Marvel Studios’ ‘Secret Invasion’ Director Says “The Series Has A Really Interesting Subversive Marvel Tone”
John F. Trent
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Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion director Ali Selim recently shared that the Disney+ series “has a really interesting subversive Marvel tone.”
(L-R): Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
In the show’s production notes provided to Bounding Into Comics, Selim discussed the series, first explaining how it focuses on Nick Fury.
He shared, “It goes back to Nick Fury. It’s the Nick Fury story. And Nick is a human. Whatever we think about his trench coat and his eyepatch and how cool Sam Jackson is, Nick Fury is a
human. He’s a human with a certain kind of power, but not a superpower like Captain America or Captain Marvel. So, that immediately demands a more grounded, gritty series.”
Selim continued, ““I think that the series has a really interesting subversive Marvel tone that takes it and flips it on its head, which I think will challenge and surprise and please the audience and give them something unique and different.”
(L-R): Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Ben Mendelsohn as Talos in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Des Willie. © 2023 MARVEL.
Ironically, whatever subversive tone Selim believes the show has the series’ executive producer Jonathan Schwartz revealed the show is more of the same propaganda in the form of a superhero story that modern Marvel Studios has increasingly become known for.
He relayed, “I felt that the Skrulls could be used as a metaphor for the current state of the world and the spread of disinformation and lack of trust.”
“And Kevin [Feige] suggested I look at this scene from Spiderman: Far from Home, in which it’s revealed that Fury is actually Talos impersonating him, with the implication that they’d had a relationship going back decades,” he added.
(L-R): Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Des Willie. © 2023 MARVEL.
Selim noted he indeed explored the theme, “Everybody draws a line in the sand. Everybody mistrusts someone. It’s what humans have always done. Look at the world today. Who
do you trust?”
“In exploring this theme, Nick Fury is asking the question both inside and out—what can he trust in others and what can he trust in himself?”
Ben Mendelsohn as Talos in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
Schwartz’s comments were preceded by those of Samuel L. Jackson when he told Vanity Fair in March, “We don’t know who’s a friend, who’s the enemy.”
He added, “There’s a political aspect that kind of fits into where we are right now: Who’s okay? Who’s not? What happens when people get afraid and don’t understand other people? You can’t tell who’s innocent and who’s guilty in this particular instance.”
Kingsley Ben-Adir as Rebel Skrull leader Gravik in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
Nevertheless, Schwartz would go on to provide more details about the driving internal conflict that afflicts Nick Fury in the series, ““When we begin Secret Invasion, the Skrulls have been working for Fury for years on the promise that he will help them find a home world either in outer space or on Earth, with the idea that humans and Skrulls can someday live together. Neither of those things have happened. So, Fury at the start of the show is conflicted because he hasn’t followed through on his promise to help those Skrulls find a homeland.”
“That’s a deeply conflicted place for Nick Fury to be and a cool place for that character to go,” Schwartz claimed. “He manipulates people to his own ends and has been doing so for decades in order to rise to the top of the intelligence community. But he also loved the Skrulls and yet hasn’t helped them. And we’ll learn along the way what’s been keeping him from following through on that promise.”
Emilia Clarke as G’iah in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
The first episode of Secret Invasion is currently available to watch on Disney+. Subsequent episodes are expected to release weekly.
The series’ official description states, “In Marvel Studios’ new series “Secret Invasion,” set in the present day MCU, Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.”
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Des Willie. © 2023 MARVEL.
What do you make of Selim’s comments about the show having a “subversive Marvel tone?”
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