15 Facts About Marvel’s First SECRET INVASION Trailer You May Have Missed

15 Cool Things You May Have Missed in the “MARVEL’S SECRET INVASION” Trailer

Marvel Studios has released a new trailer for the upcoming miniseries Marvel’s Secret Invasion on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball. The Samuel L. Jackson series premieres June 21 on Disney+. Check out the previews in the videos posted below.

SDCC Comic Con Secret Invasion Trailer

Here’s an new trailer Marvel posted

Marvel’s Secret Invasion Trailer #1

I’m going to do a breakdown of both trailers to show you some things you may have missed.

What is Secret Invasion?

You might be asking is Secret Invasion based on a comic? As with many things in the Marvel Cinematic Universe it is.

Secret Invasion is based on an eight-issue comic limited series  published by Marvel Comics in 2008. It’s about the alien Skrull invasion of Earth. But humanity isn’t even aware of the invasion until it’s too late. The Skrull have spent years kidnapping and replacing powerful heroes and politicians. They paved the way for a global takeover. Marvel’s promotional tagline for the event was “Who do you trust?”. The Skrull home world was devoured by Galactus. They see Earth as religiously and rightfully their new home. 

When this conquest finally occurs, Earth’s heroes aren’t -prepared for battle. The super spy agency S.H.I.E.L.D. is defeated. The Avengers try to figure out who among them is human and who is a Skrull imposter.

Finally, the Avengers (and even a few villains) are able to repel the invasion. The ramifications of the events in Secret Invasion changed the course of the Marvel Universe for years to come.

1. Nick Fury Has Been Avoiding Earth

Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury. He’s the one-eyed leader of the secret government agency S.H.I.E.L.D. Fury first appeared during the post-credits scene of the first Iron Man film. 

Since then he has appeared in many MCU films. Most recently as Fury in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Avengers: Endgame, and the prequel film Captain Marvel. He also returned to play his character in two episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In the limited comic series, Nick Fury is the only one who sees the threat coming. The storyline began back in 2004’s Secret War (not to be confused with the 1984 crossover Secret Wars). In the 2004 story, Fury recruits a group of heroes for a secret and totally unauthorized mission in Latvia. When Fury’s actions are exposed, he loses control of S.H.I.E.L.D. and hides. This paves the way for Iron Man to become the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. before the 2006 Civil War comic crossover.

Obviously, most of the events of the comic are not coming to the MCU. But like the comic Nick Fury is no longer the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. It was disbanded after the events of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Fury faked his death. The last time we saw the former director was in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Four Rings. Talos has taken Director Fury’s place on Earth while Fury is relaxing on a ship in  deep space. He went with the Skrulls to find a new home planet.

The opening of the trailer shows him arriving in some kind of transport to Earth. 

2. Fury Is Missing His Eye Patch

The character of Nick Fury is best known for his eye patch. Fury has had one on his left eye since the very first film. 

The movie Captain Marvel established that his face was clawed by a Flerken. Those are alien creatures that look and act a lot like Earth cats. 

In this series, the eye is no longer covered. Jackson revealed that it’s a character choice. “He just doesn’t wear the patch. The patch is part of who the strong Nick Fury was,” Jackson says. “It’s part of his vulnerability now. You can look at it and see he’s not this perfectly indestructible person. He doesn’t feel like that guy.”

3. Maria Hill is Back

Colbie Smulders returns to play former high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D. member Maria Hill. She first appeared in The Avengers before returning in many more films. Hill also guest-starred in three episodes of the ABC show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She was one of the victims of the Blip and returned in 2023.

The last time we saw the character it was revealed to be the Skrull Soren impersonating her in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

We don’t know how much Maria Hill is in the new series but it’s going to be more than a minor character. She told TV Line “it’s the most depth” she’s been able to show of Maria Hill.  “That’s the beauty of these series that Marvel is doing, you’re able to really get backstory of these characters,” she added. “What are the conversations that happen when they’re just sitting around drinking coffee? It’s not like, ‘We’ve gotta get the bad guys! We’ve gotta get the thing! We’ve gotta save the world again!’ It’s like, ‘Let’s just have a chat, let’s go for a walk.’ We get to see those kinds of moments and be a bit more intimate with the characters.”

She appears in the new trailer but the SDCC trailer gives her more lines. “For years, you’ve been avoiding Earth,” Hill tells Fury as they drink in a Russian bar. “I have called for your help plenty of other times and you’ve been pretty content to let those calls go straight to voicemail.” 

“Yeah, well, this is different,” Fury says.

4. Ross is on the Run

Former CIA agent and a former Deputy Task Force Commander for the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre Everett Ross is returning. Martin Freeman has been playing the character since Captain America: Civil War.

The last we saw him he was arrested for treason by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. He was freed from custody by Okoye. 

The trailer shows him hiding from someone in an alley. Is he running from the FBI or the Skrulls? We don’t know. But we do know another person who’s back.

5. A Howling Commando Relative

The Crown’s Olivia Colman plays MI6 agent Sonya Falsworth. She’s described as an old ally of Fury’. Falsworth is trying to protect England’s national security interests during the infiltration.

