Here Are 10 Reasons Why Marvel’s ‘Secret Invasion’ Was So Bad

The MCU may have done a great job in most of its projects in the past, but fans have high expectations regarding the newer ones. Of course, we’re talking about the shows that have been coming out of Disney+, as not all of them have been up to par with the expectations of Marvel fans. And the latest MCU series to receive criticism from fans is ‘Secret Invasion.’

Of course, while ‘Secret Invasion’ wasn’t entirely bad, it still doesn’t seem to stand up to par with some of the other projects we’ve seen in the past. As such, not all fans were happy about this series, given that it’s arguably the most unpopular out of all of the MCU shows we’ve seen. So, for those wondering why ‘Secret Invasion’ failed to reach expectations, here are some reasons why it wasn’t as successful as it should have been.

1. Dreadfully slow pace

One of the things that we know that the MCU is known for is its ability to create a moderately-paced storyline with many different things happening between each scene to entertain fans. But that wasn’t the case for ‘Secret Invasion,’ which was always marketed as a series with a slower pace and a darker storyline. The problem, however, was that it was a bit too slow for anyone’s liking.

The thing about the pacing of ‘Secret Invasion’ is that there were a lot of “dead” scenes in the sense that they only added to the slower pace of the series without even making it more entertaining. We’ve seen a lot of slow-burn shows in the past, but all of them made sure to add substance to every scene. But in ‘Secret Invasion,’ the slow-burn pace didn’t seem to do the show any good, especially regarding how the story progressed.

2. Took too long for things to happen

In connection to the previous item, one of the things that fans hated about this show was the fact that it took too long for things to happen. While character dialogue is essential to establish the plot of the storyline, there were a lot of unnecessary scenes and dialogues in ‘Secret Invasion.’ In fact, there was too much talking that it took too long for things to progress. And given that this series was supposed to be a slow-burn series with a slower pace, the fact that it took too long for things to happen only made it worse.

Of course, many people were quite confused about the series’ direction during the first three episodes because they didn’t seem to establish where the series was going. In fact, it took until episode 4 for us to find out what the main villain wanted. As such, it didn’t do a good job of hooking fans right from the get-go. And some people needed to watch four episodes to decipher the storyline.

3. New characters were mismanaged

We know that every MCU project is supposed to add new characters to the storyline. That means that ‘Secret Invasion’ would always have new characters. These new characters included G’iah, Gravik, Priscilla/Varra, and Sonya Falsworth. All of these different characters were added to the storyline for a good reason, and they all contributed to the show in their unique way.

But the problem that most people saw was that these new characters weren’t managed the right way, as some of them didn’t get the minutes that they deserved. While we know that a character’s screen time isn’t always a good way to show how important the character is, the more important characters didn’t get much screen time to establish their importance.

For example, G’iah only got more screen time during the latter portion of the storyline, as most of her earlier appearances were predicated on the fact that she was Talos’ daughter. The same goes for Varra, who was supposed to be important in Nick Fury’s life but wasn’t given the screen time needed to flesh out her character.

4. Killed off some fan-favorites

Because of the serious and darker tone that comes with ‘Secret Invasion,’ it was expected that characters would be killed. We’ve seen this before in other MCU projects, as fans were not entirely happy that their favorite characters died. The same holds true for ‘Secret Invasion,’ which killed off some fan-favorite characters, such as Maria Hill and even Talos. However, how these characters were killed was not on par with how the other fan-favorite past characters were killed. 

What we mean to say is that they died in ways that weren’t on par with how well-received they are as far as the fans are concerned. For instance, Maria Hill was simply shot at the end of episode 1, as her death meant nothing at all. The same can be said about Talos’ death, as its only impact was to give G’iah more reasons to hate Gravik even more. In a way, their deaths were a bit too wasteful as they could have still had more potential in the MCU.

5. Not a lot of surprises

One of the things that the MCU has done well in the past few years is giving fans a lot of different surprises in their movies and shows. Some of these surprises may be subtle, such as when Matt Murdock appeared in a brief scene in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home.’ Meanwhile, the other surprises tend to be bigger, such as when characters from the X-Men and the Fantastic Four appear in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.’ As such, ‘Secret Invasion’ also had its fair share of surprises.

