The Captain America: The Winter Soldier Callback You Likely Missed On Secret Invasion
Contains spoilers for "Secret Invasion" Episode 2
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has been a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2008, but he still has what it takes to surprise the viewer every time he appears. "Secret Invasion" Episode 2, for instance, ends with the revelation that he's happily married ... to a Skrull, no less.
While the fact that Fury's wife Priscilla (Charlayne Woodard) is a Skrull comes as a massive surprise, his actual marital status might not be such a shock for fans with really good memories. After all, the information has been out there since 2014, when Fury almost casually told Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) that he's married in "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." In this movie, he indicates that his wife has kicked him out, which is why he's forced to take temporary shelter in Steve's apartment (though in all fairness, the fact that enemies are actively trying to kill him contributes to the decision). After this brief scene, this particular aspect of Fury's life isn't as much as mentioned before "Secret Invasion," which makes the big Episode 2 reveal a huge callback to the second "Captain America" movie — an Easter egg nine years in the making.
Hawkeye isn't the only S.H.I.E.L.D. operative with a secret married life
"Captain America: The Winter Soldier" deals heavily with the untrustworthiness of the international espionage world, not least because HYDRA has infiltrated key parts of S.H.I.E.L.D. A perfect example of the movie's constantly shifting landscape of truths and loyalties comes when Fury waits for Steve in the latter's apartment to discuss S.H.I.E.L.D.'s compromised status. Due to their disagreement about the survey program Project Insight, Steve's not exactly happy to see Fury, whom he quite deservedly considers duplicitous at this point — but the situation soon changes when the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) attacks Fury and Captain America suddenly has quite a lot on his plate.
Fury makes the comment about his wife in this particular scene and outright tells Steve that there's a lot he doesn't know about him. Still, a throwaway line as it may seem at the time, the big Priscilla reveal in "Secret Invasion" retroactively shows how much Fury must actually trust Cap to even mention her existence. After all, there's precedent for S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives playing their marriage status close to the chest. Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) has maintained a happy and extremely secret marriage throughout his MCU tenure and only reveals it to the Avengers in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" when there are no other options. Who knows what measures his much more secretive former boss has taken to keep his wife a secret for all these years?