Kevin Feige: Secret Invasion’s ‘Darker, Grittier’ Take on Comic Book Arc Takes Cues From Winter Soldier
Every Marvel TV series has its role to play in the grander MCU. WandaVision evolved Ms. Maximoff into Scarlet Witch, Loki hinted at Kangs to come, Falcon and the Winter Soldier cleared the path for Sam to wield Cap’s shield, Ms. Marvel introduced the notion of mutants….
So, what is Secret Invasion‘s larger Phase 5 mission, as an espionage drama revolving around a stealth sect of shapeshifting Skrulls on Earth? (Read our review.)
“There are story points that people will see over the course of the series, obviously…,” Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige told TVLine during a Wednesday press conference. And while he, unsurprisingly, stopped short of spoiling the specific beats Secret Invasion will hit, Feige did speak of a Marvel movie it very much will evoke.
“[Producer] Jonathan [Schwartz] came into my office a number of years ago, when we were thinking about what kind of shows to do on Disney+…,” Feige recalled. “He came in with this idea of translating the great Secret Invasion storyline from the comics” — which spanned eight issues and crossed over The Avengers with many other sets of characters — “into a darker, grittier spy show, which we hadn’t done” on TV before.
“We love to do different genres” among Marvel’s film and TV projects “and this was an attempt to dive back into things we touched upon in The Winter Soldier, but hadn’t in a while.”
That second Captain America movie revolved around HYDRA’s infiltration of U.S. government and S.H.I.E.L.D. ranks to such a damning, damaging degree that the latter organization had to shut down.
The events of Secret Invasion will also test the bromance between Nick Fury and Talos the Skrull (played by Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn), which on-screen dates back decades.
“[It’s about] really delving into the tone of a spy show, and seeing a very different dynamic between Fury and Talos than we had seen in our ’90s buddy action movie, Captain Marvel,” said Feige.
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Secret Invasion, premiering Wednesday, June 21, is set in “what we’re calling ‘the present day MCU,'” a “post-She-Hulk, post-Blip” world, producer Jonathan Schwartz affirmed. And by the end of its six-episode run, it will have teed up the likes of The Marvels (due in theaters Nov. 10) and the Rhodey/Don Cheadle-centric Armor Wars movie, among other upcoming Marvel fare, said Feige.
“I mean, the repercussions will be felt in coming projects,” the Marvel boss teased.
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