The problem, however, is that the surprises in ‘Secret Invasion’ weren’t entirely too shocking. For instance, it was revealed that Nick Fury was married to a Skrull the entire time. It was also revealed that the Colonel James Rhodes we’ve been seeing in the series was actually a Skrull imposter. Other than that, there weren’t a lot of surprises that fans thought should have broken the internet. The lack of surprises on the part of ‘Secret Invasion’ hurt its chances of engaging the fans.

6. Almost no connections to ‘The Marvels’

In a way, Captain Marvel is part and parcel of the reason why the Skrulls rebelled during the events of ‘Secret Invasion’ because she was one-half of the party that promised to find the Skrulls a home. Of course, she wasn’t around in ‘Secret Invasion’ because she was off-world doing other things for the upcoming ‘The Marvels’ movie. And that’s why some fans believe there would be connections between ‘Secret Invasion’ and ‘The Marvels.’

However, as it turned out, ‘Secret Invasion’ didn’t even help in setting up the events of the upcoming ‘The Marvels’ movie even though it features Nick Fury in a storyline that takes place before the events of ‘The Marvels.’ There is almost nothing in ‘Secret Invasion’ that adds value to ‘The Marvels,’ as the only thing that we can think of is the fact that Fury brought Varra to SABER so that she could act as the mediator between the Skrulls and the Kree. Other than that, we couldn’t find a connection between the two storylines.

7. No superheroes

In the comics, the entire Secret Invasion storyline wasn’t all about Nick Fury. The fact of the matter is that the Secret Invasion event was a crossover that included a lot of different superheroes working together to fight off the Skrull invaders that have been around for years. But the problem in the ‘Secret Invasion’ series is that there are no superheroes. We’re not even counting Rhodey because he was a fake the entire time.

The entire storyline focused on Nick Fury and his quest to get rid of the Skrull problem on Earth. He had no help from the Avengers or any of the other superheroes he worked with in the past, and why he didn’t want to call them for help is quite silly. But for an event that supposedly has high stakes, it was questionable for Fury not to call for the help of the Avengers, especially when the fate of the human race was at stake.

8. Left too many unanswered questions

The conclusion of ‘Secret Invasion’ allowed us to see G’iah becoming a Super Skrull and using her powers to fight Gravik, who had also become incredibly powerful due to the Harvest. After Gravik’s defeat, President Ritson announced to the world the existence of Skrulls on the planet. He also called for a crusade to kill all of the Skrulls on Earth, as he thought that they were dangerous. But the problem was that the different events that happened during the ending of ‘Secret Invasion’ only left more questions that were left unanswered.

The conclusion never answered what was going to happen to the Skrulls or whether or not they were going to find their own home. We never saw what Sonya and G’iah would do after teaming up. Even the fate of the world was left questionable after what Ritson did. And while we do know that the creators of ‘Secret Invasion’ did this to get fans excited for what’s next in line for the MCU, it only created some fatigue among different fans that have become a bit too tired of waiting for years to get the answers to their questions.

9. Subpar CGI

Television productions would never have CGI or special effects on par with what we see in the movies. However, we know that most of Disney’s MCU shows have high budgets that should have allowed them to hire the best for the special effects team. But the problem is that the special effects of ‘Secret Invasion’ were not on par with what fans expected.

We already saw this problem in ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law,’ which used subpar special effects throughout the entire series. Of course, ‘Secret Invasion’ didn’t rely on special effects as much as ‘She-Hulk’ did. But the problem is that the final battle between G’iah and Gravik had mediocre effects that made fans wonder where the series’ budget went. And the subpar CGI only added fuel to the fires of criticism.

10. The untapped potential

In the comics, the entire Secret Invasion storyline was so big and so important that it included a lot of different characters and superhero groups. This huge crossover event allowed fans to see the Skrulls impersonating superheroes and even copying their powers to fight off entire superhero groups. And that’s why the potential for a huge crossover event involving numerous movies or shows was there.

However, the MCU decided to cram the entire Secret Invasion storyline into one six-episode series with stakes that weren’t as high as the ones we saw in the comics. Instead of having multiple superheroes fighting different superpowered Skrulls, we were stuck with a Nick Fury-centric series that didn’t even scratch the potential of what a Secret Invasion adaptation could have been. In that sense, the potential was wasted by a series that failed to live up to its comic book counterpart.

What do you think about the ‘Secret Invasion’ series? Let us know in the comments!