Once again, Marvel isn’t playing with their chaotic Episode 4s.

We just had one of the most stressful and important episodes of Secret Invasion take place. Beginning with G’iah not only faking her death but the fact she became a Super Skrull to do so and then ending with Gravik taking the life of Talos in front of Fury himself. Between these two moments, a whole lot of other insane confirmations were made, including Rhodey genuinely being a Skrull and Gravik showcasing yet another Super Skrull ability. We have quite a bit to break down here, with Marvel keeping us busy. If you are looking for our full podcast episode to listen to, look no further. You can find it on your podcast listening platform of choice by clicking the button below or listen live by hitting play on the link provided.

G’iah, the Girl Who Lived

Episode 4 didn’t skip a single beat from where we ended last week, quickly providing the answer to a major question fans had been left with, which was whether G’iah was dead or not. If you were hanging out with us last week, you know we were pretty strongly on the “G’iah is dead” train, or at least up until I did the blog post when I had a change of heart and was more on the “She faked her death” train. Well, turns out, the latter was right, as she has become the girl who lived. Yet the bigger implication isn’t that she just faked her death, but that she did it by turning herself into a Super Skrull with Extremis, which allowed her to heal from her gunshot wound.

As far as we have seen in the show, G’iah is now only the second Super Skrull to have been created. Yet, the best part about her doing it is that Gravik has no clue that she did and that she is still alive. This is currently the only thing that she has over him and once she joins up with Fury, it’s the only leverage above Gravik. As G’iah is now on the good side, her having Extremis shouldn’t be a problem in the long run, although it will make her life a lot more interesting in my opinion. As a Skrull, who already has enhanced abilities, she now has made herself almost unkillable. Especially if they were able to stabilize the Extremis formula and make it safer for the host, then the options of how to take out Extremis-powered beings have become greatly limited. However, I’m starting to think this is going to end in a Skrull on Skrull fight, G’iah fighting Gravik as so far, she seems to be the only one truly capable of forcing his demise.

Otherwise, G’iah living also confirms that we should expect to see her with Fury in the next episode, as I’m sure she’ll be seeking him after the events of the final moments in episode 4. This will be the next team-up of the series, and I actually think if Secret Invasion does have a conclusion rather than leading to something bigger, then I think there’s a good chance G’iah is going to force Fury into making everything right again. The Skrulls in Gravik’s refugee camp have yet to be told G’iah betrayed them and many appeared to look up to her as a saving Grace. She would be perfect for mending the bridges between parties but is also just angry enough that she would force Fury’s hand. Now that she has ‘died’ and returned with enhancements, I expect a lot more from her character in both this show and whatever comes next.

A Skrull, Extremis, and Groot Walk into a Bar

As predicted in our episode 3 reactions, Gravik does in fact have at least two of the Super Skrull abilities. The thought did dawn on me though that it’s very possible he doesn’t have them all yet, as this is something we also talked about. He may need to allow his body to adjust to the enhancements and the reason I say this is primarily because the final two abilities, invisibility/something freezing-related and extra strength, probably could have helped him in his fight to get the president. Instead, we only saw his Groot stretching abilities and then later Extremis was used to save his life from Nick’s gunshot, leading me to believe he’s upgrading abilities as time goes on. With two more episodes left, the timing checks out rather perfectly with one more ability upgrade for each episode.

However, the most crucial part of Gravik’s new abilities isn’t that he has them, but that Fury now knows and looks absolutely terrified at the mere thought of Super Skrulls. That look on Fury’s face is what leads me to believe that the chances of Fury actually stopping Super Skrulls are super low. As I mentioned, we have two episodes left to nicely wrap up this story and Fury has been struggling enough to outsmart the Skrulls just because of their shapeshifting abilities. On top of that, he had an inside man and a Skrull bestie to help him infiltrate and get intel. Now that he’s lost Talos (more on this soon) and G’iah was exposed, Fury is even less equipped to deal with regular Skrulls, let alone enhanced ones. To those on Twitter begging for heroes like Quake to show up, I have to say, I’m starting to get closer and closer to jumping aboard that ship. Fury has very few options now without calling for some sort of help, and while I’m not sure the big Avengers are the answer in this show itself, smaller groups like friendly Inhumans might be.

Confirmed: Rhodey is a Skrull

We never were able to say it about Mephisto, but we do get to say it about Rhodey and it’s that the fandom, as a whole, was right. It honestly shouldn’t have come as too much of a shock to anyone and quite frankly, I think it would’ve been more shocking if he ended up not being a Skrull. But let’s get into the lackluster reveal and the bigger implications of Rhodey being gone.

