Get ready for a “major discovery” in Marvel’s Secret Invasion.
Cobie Smulders, who plays Agent Maria Hill in numerous Marvel Cinematic Universe projects across film and TV, has teased that the upcoming Secret Invasion show will be “much more dark” than previous small screen MCU series.
Comic book fans have pinned high hopes on this one. The Disney Plus show is inspired by a run of comics from 2008-2009, which were penned by Brian Michael Bendis and brought to life visually by Leinil Francis Yu, Mark Morales and Laura Martin.
Those Secret Invasion comics saw the shape-shifting Skrull aliens invading Earth, with even the Avengers not being sure which among them were human and which were baddies in disguise. From the sounds of it, judging by Smulders’ comments, that untrusting tone has carried over the MCU adaptation.
“This series is much more dark in tone than ones previous,” Smulders told People in an interview. “It’s hard to know who to trust.”
That “much more dark” comment is an interesting one. While some previous MCU shows have been reasonably light and airy (She-Hulk was an outright comedy and Ms Marvel felt tailored for younger audiences), others have entered into serious territory already. Moon Knight, for example, was not exactly a walk in the park for its troubled protagonist(s).
Smulders went on to describe her new show like so: “Secret Invasion shows us insight into the lives of agents working to keep Earth and its inhabitants safe. […] Now, there is a major discovery of the Skrulls.”
In the gap since her last MCU appearance, Smulders says that “Maria has been trying to get Nick Fury back to Earth to help with a multitude of problems but when the Skrulls become public knowledge, it finally gets his attention.”
She also noted that, “with Marvel creating content for the streaming platform, we are able to spend more time with characters and get to know their backstories and deepen their relationships.” This will be music to the ears of fans that have long wanted to know more about Agent Hill, whose appearances are often fleeting and far between.
Smulders made her first MCU appearance way back in 2012’s The Avengers (known as Avengers Assemble on this side of the pond). She has appeared in every Avengers movie since then as well as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Spider-Man: Far From Home and the upcoming The Marvels, not to mention her animated appearances in What If and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
Smulders noted in the interview, “the last time we saw Maria Hill on screen in Spider-Man: Far From Home, it was revealed in the end that she was a Skrull.”
“So the audience is in the dark as to what she has been up to […] I’d like to think that she’s been sipping Mai Tais on vacation somewhere after coming back from the Blip but most likely, she has been working on a mountain of backlogged issues.”
She won’t be the only familiar face in Secret Invasion, either, with Martin Freeman confirmed to reprise his own agent role, and Samuel L Jackson once again portraying Nick Fury. With Secret Invasion being touted as “one last fight” for Fury, here’s hoping that Hill comes out of it unscathed. But if we get to see another Smulders blooper like the one below, we’ll be glad!
Secret Invasion will premiere on Disney Plus on 21st June. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now. Check out more of our Sci-Fi and Fantasy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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