‘Secret Invasion’: Why Did Beto Betray Gravik?

If there’s one thing that we know about Gravik in ‘Secret Invasion,’ he is now willing to go to extreme lengths just to ensure that his goal of taking over the planet would succeed. That’s why he turned himself and a few other Skrulls into Super Skrulls and formulated plans that he believed would be good enough to take over the entire planet. However, we still saw Beto and a few Skrulls betraying him in episode 5. So, why did Beto betray Gravik?

Beto betrayed Gravik because he had lost sight of what that entire war was about. He was so obsessed with taking over the entire planet and causing the extinction of humanity that he was now willing to do whatever was needed, including killing one of their own. Gravik had become an unhinged monster.

The thing about Gravik is that he is an extremist in every sense of the word and is not too different from the radical idealists that we often see in our real world. He is willing to do whatever he needs to achieve his goals, even if it means hurting others or those close to him. That’s why some of his men had become afraid of him. Now, let’s look at why Beto betrayed Gravik.

Gravik has become unhinged

Ever since the first episode of ‘Secret Invasion,’ we learned that Gravik was a true terrorist in every sense of the word because he was willing to commit numerous acts of terror around the world and kill innocent people.

But unlike real-world terrorists, he wasn’t an idealist working for the sake of an idea he wanted to uphold. Instead, he was fighting to give his people a home they could call their own.

The fact that Gravik wanted to give the Skrulls their own planet was why other Skrulls were willing to join him in his crusade against humanity.

The younger Skrulls Nick Fury didn’t work with in the past were all willing to lay down their lives for Gravik’s cause. And that was why he had the army and resources he needed to mount his own secret war against Earth, as he wanted to destabilize the planet’s governments to make it easier for him and his Skrulls to take over.

In episode 4, G’iah gave us a glimpse of why there were Skrulls that were willing to join Gravik. She compared Gravik to Talos in the sense that one had a clear and concrete solution to the homelessness of the Skrulls while the other one was willing to just feed off whatever their hosts on Earth were willing to give them.

In that regard, it was clear that Gravik’s vision allowed the Skrulls to see him as a true leader with the iron will necessary for their people to have a home they could call their own.

But in episode 5, we began seeing more and more Skrulls losing trust in Gravik. The Skrulls used to be loyal to his visions and plans. He wanted to kill President Ritson and start a war between the world’s superpowers to destabilize Earth. But after failing to kill Ritson, he was now willing to kill his own people for the sake of his ideals.

Gravik had become unhinged, especially after Pagon started questioning his actions. Pagon, who used to be one of his most loyal underlings, wondered why Gravik wasn’t willing to kill Nick Fury and even went on to insult him about the fact that he wasn’t trustworthy enough for Fury to tell him the location of the Harvest before he became a terrorist.

Gravik, of course, murdered Pagon in cold blood due to his insubordination. And after that, he ordered a few of his men to go to Varra so that they could kill her.

This eventually planted the seeds of dissension among the Skrulls. Even though they went to Gravik because he had a clear vision in mind and was willing to see his vision becoming a reality, he had become so obsessed with his goals that he was now willing to kill his own people to make a point. Beto, who joined Gravik because he wanted to have his own home, saw with his eyes that this was no longer the leader he and the other Skrulls believed in.

The Skrull leader is now a monster

During the events of episode 5, Beto and a few other Skrulls actually ambushed Gravik while he was on the phone. They ganged up on him and were willing to kill him so that they could stop him from going to extreme lengths just to force the world into war. Of course, Beto and the other Skrulls that betrayed Gravik were defeated.

Gravik grabbed an injured Beto and executed him in cold blood in front of the other Skrulls to prove that insubordination was punishable by death. But before Beto died, he told Gravik that he was now a monster.

In a sense, Beto was right in saying that Gravik was now a monster. He was not a monster in the sense that he had the DNA of different creatures and was now a lot stronger than other Skrulls. Instead, he had become a monster because he was willing to kill his own people and sacrifice the lives of other Skrulls to get what he wanted.

Many Skrulls were shocked by the fact that he killed Pagon, who was loyal to the cause and would never betray Gravik. They were more shocked when they found out that Gravik was willing to allow the US Government to bomb the Skrull compound to start up a war between the Americans and the Russians.

In that regard, Gravik had become a slave to his own goals and was now a monster that no longer cared about the welfare of his own people.

Instead, what Gravik cared the most about was victory. He wanted to push humanity to the brink of extinction so badly that he no longer cared how many Skrulls needed to die. This was no longer the person the Skrulls were willing to lay down their lives for. Instead, Gravik had become more of an extremist than ever because of his actions.

As such, Beto and the other Skrulls that attacked him were trying to minimize the damage that Gravik had already caused. But while there were only a handful of them that attacked Gravik, it was clear that there were other Skrulls that no longer believed in him as a leader. Instead of admiration, the other Skrulls are now following him out of fear.

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