Secret Invasion is officially coming out on June 21st on Disney Plus, a lot later than we expected for Marvel’s first MCU TV show of the year. While we wait, Marvel posted a brand new trailer on social media, which contains plenty of new footage compared to what we have seen so far. Among other things, Secret Invasion finally asks the question I want answered most after Phase 4.
Know that big spoilers might follow below, from Secret Invasion and the MCU events to date.
The new Secret Invasion trailer
Marvel posted a full two-minute Secret Invasion trailer late on Sunday on YouTube, Instagram, and other social channels. The new clip comes days after Marvel finally confirmed the character that Emilia Clarke is playing in the series and after publishing new posters for the Disney Plus TV show.
But the trailer offers no specific details about the Secret Invasion story compared to the teaser. We’re getting the same vibes as before. Something peculiar and very strange is afoot. And, for some reason, only Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) can fix it. He doesn’t need the Avengers or doesn’t want their help in the fight ahead. Or maybe he doesn’t trust anyone else?
The big twist in the story is that the Skrulls are impersonating humans in what might be an attempt to take over the planet. The Skrulls were friendly after Captain Marvel, but it looks like some of them have changed their mind in the two decades since we met them.
An even bigger twist of the story, one that the trailers will never reveal, is confirming that some Avengers members are Skrulls in disguise. If that won’t be the case, then at least a few of the key human characters in the TV show could be Skrulls.
We have plenty of time to speculate about the Secret Invasion plot until June. But what we know from the new trailer is that Marvel might finally answer the question I’ve been asking since the start of the MCU Phase 4.
Where are the Avengers?
The Avengers are the biggest plot hole of the MCU Phase 4 so far. We’ve witnessed plenty of dangerous situations where the Avengers would have intervened, yet Marvel went out of its way not to mention them. We didn’t need Marvel to spend millions of dollars on expensive Avengers cameos. Just an Avengers mention here and there would have sufficed to explain why the Avengers will or won’t be there.
Meanwhile, Marvel made a big deal about the Avengers’ popularity with the crowds. Shows like Hawkeye and especially Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk show how popular the superheroes are with the crowds. Yet they’re nowhere to be seen.
Marvel finally asks the Avengers question in the Secret Invasion trailer. But, interestingly enough, we’re still talking about the New York battle in the French-language newspaper above. Maybe it refers to the Infinity War and/or Endgame battles. But those are fights that Fury didn’t really witness. After all, he was blipped for those five years and wasn’t part of the Endgame battle.
Marvel did seem to want to have Avengers present in the MCU early in Phase 4. We saw Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Wong (Benedict Wong), and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) show up via an AR conference call to address the new threat. This implies the Avengers are still working together. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier also suggested that the Avengers exist. That’s why they needed a new Captain America.
I will note that Kevin Feige did answer the big Avengers question at D23 Expo last September. He revealed at the time that the Avengers group doesn’t really exist:
You know, one thing in the Captain America film is that there currently is a world without the Avengers. Sam Wilson finds himself as Cap at a time where there’s not an organization of Avengers.
The implication is that New World Order will show the new Captain America assembling a new Avengers team. However, such a big story detail should not come during an MCU press event. But via a movie or TV show.
That’s why it’ll be great if Secret Invasion can officially address the Avengers’ absence. And from the looks of the trailer, it sure looks like all this political and spy action in Secret Invasion will play right into the action in Captain America 4. Or the movie that will bring back the Avengers.