Secret Invasion executive producer Jonathan Schwartz says she’s “a more antagonistic presence” in the series. So she could be working with or against the former S.H.I.E.L.D. leader depending on their objectives.

Marvel revealed that Olivia Colman is playing a descendant of one of the “Howling Commandos” from Captain America: The First Avenger. One of the original members of Cap’s team was James Montgomery Falsworth. 

We don’t know exactly how they’re related but clearly, she’s following in his footsteps.

“You’re in no shape for this fight that lies before us”, She tells the 74 year old actor. “This is just the beginning.” She knows a lot about the upcoming war.

6. Talos is Fighting Back

Nick Fury first became an ally of the Skrulls in the prequel film Captain Marvel. He and the alien leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) fought side by side. In that story, the Skrulls were not a threat but innocent victims of a galactic war in need of help. But decades have passed since then. “He told the Skrulls they were trying to find them a place to live,” Jackson says. “He promised them they were going to find them a planet or somewhere they could be. And that’s not going so well”

Now a group of Skrull extremists has formed . They’re tired of asking and waiting. The covert takeover in Secret Invasion is their solution. Gravik (played by Peaky Blinders star Kingsley Ben-Adir) is the leader of the resistance that radicalized them. He breaks away from the faction led by Talos to seize the resources they need – first quietly, in disguise, then by force if necessary.

The plot mirrors countless true stories set in real history, in which groups of displaced people first broke apart and then attacked when patience and diplomacy ran out.

“I think any time that you get cultures that have significant tensions between groups of people, then you can find a corollary,” says Mendelsohn. “The Cold War stuff is the big one that jumps out, but there is plenty of strife between groups of people that this addresses.”

Talos tells Fury, “We’ve got to be very careful now.”

In the new trailer he says “Since you’ve been gone…Things have gotten much worse.” Fury says, “Why do you think I came back?”

7. The Skrull Rebellion Has Begun

An explosion rocks a Russian square. It’s triggered by Gravik.

Apparently, the Skrulls have their men in position and don’t need to hide anymore. They start an all-out war with humanity for control of the planet.

8. The Skrull Rebel Leader is in Control

Talos talks to Gravik and grabs him. As he does it’s revealed that everyone in the room is a Skrull. They show this by changing to look like a room full of Kingsley Ben-Adirs.

Talos is shocked by the reach and power of the rebellion in his group.

9. Nick Fury’s Headstone

Since Captain America: The Winter Soldier Nick Fury has been presumed dead. In the new trailer and the former director’s headstone has changed.

In Winter Soldier Fury’s headstone has the epitaph “The path of the righteous man: Ezekiel 25:17”. This is an intentional reference to Samuel L Jackson’s character in Pulp Fiction. Jules Winnfield’s most famous quote in the movie begins this way.

Now the headstone is a biblical quote “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. 

Why the headstone changed is a mystery. Hopefully, it will be explained in Secret Invasion.

10. Talos’ Daughter

A person is walking into a room full of glowing beds. covered in plastic.

Who is this woman? She was a mystery but not anymore.

The conflict is not only geopolitical but also personal. This is a radical Skrull, played by Game of Thrones actor Emilia Clarke named G’iah (pronounced “Guy-ah”). She has issues with Talos that run much deeper than most. This is the actress’ first appearance in a Marvel Studios project. But her character has already appeared. Samuel L. Jackson points out a scene from 2019’s Captain Marvel. On a space station orbiting Earth Fury witnesses a reunion between Mendelsohn’s Talos and his long-lost Skrull family. “Remember when Ben was there with his wife and daughter?” Jackson says. “She’s the little Skrull girl grown up. She’s his daughter.”

Growing up in the midst of constant warfare makes it difficult to stop fighting. Living in the shadow of a powerful parent makes the situation worse, especially when it’s a leader who thinks they’ve failed. With G’iah, resistance was almost inevitable.

“It’s hardened her, for sure. There’s a kind of punk feeling that you get from this girl,” Clarke says. “She’s a refugee kid who’s had Talos for a dad, you know what I mean? Maybe the fact that we didn’t know he had a kid up until this point tells you everything you need to know about their relationship.”

G’iah is done with humans and with Nick Fury. “These people promised a lot of stuff a long time ago, and not a lot has happened. So understandably, a certain amount of resentment has been built,” Clarke says. “There’s a lot of emotions that live within her, and there’s a lot of confrontational aspects to her character that have come from circumstance. You understand why she has the feelings that she does.”

“It’s somebody that you’ve never seen her play before,” Jackson says. “She’s cold-blooded and just relishes being that person.”

In the trailer, she tells him “You don’t know what they have planned for you.”

What about the beds?

In the SDCC trailer we see Coleman in the room with her gun drawn. This is clearly part of some Skrull experiment. But what? We’ll talk about this later on.

11. No Avengers

An agent asks, “Where are the Avengers?”

Nick Fury says, “This war is one I have to fight. Alone.”

A French newspaper is shown talking about the Avengers Battle for New York against the reptilian alien Chitauri.

