Every new Marvel Cinematic Universe project is inevitably hailed as the one to get the flagging franchise back on the right track after a slew of disappointments, and while James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 did tick many of the required boxes, it looks as though Secret Invasion may not.
There were high hopes for the six-episode miniseries that finally gives Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury top billing after 15 years as a supporting player, but the early reactions have hardly been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. In fact, at the time of writing the show only holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 65 percent from 23 reviews and counting, which puts it just ahead of the derided Thor: Love and Thunder at 63 percent.
Suffice to say, that wasn’t what the fandom was expecting, although there’s still a high chance the score could edge upwards as more and more critics sink their teeth into the first two episodes, which were the only ones made available pre-release. If all that still fails, then we can only cross our fingers and hope that the remaining four are of the highest quality, otherwise the obituaries signaling the death of the MCU as we know it are going to be dusted off and given a new addition.
The early reactions compared it favorably with Disney’s widely-acclaimed and award-nominated Andor, but has the hype train proven to be misleading all over again? It wouldn’t even be the first time it’s happened to the MCU this year looking at what happened to Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, but there’s plenty of time for Secret Invasion to turn the tide of its initial apathy, not to mention that it’s sure to appeal to longtime supporters of the franchise regardless.