Confirmed: Nick Fury stands alone.

Piggybacking off the loss of his right-hand woman, Fury faced the demise of almost every other relationship he still had on Earth during episode 2 of Secret Invasion. In the meantime, the Skrulls are preparing for war against the humans and are turning to science (because that always works) to create their own super army. Episode 2 set us up for some crazy things to happen as the show continues its 6-week release. Before I get into all the details of the topics mentioned above, take a second to listen to the corresponding podcast episode, which you can find on your platform of choice by clicking the button below or listening live using the link provided.

Answers to Taylor’s Questions from the Podcast

Question 1: Does Fury marry a Skrull in the comics? – Fury never actually marries in the comics, which means that anything revolving around a wife is uncharted territory for the character.

Question 2: Who is the general who is off-world with the last group of Skrulls that Talos refers to? – The off-Earth colony that Talos mentions is run by Emperor Drogge. He is not a direct translation from the comics, but could be closely based off the Skrull emperor named Dorrek.

The Relationship between Fury and Gravik

Starting with the beginning of the episode, we got some interesting intel on what life looked like after the Skrulls first came to Earth, something I wasn’t expecting to see but was pleasantly surprised and happy we did. The flashback helped to establish a section of Fury’s involvement with the Skrulls post-Captain Marvel and boy did it show some things that don’t make Fury look all that good. Essentially, it proved to us that Fury’s deal made with the Skrulls was not just that he would find them a home but that in return they would need to help him out by using their shapeshifting abilities, and this is an assumption, to do SHIELD work and gather intel for SHIELD. To break it down, Fury used the Skrulls and their desperate need for a home as a way to exploit them for his own use, which really does not make Fury look like a stand-up guy.

The flashback did one other important thing, which was it showed us that the relationship between Fury and Gravik is much more than surface level. In the first episode, you can tell that Gravik had some sort of relationship with Fury in the past but it isn’t until this episode that you are able to truly understand it. Gravik, a young boy in the flashback, had just lost both his parents fighting the Kree when he met Fury and it is implied that he then also took up the call to ‘help’ Fury out while he was supposedly trying to find them a home. As he was so young and had just become an orphan, it wouldn’t have been shocking for young Gravik to idolize Fury, only to grow up and understand that not only were he and his people exploited but that Fury had lost the drive to help the Skrulls. I think this makes the conflict in this show a lot more interesting, so it will be intriguing to see where this dynamic takes us when Gravik and Fury face each other once again.

Fury and Talos’ Conversation

Fury loses his first ally (we aren’t counting Maria right now because Fury losing her was a little more permanent) early in the episode upon a conversation that takes place between him and Talos. Talos explains to him that he had called all the Skrulls who were out seeking refuge to Earth during what seemed like the time Fury was either Snapped or located on SABER. This is a shot in the gut to Fury, who believed the Skrull’s numbers were much smaller than they actually now are and therefore assumed the threat he was facing was not nearly as large as it has become. To remind everyone, Talos was implying there were millions of Skrulls now living on Earth, with only one group not coming and setting up a colony elsewhere. For Fury, this fact is made worse because it was Talos himself who made that call and never told him. As far as affecting the plot of this show, it confirmed that this fight is much bigger and more dangerous than anyone believed.

G’iah behind Enemy Lines

First things first with G’iah, episode 2 confirmed that she hadn’t betrayed her father after all and that she definitely doesn’t believe in all parts of Gravik’s cause. However, the flashback from the beginning confirmed something else: G’iah and Gravik most likely grew up together as some of the few Skrull children on Earth in the 90s. This lends itself to explaining why she hasn’t quite parted ways with him and his cause. G’iah wants to help her people and likely sees Gravik as the best way of doing so but he is beginning to put them in harms way to get what he wants. While she is in it to save Skrulls and free them, Gravik wants to take over the planet and use his people as weapons in doing so. The two of them likely used to share similar ideas and she also likely cares very deeply for Gravik, even though he is beginning to get out of hand and she knows it.

