As if Disney Plus poking the not-so-dormant allies of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn’t enough, Secret Invasion‘s first episode went ahead and dropped one hint after another, to the point that it was just one step away from screaming right into our ears how it is laying out yet another Marvel honey trap.
We have already done this with WandaVision which was jumping all over the place in its drive to smush the pipe dreams of Mephisto’s arrival right in our faces. And yet, we were not exactly a bunch that learns from their mistakes, so the second Disney Plus suggested that we need to watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. before gobbling up Nick Fury’s return in Secret Invasion, we were already stitching all kinds of dreams — Chloe Bennett’s Quake making a proper MCU debut, the return of Calavry… oh, the possibilities are endless.
And the very first episode of Secret Invasion pretty much seals the deal. In fact, it might have just made Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. MCU canon.
Let’s start with that, shall we? So, the official Marvel website has published a full-blown report of Fury’s in-universe journey in the MCU and despite not calling Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. canon, it specifically lists his presence in the series’ season one finale.
This is simply the tip of the iceberg, fellow Marvel geeks, because many subtle references and parallels alluding to the long-concluded Marvel series accompany the above revelation. And shrouded in the cloud of Disney Plus explicitly advising viewers to binge the show, these clues have long bypassed the possibility of being simple coincidences in our overheated imaginations.
For starters, Fury specifically states that Talos is 136 years old, and if your love for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is true, you have already made the connection.
Now, this one might feel like clutching at straws, but hear me out. The pods employed by Skrulls in Secret Invasion are more like the one used on Carol in Captain Marvel to explore her memories. But it does look very similar to what happened in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season four — after all, while Captain Marvel’s mind was never a captive of the pod she was in, the ones used in the Disney Plus series is keeping its inhabitants and their minds trapped, much like what happened to the characters in the not-yet-canon Marvel series.
We have already highlighted the blatant reuse of a hated trope by Marvel, but did you notice that Maria Hill’s death at the hands of a man who is wearing Nick Fury’s face parallels Melinda May’s demise in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season six finale where she was killed by Sarge pretending to be Phil Coulson?
Both were killed by someone flaunting the face of the person they trusted the most.
And to conclude what most probably will end up as us being overly optimistic and willingly jumping down the pretentious rabbit hole Marvel is reusing, all these hints just in one episode do raise hope. But about what? Does this mean MCU is ready to call Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. canon? Is it planning to *fingers crossed* extend that invitation to actually bring characters from the former show to the Disney Plus series? Or is it just so that we can stop being pissed and heartbroken about its shocking ending?