The next Marvel Studios series to hit Disney+ will be Secret Invasion, and with its darker themes and ground-level espionage storyline, it has the opportunity to do for the MCU what Andor did for Star Wars. Putting Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury in the spotlight for the first time, Secret Invasion revolves around the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. uncovering a dark conspiracy for a band of shapeshifting Skrulls to infiltrate Earth and assume the identities of various powerful figures around the world. The series is set to debut on June 21 and will run for six episodes. And, for once, it seems as though Marvel’s latest streaming show will be a real TV series with a serialized six-part storyline, not a two-hour feature film stretched to six episodes.
When its first season premiered, Andor was instantly hailed as one of the greatest pieces of Star Wars media ever produced. The series had no interest in evoking nostalgia with cheap fan service and gratuitous cameos; it simply set out to tell a great story about a revolutionary taking on an evil empire. A galaxy far, far away was merely the canvas that Andor used to tell its tale of the cost of rebellion. Similarly, Secret Invasion can use its comic book universe as a backdrop to a unique espionage thriller, not a crutch to pander to an existing fan base.
Secret Invasion's Creator Has An Impressive Résumé
Based on the comic book arc of the same name, Secret Invasion was created and executive-produced by Kyle Bradstreet. Much like Andor creator Tony Gilroy, Bradstreet has an impressive résumé that sets him up to bring something new to his chosen franchise. Gilroy’s work on taut, engaging thrillers like Michael Clayton and the Bourne movies made him the perfect writer to tell a gritty Star Wars story about the lower-level Rebel spies who did the dirty work and made the sacrifices that made upper-level victories like Luke Skywalker’s destruction of the Death Star possible. Similarly, Bradstreet’s work on the psychological techno-thriller series Mr. Robot and the tense spy drama series Berlin Station makes him perfect for a Marvel show about covert secret agents foiling a sinister conspiracy.
Mr. Robot is about a hacker plotting to overthrow the largest corporation in the world by wiping its debt records clean. It focuses on a whole different kind of conspiracy than Secret Invasion, but the principle is the same: an underground group is trying to take down the rich and powerful, while government agents try to stop them. Grace Gummer’s Mr. Robot character, Dominique “Dom” DiPierro, an FBI field agent, has parallels with Fury’s closest confidant, Maria Hill, who will appear in Secret Invasion with Cobie Smulders reprising her role.
Berlin Station follows a young CIA agent’s mission to identify the mole who leaked intel to a notorious whistleblower. Like Secret Invasion, it’s all about people who aren’t who they say they are, and a suspicious agent trying to figure out who they really are. Grizzled veteran spy Hector DeJean, played by Rhys Ifans, has a lot in common with Fury – he’s a paranoid, world-weary operative worn down by decades of experience in the field. It’s as if Bradstreet has spent his entire career preparing to turn Secret Invasion into a TV show.
Secret Invasion Should Focus On Espionage Over Action
From Hawkeye to Moon Knight to Ms. Marvel, most of the MCU’s streaming shows have focused heavily on action, because their lead characters have all been superheroes. Secret Invasion has the chance to do something different, since it focuses on Fury as opposed to the remarkable people he brought together in the Avengers. Fury doesn’t have any superpowers; his greatest strengths are his wits and his guile. The series needs to focus on those characteristics. It would be great to see a couple of gadget-based action scenes like the explosive car chase in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but the majority of Secret Invasion should focus on Fury using his cunning and intelligence to snoop out the Skrulls. He could interrogate potential Skrulls with a system similar to Blade Runner’s Voight-Kampff test, but with more personal, probing questions.
How Secret Invasion Should Copy Andor
There are a few key elements of Andor that Secret Invasion should borrow to repeat its success. If action is used sparingly, it has more impact. Andor often made viewers wait a couple of weeks for a single action set-piece – but, from the Aldhani heist to the Narkina 5 prison break to Luthen Rael’s dazzling space battle, that set-piece would be an all-time classic. Just like Andor distanced itself from the Jedi and the Sith, Secret Invasion should distance itself from superheroes and supervillains. Just like Andor avoided Star Wars conventions at every turn, Secret Invasion should avoid the pitfalls of the Marvel formula and explore uncharted narrative and tonal territories.