren (Charlotte Baker) died in an incident involving Gravik and his cohorts. The father and daughter confrontation continues, with Talos asking Gi’ah to give him the bomb she is carrying. However, Gi’ah refuses and escapes her father with her later mourning her mother’s passing in an alley. Following the failed mission, Hill confronts Fury on his struggles following the Blip in a bar, leading the latter to be haunted by a memory of dying in the Snap.
The revelation that Gravik caused Soren’s death convinces Gi’ah to talk with her father, Talos, who wants his daughter to leave the renegades. Gi’ah responds by explaining that Gravik will set off three bombs in Moscow during Unity Day. She also warns her father that Gravik knows Talos will be at the event to stop him. With the information at hand, Fury, Hill, and Talos attempt to stop the bombing but fail, and Hill receives a gunshot wound in the ensuing chaos.
Skrull Children in New Skrullos
In Secret Invasion, Director Ali Selim and writers Kyle Bradstreet and Brian Tucker created a fascinating pilot episode in the new Marvel Cinematic Universe TV series. There was so much nuance in the conflict between Fury’s team, the human governments, and Gravik’s Skrull renegades as the Skrull renegades start a crusade to conquer Earth. The mission to conquer Earth feels like a villain’s motivation, yet the show did well in capturing how displaced the Skrulls are in New Skrullos. The film Captain Marvel introduced the Skrulls and how they were war refugees because of the Kree Empire and its attempt to dominate the Skrull race. As a result, the Skrulls had to leave their homeworld and settle on Earth, blending in as human beings. Led by Talos, the Skrulls attempted to live peaceful lives on Earth. However, the resentment and anger of being forced to deny their Skrull identities and cultures just to live on Earth led to Talos’ exile and his leadership position taken by Gravik. Gravik and the Skrull renegades’ mission is to start a war between America and Russia so the Skrulls can gradually destroy humanity, making Skrulls the sole inhabitants of Earth. With no Avengers around and the Skrulls’ roles as shapeshifters, Fury has to battle the Skrull renegades and any human governments involved to end the conflict.
Another success of the pilot episode was the inner struggle and characterization of Nick Fury. Fury was well-known as the former Director of SHIELD, who brought Earth’s mightiest heroes together to create the Avengers. However, the events of the Snap and the Blip traumatized Fury because he died in the Snap and returned during the Blip. The event frightened Fury, and it caused him to force himself to work in Earth’s space station, S.A.B.E.R., to monitor any future threats: alien and cosmic. Fury’s new attitude of being negligent in the events happening on Earth angered the Skrulls because he failed in his promise to find the Skrulls a home. Overall, the short episode makes us question if Fury can continue to be the heroic man he once was or if he will go down a dark path to save the world from conflicts beyond his control and understanding.
Rating: 9/10