Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Secret Inavsion

  • Theory Thursday: The MCU’s next Civil War is a “Secret Invasion”

    Theory Thursday: The MCU’s next Civil War is a “Secret Invasion”

    Trust No One…

    Back at San Diego Comic-Con 2017, Marvel Studios confirmed that the Skrulls were coming to the MCU for 2019’s Captain Marvel. Since that announcement and after the film had been released, for years, one of the biggest questions fans had regarding the alien race is whether or not Marvel Studios would adapt the comic event Secret Invasion. Well, just a few weeks ago, Kevin Feige officially confirmed that Marvel Studios would be adapting the Secret Invasion storyline in a Disney+ Original Series. Samuel L Jackson. is set to return as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn will return as Talos.

    What happened during the comic event “Secret Invasion”?

    After years of fighting wars against the Kree civilization, the Skrulls eventually lost their home planet and were desperately seeking a new place to call home. Their leader, Queen Veranke decided to follow an ancient prophecy that claimed that the Skrulls were the rightful rulers of the Earth, and for years, the Skrulls had infiltrated the planet via multiple sleeper Skrulls agents that were so well hidden that no one could tell who they were. Not even they themselves. Only when a Skrull infiltrator heard the words; “He loves you”, would his original personality resurface. Until then, the infiltrator would not even be aware that he was in fact a Skrull. Once the Skrulls has revealed themselves to each other and united in the Secret Invasion, the heroes (and villains) had to unite on their own front to face off against what was left of the entire Skrull army, who by this time, not only could shift shapes but also had multiple sets of superpowers based on the heroes they were facing.

    How could this event translate into the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

    We know that Marvel Studios tends to adapt their most iconic stories and adding their own MCU twist to the story. I sense Secret Invasion won’t be any different. As of right now, the only two cast members officially confirmed to return are Jackson and Mendelsohn. But we need to take Feige’s own words from Disney’s Investor Day into account. “Next to Civil War, Secret Invasion is arguably the biggest crossover comic event in the last 20 years, and we’re bringing it to Disney+.” We need to put into perspective that the world in the MCU right now is pretty much defenseless, as it does not have an actual Avengers team to protect it from otherworldly dangers. Captain America retired, Iron Man and Black Widow are dead, Thor is off-world, Hulk is partially out of commission and Hawkeye has his own matters to deal with in the upcoming Hawkeye series. This sort of lines up with the events of the comics. The world is split apart due to the events of Civil War, the former Avengers are all separate and there is a new wave of heroes that are certainly different from their predecessors. This would be the perfect time for the Skrulls to strike.

    And the idea of a sect of Skrulls having already infiltrated the Earth is something that was already explored since way back in 2015, when Talos was already posing as Nick Fury post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). While the intent of posing as Director Fury wasn’t malevolent per se, who’s to say other Skrulls haven’t already infiltrated the Earth, perhaps as individuals in high ranking positions of power worldwide, including Earth’s very own superheroes. Let me refer you to this panel from Secret Invasion #2:

    As you can see, we’re seeing some of our favorite Marvel Comics heroes take on earlier versions of themselves and even some who are considered to be dead. If Marvel Studios plays their cards correctly, we could potentially see a version of this play out on the Disney+ series, as heroes from the MCU’s past take on the heroes of the MCU’s future. It would even be the perfect opportunity for Marvel to bring back iconic characters from their previous phases back on screen. Just imagine it for a second. Characters like Chris Evans’ Captain America, Robert Downey Jr.’s Iron Man, and Scarlett Johanson’s Black Widow taking on the likes of Falcon, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel. And in the end, because the Skrulls are sleeper agents, they wouldn’t be able to tell who’s who in this scenario and could confuse, and potentially convince the heroes (and the audience) that these heroes could actually be back. However this series plays out, I’m certain it’s going to be an absolutely exciting event for Disney+. And as Mysterio would say:

  • Marvel Studios ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ May Have Permission to Launch

    Marvel Studios ‘FANTASTIC FOUR’ May Have Permission to Launch

    Last week, Disney registered two new production companies: Solve Everything Productions and Grass-Fed Productions. On the surface, there’s not much to be excited about as this is a pretty run of the mill procedure for the world’s largest entertainment studio; however, looking at the surface isn’t what we do here and a deeper look into these two newly registered production companies has stirred up some exciting possibilities about some potential future MCU projects!

