Pretty much ever since the show was announced, Marvel TV fans have been praying that Secret Invasion would include some kind of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. crossover. Although the ABC series started out as a direct spinoff of The Avengers, resurrecting Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson, it ended up diverging onto its own timeline and is hardly considered canon these days.
But with endless rumors of Chloe Bennet’s Quake turning up for a cameo — rumors the actress denies — Secret Invasion has the chance to bring AoS back into mainstream MCU continuity. And those desperate for this to be the case are getting excited over one eye-catching inclusion on Disney Plus’ official pre-Secret Invasion watchlist.
Although not available in all territories, in some regions the streaming service has rolled out a handy list of MCU projects that should be watched before the new show premieres this Wednesday. These include all the usual suspects, movies featuring Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury like Iron Man 2 and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, as well as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. itself.
- Iron Man 2
- Captain America: The First Avenger
- The Avengers
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier
- Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Captain Marvel
- What If…?
On the one hand, AoS may simply be included in this list because both Jackson and Cobie Smulders made cameos on the series in its early days as Fury and Maria Hill. However, other Marvel entries in which Fury only had brief roles, such as Avengers: Infinity War, are left off this list, so that might not be it. Is this a hint that we can maybe allow ourselves to get excited for the possibility of at least one of Phil Coulson’s team appearing?
We know, TV’s Secret Invasion will not be the big Avengers-level event that the comic book Secret Invasion is, but Marvel’s got to give us a little crossover action, right? And bringing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. back into the fold would be an epic way of achieving that.