Is Secret Invasion’s Super-Skrull teasing the Fantastic Four?

Perhaps the most exciting part of this week’s episode Secret invasion is the formal revelation of the great evil plan of our great villain Gravik, the rebellious Skrull general. We already knew he wanted the Skrull to take over Earth, but now we know exactly how he intends to use his mysterious science engine to do so.

[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for Secret Invasion episode 3, “Betrayed.”]

Image: Marvel Studios

If you’re familiar with the Skrull methods from Marvel comics or video games, you probably saw this coming. It’s a simple equation: how do you make the Skrulls scarier? Give them superpowers.

The Super-Skrull began as a unique Marvel Comics villain created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963, who possessed all the powers of a Skrull and the Fantastic Four at once (shapeshifting, stretching, rocky skin, pyrokinesis, and invisibility). . But in modern Marvel comics, the concept has evolved to involve an entire class of Skrull spies created to pose as superheroes. So when you hear someone say “Super-Skrulls,” they’re referring to Skrulls who have copied the powers of Earth’s heroes. When they say “Super-Skrull,” they mean the specific Skrull villain with the powers of the Fantastic Four.

Gravik’s plan is to introduce the MCU’s first Super-Skrulls just as Earth’s nations are locked in a global war, and secure Skrulls’ hold over humanity on the planet. And it seems quite likely that he’ll be giving himself the superpower treatment first.

So Gravik is the Super-Skrull?

Look, we don’t know exactly. But what will Nick Fury do against an army of Super-Skrulls and summon the Avengers? The point Secret invasion is that the Avengers don’t really exist at the moment.

But one Super Powered Skrull? That seems more like a match. Secret invasionThe big bad seems to be the Super-Skrull.

So is Secret Invasion the path to the Fantastic Four?

Image: Marvel Studios

Nominally, somehow? After years of licensing troubles, Marvel Studios is finally releasing a Fantastic Four movie set in the MCU. Principal photography is expected to begin next January and hit theaters in May 2025 (though the studio hasn’t released any casting information yet). Using the Fantastic Four’s villains – like Super-Skrull and Namor the Submariner – in recent movies is exactly the kind of connective tissue that has kept the Marvel Cinematic Universe such an interesting subject for well over a decade. Ooh, that’s from that other comic, that’ll be important later!

But it’s also the kind of connective tissue that the setting has been sorely lacking since the ending Avengers: Endgame. It’s not like the MCU didn’t do that tried — Secret invasion itself picks up threads infinity war And Spider-Man: Far From Home. But it is significant that in films these threads were clearly dangling in the rearview mirror. The connection is purely narrative. The urgency and the emotional distress are not. And that describes much of the MCU these days.

In 2022 Ms. Marvel revealed that Kamala Khan from the MCU is a mutant. But it’s been almost a year and the studio hasn’t even done it yet announced an X-Men project. An X-Men movie could hit theaters as early as 2026 or later. By the time Fantastic Four rolls around – that is, unless Marvel Studios decides to keep postponing it in response Hollywood strikes or cost reduction – Secret invasionThe Super-Skrull will stay in flashback for two years.

That’s the way it is Secret invasion Lay track for Fantastic Four? It feels odd to say, “Hopefully not.” Hopefully, production just made the obvious decision on how to up the ante on the Skrulls in the MCU. After all, what’s scarier than a Skrull who can look and speak like anyone else? A Skrull who can look and speak like anyone else And Reproduce their superpowers perfectly!

It doesn’t solve Marvel Studios’ modern problems of spreading connective tissue gossamer, but it just goes to show what we’ve known for years: The Fantastic Four’s villains are better built. And there’s no shame in using them.