Since the end of Avengers: Endgame most of the Avengers team members are gone. Iron Man and Black Widow are dead. Captain America is retired as an old man and Hawkeye is semi-retired.  While there have been hints of a new Avengers team they’re not together yet. Fury is alone and fighting without superheroes.

12. Fury Trusts War Machine

Secret Invasion will bring back James Rhodes to the MCU. He’s been played by actor Don Cheadle since Iron Man 2. In the comics, the Skrulls attack Tony Stark with an alien virus that incapacitates him and his armor. So his friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes dons the War Machine armor to take his place. He has a large role in the crossover but we don’t know what part he plays in the show. IMDb says he’s only in one episode. That may or may not be true. But we know he’ll be different.

Samuel L. Jackson explained how Secret Invasion will show War Machine in an interview with Vanity Fair. “He’s a different kind of Rhodey: a political animal and not, you know, a guy in special suits,” he explained. “He’s the President’s right-hand man in that regard. So he’s a guy who makes a lot of decisions, some good, some bad.” President Ritson will be played by Dermot Mulroney in the series. Harrison Ford will play his successor Thaddeus Ross the former Secretary of State in Captain America: The New World Order and Thunderbolts.

Rhodey tells Nick Fury “You’re the most wanted man on the planet.” Why would the world be looking for Fury?

Fury trusts Rhodey. But he believes the Skrulls have embedded themselves in the highest levels of government. In the SDCC trailer Nick Fury asks Rhodes “How much do you know about your security detail?”

“What do you mean, how much do I know about them?” Rhodes asks suspiciously.

13. Damage Control is Researching Superpowered Individuals

In one scene we see a group of agents from the Department of Damage Control opening a box marked “Specimen Sample: Cull…”.

The organization is based on a comic book group. In the comics Damage Control is a construction company that specializes in repairing property damage caused by conflicts between superheroes and supervillains. In the MCU Damage Control is a government agency. It’s known as D.O.D.C or “Damage Control”. It’s n charge of law enforcement tasks related to enhanced people. They’re also known for seizing dangerous items and alien artifacts.

The team works with S.H.I.E.L.D. to clean up after the fight between Iron Man and Iron Monger. They’re shown on the highway and at Stark Industries Headquarters in Los Angeles.

They’re first named in Spider-Man: Homecoming. With help from Stark Industries they’re cleaning up after the Battle of New York and recovering all the alien weapons left behind. This sinks Adrian Toomes construction company and drives him into a life of crime as the Vulture.

Starting in Spider-Man: No Way Home they take on a more aggressive tone. Now that they’re a separate part of the executive branch of government they arrest Peter Parker. In She-Hulk: Attorney at Law the DODC returns to try and arrest Jennifer Walters.

The group plays a large part in the limited series Ms. Marvel. Damage Control investigates and tries to arrest her and several other enhanced individuals.

Despite the backlash to the very public spectacle Damage Control is still in action. 

The label on the case may be related to the super-strong alien known as Cull Obsidian. First seen in Avenger: Infinity War he was one of Thanos’ adopted children and a member of the Black Order. 

Why would Damage Control be securing a sample of Cull Obsidian. This is related to one of the biggest reveals in the trailer. More on that later, but here’s someone you couldn’t possibly have known about.

14. Fury’s Wife’s Got a Gun

We get a brief shot of G’iah fighting with her back to someone. We don’t see the face but the hair is Priscilla Fury’s.

In one moment in the SDCC trailer, we see Nick Fury’s wife Priscilla Fury opening a safe deposit box and removing a gun. Priscilla is being played by Unbreakable actor Charlayne Woodard.

The idea that the former S.H.I.E.L.D. leader even has a wife is surprising to most. The only hint we had that he was married is in In 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Fury tells Steve Rogers that he’s been kicked out of the house by his wife. Of course, he was talking in code so he might not have meant it. 

Either way, it’s another example of how secretive he is with his personal life.

Fury’s wife is a woman of action. Some have speculated that she’s a former agent herself. We’ll have to wait to find out.

15. Super-Skrulls

In the comics, one of the Skrull’s greatest warriors is “Super-Skrull”.

Super-Skrull (Kl’rt) is a frequent enemy of the Fantastic Four. He was able to manifest the combined power of all four heroes.  Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Fantastic Four #18 (1963). Over the years he was portrayed as both a supervillain and an antihero.

In Secret Invasion they established that there was an army of Skrulls, known collectively as Super-Skrulls. They had developed the technology to mimic superpowers.

In the new trailer, we see a Skrull who looks very different. Besides the green skin, he has a mottled blue appearance. In a scene a little later we see Gravik (or one who looks like him) extending his arm.

The rebels have been up to something to enhance their powers. That may be the reason we see glowing beds earlier. It also could explain the specimen of Cull Obsidian.

It means either Damage Control is infiltrated by the Skrulls or is working with them.

Clearly the rebels have been up to something to enhance they’re powers. That may be reason we see glowing beds earlier. It also could explain the specimen of Cull Obsidian.

It means either Damage Control is infiltrated by the Skrulls or are working with them.

The trailer is a great tease and we’ll have to tune in to Disney+ on June 21, 2023 to find out more.

What do you think of the Secret Invasion trailers? Did you notice something we missed?