One of Marvel Comics’ most iconic stories is now being adapted for the MCU in Secret Invasion. The Skrulls have historically infiltrated Earth with their ability to shapeshift. While in the comics every superhero and every superheroine can suddenly be secretly a Skrull, in the series they have infiltrated positions of power.
For the most part, the classic superheroes are busy elsewhere – including former SHIELD director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Skrull Talos (Ben Mendelsohn), Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) leading the invasion stop. But who can you trust?
In the first reviews that have now appeared, the absence of the typical comic book heroes is very positively emphasized – even if Nick Fury is strictly speaking one and Don Cheadle also appears as War Machine. This leads to that the story feels very grounded and serious. It’s such a welcome change from the CGI overloaded movies like “Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania” or “Guardians Of The Galaxy 3,” for example, it says .
Other reviews also praise the fact that the series an exciting thriller plot and give the stars around returnee Samuel L. Jackson and top-class newcomers like Emilia Clarke (“Game Of Thrones”) and Oscar winner Olivia Colman (“The Father”) enough material to play well. In some reviews as well criticizes that “Secret Invasion” is told quite slowlythe first two episodes, which run for about an hour, are quite lengthy.
We have also seen the first 2 (!) episodes
This brings us to the important caveat we need to make regarding reviews. All media were only shown the first two of a total of six episodes in advance. Therefore, the reviews only refer to a third of the series, which, of course, severely limits their validity.
We’ve already seen the first two episodes. Our Marvel expert Julius Vietzen is initially positive. His first impression:
Those who make their way through the somewhat confused first episode are rewarded with a strong episode, revealing the potential for one of Marvel’s most unusual and exciting franchises. Especially Samuel L. Jackson is in top form in “Secret Invasion”, but Olivia Colman and Ben Mendelsohn are also outstanding so far.
Echoing the previous reviews: mostly positive!
The echo of the 2 episode reviews is usually so positive. On the summary collection page Metacritical is a not excellent, but still above average value of 67 points. Here the ratings of the individual pages are converted to a 100-point rating scale, after which the average of all ratings is taken.
On the other major review aggregation site in the US Rotten tomatoes the value is also at 67 – but here percent. The metric behind it is also different. Here it is only determined whether the existing reviews are positive or negative – regardless of the rating given. Just over two-thirds of the reviews published and registered to date are positive. You can click through the reviews yourself on the two collection pages linked here if you want to get a deeper insight.
“Secret invasion‘ will be available on Disney+ from June 21, 2023. Episodes will be released weekly, allowing the series finale to stream on July 26, 2023.