The Secret Invasion finale is here. We suspect this is going to be a controversial end to the show as, at least on first watch, the story doesn’t really hang together. We won’t spoil specifics here, but we at least got some fun superpowered combat and some resolution to the Skrulls on Earth story that began in Captain Marvel.
All that said, fans have been left distinctly unimpressed before even watching the episode, as the finale is a surprisingly slim 37 minutes in total. Subtract the recap, opening titles, and credits, and you’re left with around 30 minutes of new content.
Responses from r/MarvelStudios posters are uniformly downbeat, with fans of the show saying the episode length is “a little upsetting”, that “this show really needs more room to breathe”, and vows to unsubscribe from Disney Plus as they’ve pulled this same trick many times over.
Another points out the “shrinkflation” that’s taken place over Secret Invasion. The premiere came in at 54 minutes, episode two at 57 minutes, and then the episodes gradually got shorter, rounding off at about half an hour of new content from episode four onwards.
As many have pointed out, what’s the point of doing a TV show if you’re going to end up with something that, all told, could probably have been turned into a movie? Perhaps the only ray of light on the horizon is Daredevil: Born Again, which will come in at 18 episodes (though there are rumors this will be released in two nine-episode chunks).
Whatever the case, the Secret Invasion finale has proved to be something of a damp squib.