Secret Invasion is being pitched as perhaps the most gritty and grounded MCU outing we’ve seen since the Infinity Saga — a noir-ish conspiracy thriller that harkens back to the tone of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. This is somewhat ironic for those familiar with the comic book storyline of the same name, given that the original Secret Invasion was an Avengers-level crossover event.
Marvel Comics’ Secret Invasion saw Earth’s Mightiest Heroes uncover an underhanded invasion of the planet by the shapeshifting Skrulls, with many of the team’s own roster being revealed as aliens in disguise all along. Although the show won’t have quite the same scale as the comics version, we’re fully expecting there to be some big shocks and reveals nonetheless.
So, the big question going into the series is obvious: Which characters could be revealed as Skrulls? Marvel is, as ever, keeping many of its surprises under Nick Fury’s beanie hat, but we still know enough — and can speculate about even more — to hazard an educated guess about which MCU favorites, old and new, may have been lying to us this whole time.
Sharon Carter
The most obvious suggestion for a character who might be a Skrull imposter has to be Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp). Sharon used to be an ally to the Avengers, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier revealed that she’d become a criminal based in Madripoor. Not just any criminal, but the Power Broker, the kingpin in charge of the island’s underworld.
That’s a rather huge about-turn for Peggy’s niece, so it stands to reason that she could’ve been replaced by a Skrull — perhaps sometime during The Blip. It was even noted in Falcon that Sharon was thought to have died during The Snap. So maybe she did and the Skrulls used her disappearance as an opening to usurp her identity.
A trusted former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent like Sharon would be a handy persona to have under the Skrulls’ control, especially after Sam Wilson unwittingly helped her in her nefarious goals by getting her a pardon from the U.S. government.
Maria Hill
Wait, didn’t we already learn that Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) was a Skrull? Yes, Spider-Man: Far From Home ended on a tag scene which revealed that the Nick Fury and Agent Hill we followed in that movie were actually Talos and his right-hand woman Soren. But here’s a wild thought: What if Secret Invasion drops the bombshell that Soren has been playing Maria this entire time?
That aforementioned Far From Home scene cuts away to Fury enjoying a vacation on the S.A.B.E.R. space station, but it doesn’t tell us where the real Maria is. That leaves us with the tantalizing idea that there is no real Maria, and Soren’s always worked for Fury in her human guise as Hill. This would be a clever twist that’d make use of the fact that we’ve never really got to know the character’s personal life across her decade in the MCU.
Everett K. Ross
Much like Maria Hill, Everett K. Ross (Martin Freeman) is another familiar character — Secret Invasion will mark his fourth MCU appearance after Captain America: Civil War and the two Black Panthers — that it would be a shock to see outed as an alien. But, also like Hill, there are enough gaps in his relatively barren backstory that make his being a Skrull a conceivable twist.
As a high-ranking CIA official, a liaison to Wakanda, and a bigwig in the Joint Counter Terrorist Center, Ross is a textbook example of someone it would be useful for the Skrulls to replace with one of their own. Obviously, Ross has been portrayed as a heroic character before now, helping the Wakandans foil Killmonger and Namor. But it’s worth pointing out that it would’ve been in the Skrulls’ best interests to nip these competing bids for world domination in the bud.
Contessa Val
Wakanda Forever memorably revealed that Everett used to be married to none other than Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, the mysterious yet powerful woman who’s been skulking her way through Phases Four and Five. Val is even more of a blank slate than her ex-husband, then, and the big question over whether she’s on the side of the Avengers or not (more likely not) means she’s another prime contender for secret Skull-dom.
Such a twist would create some interesting Thunderbolts tie-ins, too. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is all set to return in a more active presence in the anti-hero team-up flick. Right now, her efficacy as a field operative is a little dubious, but if we find out she’s a shapeshifting, super-strong alien, then her usefulness would suddenly increase precipitously.
War Machine
Either Ross or Val being unmasked as Skrulls would provide a solid shock, but this one would well and truly blow fans’ minds. I’m putting it out there: Is there a chance that Rhodey might not be Rhodey?
War Machine is one of the MCU’s oldest heroes, with Terrence Howard originating the role in Iron Man before Don Cheadle took over for Iron Man 2 onward. So, he’s one character we would never suspect of being a double agent, But, again, he’d be a prime contender for Skrull replacement given his ties to both the Avengers and the U.S. military and government.
We last saw Colonel James Rhodes in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so it’s possible he could’ve been switched out sometime prior to that. On the other hand, if they wanted to be really bold, what if War Machine has been a Skrull ever since Cheadle took over from Howard back in 2010?
President Ritson
I’ve talked a lot about who the Skrulls could’ve replaced based on their levels of governmental and political importance. Well, if that is the aliens’ aim, then presumably, their ultimate goal would be to impersonate the President of the United States. And — oh, look at that — the POTUS himself is due to appear in Secret Invasion, as played by Scream 6 star Dermot Mulroney.
The first MCU president since Iron Man 3‘s President Ellis, Mulroney will be playing President Ritson, who’ll travel to London to broker emergency talks with the British Prime Minister after the Skrulls whip up international tensions. Rhodey will act as Ritson’s right-hand man. So, does that mean we can trust him? Either way, he’s not long for office, as Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross will sit in the big chair come Thunderbolts.
Sonya Falsworth
Olivia Colman’s character in Secret Invasion remains mostly under wraps, but what we do know is that she’s Sonya Falsworth, an experienced MI6 agent who is an old friend of Nick Fury’s. Falsworth is a gender-swapped adaptation of the male comic book hero Union Jack, but the inspiration is so loose that Marvel can really do anything they want with her.
The reason there’s a strong chance Falsworth could be a Skrull is that for ages, rumors pointed to Colman playing the Skrull Queen Veranke. These may simply have been way off the mark with no real foundation, but it definitely plants the idea in our heads that the Queen could be hiding in plain sight as Sonya. If this is the case, Colman would be Secret Invasion‘s version of Alexander Pierce from Winter Soldier, with Robert Redford’s S.H.I.E.L.D. boss turning out to be the movie’s main villain.
Needless to say, the Oscar-winning actress definitely has the chops to pull off a twist like this.
Talos
Yes, you read that right.
Ben Mendelsohn will feature as co-lead of Secret Invasion alongside Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury, building off the duo’s unlikely friendship established in Captain Marvel and furthered in Far From Home, as Talos and Fury work together to stop the insurgent Skrull sect. That’s why it would be a brilliant twist if Talos the good Skrull turns out to have been a bad Skrull all along.
With the evil Skrulls having infiltrated the planet, it would make a lot of sense for them to target Fury’s most trusted Skrull ally, and the leader of the good Skrulls, and replace him with one of their agents. In a series in which no one can be trusted, surely there would be no better way of proving this than having Fury discover that his partner has been working against him since the start?
Kingsley Ben-Adir and Emilia Clarke may already be confirmed to be playing Skrull characters, but we’ll find out who else is and isn’t when Secret Invasion premieres June 21 on Disney Plus.