    Before continuing on, understand that as of publication, there was no evidence to confirm that either of these two production companies were for Marvel Studios projects. I contacted several sources and went down some well-beaten paths but was unable to find the type of confirmation I’m happy with. Despite that, there are reasons to believe that these could be Marvel Studios projects and ones we already know to be in development. Papers have been filed for production companies for every project announced last summer by Marvel Studios (either at SDCC or D23) with the exception of two: Fantastic Four and Blade. As you’ll see, it’s very possible that is no longer the case.

    For Marvel Comics fans, especially those who have followed Jonathan Hickman’s career, the phrase “solve everything” points in one very specific direction: that of Marvel Comics first family, the Fantastic Four. In October of 2008, Hickman launched his run on Fantastic Four with a three-issue arc (570-572) titled Solve Everything. The story, which began in earnest earlier that year with Dark Reign: Fantastic Four, sees a guilt-ridden Reed build a machine, The Bridge, which allows him to observe the multiverse in search of solutions to the problems for which he feels responsible. After The Bridge endangers the team, Sue asks Reed to tear it down. Before doing so, Reed finds that similar Bridges have been built on other Earths and makes contact with individuals he later comes to understand are his multiversal counterparts: the Council of Reeds. Reed keeps his promise to Susan and tears down the machine only to rebuild it later and hide it in his Room of 100 ideas. Upon firing the Bridge back up, Reed meets the Council again and asks them how to solve his 101st question: how to solve everything.

    As on-the-nose as Solve Everything is, Grass-Fed Productions is not. Keep in mind that, as mentioned above, there’s no hard evidence that these are Marvel Studios productions, so in trying to match this up with a potential property, I stretched about as far as Reed did during Hickman’s run. That said, I’m happy to toss out a couple of ideas and explain the trains of thought I had in arriving at those conclusions.

    It’s Blade

    As mentioned in the intro, there are only two announced Marvel Studios properties for which we don’t currently have a production company. If we buy the conclusion that Solve Everything is Fantastic Four, that means we just have Blade. If we follow that logic, then Grass-Fed is the production company for Blade. It isn’t good enough for the burden of proof for that conclusion to be “because Blade doesn’t have one”, so the question to ask is, “does Grass-Fed fit Blade?”. Actually, it just might. In just about every modern vampire story, vamps look at humans as livestock or cattle. It’s possible that Marvel Studios has capitalized on that notion here and chosen Grass-Fed as a reference to the prey of whichever vampire(s) they choose to feature.

    It’s Secret Invasion

    If Blade was hard to believe, you won’t like this one. While I feel like Blade is the more likely option, it’s entirely possible that it is something else entirely (including a non-MCU property). But if we’re looking for MCU properties that have a connection, no matter how loose, to Grass-Fed, Secret Invasion is on the table. This is a project about which we know very little and one that, as of a month or two ago, was in the earliest stages of development, but the idea that it’ll almost certainly have to do with Skrulls undetected on Earth provides a potential Grass-Fed connection.

    9 out of 10 fictional pollsters agree that when they hear grass-fed the animal that first comes to mind is a cow. As all good comic book fans know, Skrulls were first introduced in Fantastic Four #2 and spent some time impersonating the group before being captured, hypnotized and kept prisoner on Earth as…cows (remember kids, Skrull cows go moo, too). So, if Marvel Studios was being incredibly clever and trying to hide the development of this IP, this would be one of about 10,000 possible ideas.

    These two ideas only work if we accept the premise (which is, as of now, nothing more than speculation) that these are Marvel Studios projects in development which, at this point in time, we cannot prove. If they are, we can look a little further into what this might mean but until we get some more proof, disseminate this information responsibly.