The invasion is upon us, but before you start Marvel’s latest Disney+ series “Secret Invasion,” there’s a few things you need to know — or really, watch.
“Secret Invasion,” begins streaming on Disney+ on June 21. It reunites fans with Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury (the real one this time) as he returns to Earth to face a Skrull invasion. Yes, the last time we met the Skrulls, they were being persecuted, but this time, things are different.
Now, after years of being promised a new home, some have become disillusioned, angry and even combatant. But, we aren’t getting into spoilers here. For now, we’re just going to tell you what past Marvel projects you need to watch to at least have a foundation for this series.
“Captain Marvel” (2019)
Like we mentioned above, we’ve met the Skrulls before. They first showed up in 2019’s “Captain Marvel.”
Originally, they’re presented as an alien race hoping to infiltrate and take over every planet they possibly can. But, as Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) and a young Nick Fury (Jackson, de-aged thanks to modern day technology) find out, that’s not actually the truth. In reality, the Skrulls refused to submit to Kree rule, and as such, became refugees scattered across the galaxy.
“Captain Marvel” is where we meet Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) for the first time, as he leads his people in trying to find a new home. He and Fury clash a bit, considering Talos sims Fury’s high-powered boss (and how much enjoyment Fury takes in freaking Talos out with Goose the cat flerken, in retaliation).
But, by the end of the film, Talos, Fury and Captain Marvel are all close allies, and determined to work together to find the Skrulls a new home.
Of all the items on this list, “Captain Marvel” is arguably the most essential piece of pre-“Secret Invasion” viewing.
“Avengers: Infinity War” (2018)
We know, we know, it’s emotionally terrorizing to re-live the ending of “Avengers: Infinity War.” But, it’s a key component in the story of “Secret Invasion.”
That’s because, in the post-credits scene, we get the first indication that Captain Marvel is on the way, when Fury uses a device to signal her — right as he turns to dust as part of Thanos’ snap. (That device, we learn a year later, is a pager modified by Captain Marvel herself, to be used only in an emergency). Yes, sadly, both Fury and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) are among the victims of the blip.
This is important to remember because throughout “Secret Invasion,” Fury is warned multiple times that he hasn’t been the same since the blip. Though, in fairness, being the man who effectively commands Earth’s mightiest heroes for years, only to be absolutely helpless against a magical gauntlet is…traumatizing.
“Spider-Man: Far From Home” (2019)
Though Fury does eventually return from getting blipped, we learn in “Spider-Man: Far From Home” that he apparently didn’t get right back into the swing of his job. In fact, he took a new one entirely.
Though it seems Fury and Hill are helping Peter Parker throughout the entirety of the film, we learn in the post-credits scene that, in reality, Peter was being helped by Talos and his wife. The couple have been simming Hill and Fury, though for how long remains unclear. In the final moments of the post-credits sequence, Talos calls Fury to fill him in on what’s been happening, which reveals that the real Fury has been up in space.
What exactly he’s been doing up there does get confirmed in the first two episodes of “Secret Invasion,” but we won’t spoil it here. What’s important is that this is the second — and only other time — we’ve seen Skrulls in the MCU, up to this point.
“Secret Invasion” begins streaming on Disney+ on June 21.