As far as reveals go, this one felt pretty meh if I’m being honest. I think it would have a little more power behind it if the scene in the bathroom where Skrull Rhodey shifts forms as the hand wipes across the mirror was the main reveal. Instead, we all saw the reveal take place when Rhodey confronts Priscilla at the church and orders her to take out Fury. While we never saw Rhodey morph, that moment was confirmation alone that Rhodey had been taken over and was working with Gravik. Again, is anyone shocked? No.

What makes this reveal more important is the same reason Ross’ was so important, which is: how long has Rhodey been missing and replaced? I can positively say it was definitely Rhodey in Endgame, but his appearance in TFAWS was likely not him. Keep in mind, one of the reasons we had for thinking Rhodey wasn’t really himself is the job he took in the US government. That job didn’t just appear for Skrull Rhodey one day, he worked to get himself into that position and be trusted by the president, meaning it hasn’t been Rhodey for quite some time, as Endgame Rhodey wouldn’t have taken that job. Yet, with Armor Wars on the horizon, we have to think Rhodey will be back, the real one, for what is supposed to be one of his big moments. Quite frankly, Armor Wars is likely going to be our Rhodey picking up the pieces of going missing for years and playing government with the president rather than taking over for Tony and his legacy. At this point, the question is how we will get our Rhodey back and not so much when, as I theorize it will have to be by the end of this show for Armor Wars to get set up properly. Nothing else on the slate will likely tie too much into those characters and the storyline, at least the content that has been confirmed.

Is Talos Really Dead?

I might have been pretty wrong about G’iah initially in our podcast when I said she was definitely dead. However, I don’t think I’m going to be quite as wrong in saying the chances of Talos really being gone are quite high. Putting aside the obvious reasons of him turning back into Skrull form and Fury deciding to leave him behind, the greatest proof of his death was Fury’s reaction and how he was killed. To the first point, Fury was actively going to go back to get an injured Talos away from the fight and to safety with the president. Instead, he realized that Gravik was disguising himself and had a hold of Talos. Fury plans for a lot, but I don’t think he anticipated Talos not only getting injured, but Gravik so easily getting his hands on him. He knew once Gravik showed himself that his friend’s life was likely over and his face showed that. But secondly, any fake death would likely have been less chaotic. Talos not only was injured first, showing no signs of something like Extremis to heal himself but then was viciously slain by Gravik. This wasn’t a gunshot wound and I have a feeling Fury was aware of his friend’s life being gone, as he had to choose to leave him there and get the president away.

Beyond all the moments in the scene itself, Talos’ death was one that I predicted from the very beginning, even if I wasn’t entirely correct about why his death would be so important. I initially suggested it would be the driving force behind G’iah switching sides, but we all saw that her mother’s death was what put that into motion. Instead, I think Talos’ death is going to be the driving force in G’iah cementing her allegiance with Fury and working to take down Gravik, as he took both her parents from her. For Fury, it once again is a strike against him and might be the moment he decides he can’t do this alone, needing backup in some way.

Varra vs Priscilla, Who is Fury’s Wife?

The final thing I want to address is the conversation that takes place between Fury and Priscilla. The conversation, while odd since they were actively both possibly going to take a shot at the other, literally, proved one thing to us about Fury. Fury’s blindspot might have been marrying a Skrull, but it wasn’t because he loved Varra. From the conversation, it appeared that Varra did everything perfectly to make Fury fall in love with Priscilla, even as the real Priscilla lay dying in the hospital. Fury fell for the version he was presented, even though he knew it wasn’t actually real. We get this confirmation at the very end when Varra asks if he would have actually loved her if she had been herself and he coldly answers that we will never know.

It’s interesting because the cold and calculating Nick Fury allowed himself one moment of weakness, a moment he knew would end eventually. He always knew he was with a Skrull but they both pretended she wasn’t. He admits that she was his blindspot all these years, yet it makes sense that now she has stopped pretending that their ‘marriage’ would fall apart. On top of that, while there is a level of care for one another, it almost was all built on a lie. This is why they couldn’t kill each other, but also why they stand so separately in where their futures are going to go. I’m sure Varra will disappear now, as Gravik won’t be happy that she didn’t kill Fury. Whether or not we run across Varra in the future is probably one of the better questions. Either way, it’s moments of this show such as this one that is what make it so great, as it humanizes a man we never saw as anything more than a spy, one willing to make the hard choices, always.

Conclusion

We have not been disappointed by this show yet and episode 4 made sure we left more shocked than we started. With so many big moments, episode 5 is on par to be just as crazy, if not even more as we start gearing for the finale of Secret Invasion. We will be here next week, doing the same thing by breaking down episode 5 and spewing theories for everyone to chew on. In the meantime, if you haven’t listened to our podcast episode, go give it a listen. Don’t forget to keep up with Secret Invasion episodes, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Secret Invasion Episode 4”, Cameron Frew, Dexerto