We explicitly see this when she spies on the scientists who are working to make Super Skrulls. G’iah was not informed of this because Gravik likely knew it would alienate her and you can see the shock and discomfort she feels as she uncovers more parts of the plan, especially the fact Gravik is sacrificing Skrull lives for his testing. I’m calling it now that the Super Skrulls will be the reason G’iah leaves Gravik but will stay by his side as an informant for Fury or her father in the meantime. This also spreads some light on that conversation between G’iah and Fury in the trailers, where she tells him “you don’t know what they have planned for you”. It’s very likely this is her giving insider information regarding the creation of Super Skrulls, which we edge closer to every episode.

Rhodey – Is He Who He Says He Is?

I think I speak for many of us when we say from the very start of this show we were quite suspicious of Rhodey, before he even actually made his first appearance. Now that he has, the suspicions have grown even louder. I believe the most obvious one for many is the blatant diseprect that Rhodey shows Fury during their entire conversation. Now, to be fair, these are two characters that don’t really share much screen time throughout the rest of the MCU collection but their relationship is clearly implied through Rhodey’s connection to the Avengers and Fury signing up Stark as one of the first ones back in the day. While tensions are clearly high since the Moscow attacks, the anger Rhodey seems to have towards Fury is definitely a little off, implying that an angry Skrull could instead be in his place.

Another huge moment that I immediately pinged was when Rhodey was very gung ho about calling in their ‘friends’. He got a little too excited for my taste, and Fury even knocks him down by saying he doesn’t want the Skrulls shapeshifting into the Avengers and making them fugitives (again). Of course, for us fans, that means there is a team of Avengers waiting somewhere out there so yay but in relation to this show, Rhodey’s willingness to jump the gun and call them could signal a Skrull who wants to do exactly what Fury wants to make sure doesn’t happen. Gravik does say during this episode not to worry about the Avengers, so it is implied they have a plan if they were to get involved or one to keep them out of it.

Lastly, Rhodey’s entire position in the government is definitely a little strange, as he is essentially is one of the president’s right hand men. For those who have been here awhile, you might be wondering why I’m saying this. In Endgame, Rhodey tells Secretary Ross that he regrets his decision to sign the Accords and decides instead to help the fugitive Avengers, therefore making himself a fugitive as well. So it seems a little strange that he’s now suddenly in such a high ranking position within the US government. On top of this, he himself wanted to fire Fury from SABER, a clear win for the Skrulls as it forces Fury to be cut off and even more alone than he already is. As I said, from the start Rhodey was suspicious and he’s only made a worse case for himself. If he isn’t exposed in Secret Invasion, there would be a high likelihood he will be exposed at the beginning of Armor Wars and be left to pick up the pieces his absence caused.

Does Nick Fury Know His Wife is a Skrull?

The last few moments of episode 2 gave us a partial heartattack as Fury returns home to his (Skrull) wife. From there, the internet exploded with everyone asking the same question: does Fury know his wife is a Skrull? From what Taylor and I have figured, there are 4 possibilities at play.

1. Fury knows he married a Skrull, they both just prefer she look human when together.
2. Fury doesn’t know he married a Skrull and she hides it from him.
3. Fury didn’t marry a Skrull, his wife was replaced by one.
4. Fury knows he married a Skrull but she has in his absence sided with Gravik.

Now, each of these have their own implications, but the worst two would be that Fury’s wife was replaced by a Skrull, more specifically one of Gravik’s Skrulls or that she sided with Gravik. This forces the threat into his own home, which if Gravik knew about it, would be quite the powerplay. However, I do theorize that Fury knows his wife is a Skrull and I believe that’s what makes this fight personal on yet another level for him. And it’s possible that’s why Fury lost the drive to rehome the Skrulls, when plenty seemed to assimilate themselves to Earth just fine like his wife. It will be interesting to see her character play a bigger role in the next few episodes and how complicated this could get, very quickly.

Conclusion

Episode 2 acted as a very informative episode, allowing us to see how deep this fight goes and how bad it is going to get. It set the stage for some really important storylines to create chaos as we move through the show and I have to say, I’m very excited, especially for Super Skrulls. The threat appears to just be getting worse for our buddy Fury but we will have to see what happens next. Next week, we will be reacting to episode 3 of Secret Invasion, so make sure you are keeping up with Marvel’s content so you can keep up with ours, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Secret Invasion Episode 2”, Tom Spoors, Loud and Clear Reviews