Marvel’s Phase 5 series, Secret Invasion, is out on Disney+. It is filmed in the style of a spy thriller based on the 2008 comic book of the same name. Unlike the original, in the series the action takes place not after the civil war (the confrontation of the Avengers with the climactic battle at the airport), but after the jump, when Thanos was defeated. We tell everything that is known about the new series and if it is worth watching.
Plot
The Skrulls are aliens from the planet Skullos who can imitate any other species by changing their appearance. The last time they appeared on the screen in the movie “Captain Marvel” – according to the plot, they arrived on Earth in search of a new home after the destruction of their home planet. Then Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) promised to find a place for the Skrulls to live, and until then he hid them on Earth.
Thirty years after the events of Captain Marvel, the rebellious Skrulls decide to take matters into their own hands. There are several major terrorist attacks around the world, in which SHIELD suspects the Skrulls. The rebels, using their superpowers to tempt any appearance, try to start a full-scale world war in order to destroy humanity and occupy the Earth.
Moscow and nuclear power plants
The action of “Secret Invasion” takes place in Moscow and the Moscow region, as the Skrulls took refuge in abandoned nuclear power plants, which, according to the plot, are so numerous in Russia. The series began filming until February 2022, and after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine, Marvel planned to redo some scenes and move the action to another country. However, a version of the show set in Moscow was eventually released.
The viewer, who has an idea of ​​what the Russian capital looks like, will not be accustomed to seeing European streets, convenient rooftop exits and low-brick London houses there. But if we forget this cinematic convention and remember that the Avengers still live in a fictional world, what happens is seen more calmly after the scene in Reunification Square on National Unity Day. In it, the main characters end up in Red Square, but in Tsaritsino, and eventually end up in the ranks of St. Petersburg Nikolsky.
In general, scenes where Nick Fury and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) drink at a “healthy” bar or walk past huge inflatable nesting dolls and broken Cyrillic inscriptions do not cause rejection. In the end, this is a series based on comics, of which no one demands plausibility. Moreover, in the center of real New York, the Chitauri did not fly either, and there are no Stark skyscrapers there.
New heroes
In the first series, the viewer is greeted by the good old agents of SHIELD: Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Everett Ross (Martin Freeman), former Skrull leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn). But there are also new characters, like Oscar-winning actress Olivia Coleman. She plays a British spy and girlfriend of Fury, who is also trying to take down a Skrull terrorist cell.
Actress Olivia ColmanAllison Dinner/EPA/TASS
And then there are probably the season’s main antagonists: rebel leader Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and Talos’ daughter Gaia (Emilia Clarke). Not much is known about them except that they live in an abandoned nuclear power plant, where they attempt to create a haven for Skrull refugees.
Actress Emilia ClarkeJordan Strauss/Invision/AP
In an interview with Buzzfeed Kingsley said that it was his idea to give his character a Welsh accent, even though the actor himself is originally from London. He also shared the details of his character creation: “At the beginning of the story, there was a backstory that he (Gravik) was a soldier, and his mixed race was also a big part of the story. story at one of the (pre-production) stages,” Kingsley said.
Actor Kingsley Ben AdirAllison Dinner/EPA/TASS
We (along with the producers) considered different places he might come from. Obviously, the subject with Birmingham was closed by Peaky Blinders (Kingsley starred in this series, where the action takes place in Birmingham, England. – Approx. Russian media), so it did not work. There’s a mixed-race community in Butetown, near Cardiff, and I thought that might be a good option (for the character). It’s a large Caribbean community with a military history, so I started communicating with the locals to better define the character (Gravika),” the actor said.
Artificial intelligence
The opening credits of “Secret Invasion” were created by artificial intelligence. About this director Ali Selim said Polygon edition. This is a series of illustrations in shades of green, the color of the Skrulls’ skin, in which all of the characters’ faces look blurry and barely recognizable. This refers to the main idea of ​​the series – it is not clear who to trust, because even an acquaintance may not be who they seem.
“The AI, like the Skrulls, tries to be like the humans. But there’s always a flaw. We talked to the developers about ideas, themes, and words, then the computer turned on and started doing something,” Selim explained.
However, as writing Deadline, the public did not like the idea. They didn’t like that AI eliminated the need for graphic designers and animators to create opening credits. At the same time, the situation was aggravated by the ongoing writers’ strike, one of whose demands was precisely to minimize the use of AI. Additionally, social media users wrote that the AI-generated art looks “gross” and “disappointing”.
To watch or not to watch
The latest Marvel projects have met with lukewarm audiences and reviews. So neither “Woman Hulk Lawyer”, nor “Miss Marvel”, nor feature films like “Thor: Love and Thunder” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantum Mania” caused joy. Their grades on Rotten Tomatos, it’s less than half “fresh” in places.
However, Secret Invasion is doing better so far: viewers appreciated him by 81% and the critics by 66%.
So far only one episode has been released on Disney+, they will release one episode per week. The authors try to grab the viewer’s attention not with strong gags and graphics, but with black elements, a dark spy theme and a deeper disclosure of favorite characters who have long remained in the shadows.
In general, Marvel’s experiments with different genres have been successful: the “WandaVision” series in sitcom format or “Moon Knight”, reminiscent of both “The Mummy” and “Glass”. If the plot continues to enter into a noir structure and a detective theme, it claims to be the most brilliant MCU project of this year. Either way, Secret Invasion is sure to please longtime Marvel fans who have been waiting for a solo project on the SHIELD director.
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