Secret Invasion Teases A Big Marvel Villain's MCU Debut - But With What Powers?
Contains spoilers for "Secret Invasion" Season 1, Episode 2 — "Promises"
"Secret Invasion" has our favorite spymaster, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), facing the consequences of the events of last week's episode, including the death of Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), but Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon. After being appointed top Skrull boss, G'iah (Emilia Clarke) comes across important details regarding Gravik's next big push, and it involves what looks to be one of Marvel Comics' most iconic villains.
After eavesdropping on Dr. Rosa Dalton's (Katie Finneran) chat with Pagon (Killian Scott), G'iah seeks out more info about the doctor's work. Using a pretty dated computer, she discovers that genes have been harvested from the Guardians of the Galaxy team member Groot (Vin Diesel), a Frost Beast (last seen in "Thor: The Dark World"), Cull Obsidian's (Terry Notary) severed hand from "Avengers: Infinity War," and an Extremis patient from "Iron Man 3."
Given what we know about Gravik, it's clear what tactics he's hoping to apply in his ongoing mission to take over the planet, and it'll be an undoubtedly supersize problem for Fury in the war ahead. It's a Super-Skrull, Nick — just not as we know it.
The MCU's Super Skrull will be lacking that fantastic element from the comics
In Marvel Comics, in which the Skrulls lean more toward Gravik's perspective on planet Earth than Talos' (Ben Mendelsohn), the pointy-eared green meanies put forth a champion named Kl'rt to undergo a massive alteration. Imbued with the powers of the Fantastic Four, this decorated soldier of the Skrull army can stretch like Mr. Fantastic, flame on like the Human Torch, clock in some clobberin' time with the Thing's superstrength, and go invisible like Sue Storm. In doing so, Kl'rt causes major trouble for Marvel's first family after his debut in 1963, including posing as a brand-new superhero and impersonating Danny Rand, aka Iron Fist.
Of course, judging by the sample subjects G'iah manages to get a peek at, it's clear that the Super-Skrull on "Secret Invasion" is going to have a whole bag of different tricks, making them just as lethal as their comic book counterpart, if not more so. But just who will this lucky guinea pig be? Well, the show's trailer has already teased the answer.
Gravik is headed to gene-slicing greatness on Secret Invasion
A small detail in the "Secret Invasion" trailer sees Gravik morph his arm into something reminiscent of Groot to wreck some stuff on a highway. But while this is all that's needed to confirm that the Skrull leader will be taking the required medicine to turn the tide on humanity in future episodes, with such an imminent threat on the horizon, there's no doubt that Fury will have to pull out all the stops. However, there's a chance he might not be alone.
Let's remember that this is the Marvel Cinematic Universe, after all. These shows have been full of surprises, and one that could get jaws to drop is seeing Gravik go up against an equally enhanced G'iah. Just imagine Groot limbs and Extremis fireballs flying all over the place. Given that potential tease in the opening credits that sees a queen chess piece taking Skrull shape, could the young Skrull struggling to pick sides use Gravik's own weapons against him? If she does, it could line her up to take over from her current leader, which would make for an exciting bit of extraterrestrial civil unrest. The truth is out there, folks, potentially in next week's episode of "Secret Invasion."