SECRET INVASION Director Says First Thing Marvel Studios Told Him Was: "Don't Read The Comics"

SECRET INVASION Director Says First Thing Marvel Studios Told Him Was: "Don't Read The Comics"

Secret Invasion director Ali Selim has revealed that Marvel Studios advised him to stay away from the comic books when he signed on to helm the Disney+ series...

By MarkCassidy - Jun 22, 2023 08:06 AM EST
Filed Under: Secret Invasion

The first episode of Secret Invasion is now streaming on Disney+, and if you've read the Marvel Comics event that the series is named after, you should already have realized that this is far from a direct adaptation.

The basic premise of a shape-shifting alien race known as the Skrulls infiltrating positions of power on Earth and plotting to take over the planet remains the same, but the original story was much larger in scale and featured pretty much every major character in the Marvel Universe.

While speaking to Screen Rant, director Ali Selim, who helmed all six episodes of the shadowy espionage thriller, revealed that someone at Marvel Studios advised him to avoid the comics completely when he signed on to the project.

"The first thing I was told is don't read the comics," Selim said. "It had nothing to do with what we're trying to do here."

"This story was really born out of the electricity created between Sam Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn or Nick Fury and Talos in Captain Marvel," he continued. "And they said, 'Oh, we got to do something with that.' So they found a story that would serve that relationship and would expand the MCU and other characters who are not in the comic books. I think it's a story unto itself."

This happens more than you might think - especially when the TV series or movie in question is only loosely inspired by its source material - but it still tends to ruffle a few feathers!

What do you make of Selim's comments? Do you think the comic books should still be referenced? Be sure to share your thoughts down below.

"In Marvel Studios’ new series Secret Invasion, set in the present day MCU, Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity."

The series stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Martin Freeman, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Charlayne Woodard, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi, Dermot Mulroney, Christopher McDonald, Katie Finneran, with Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle.

Ali Selim directs and executive-produces, along with fellow executive producers Kevin Feige, Jonathan Schwartz, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Samuel L. Jackson, Ali Selim, Kyle Bradstreet and Brian Tucker. Kyle Bradstreet is also the head writer, and Jennifer L. Booth, Allana Williams and Brant Englestein serve as co-executive producers.

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Spoken
Spoken - 6/22/2023, 8:19 AM
Oh boy….
lvcl
lvcl - 6/22/2023, 9:55 AM
@Spoken -

MCU going from bad to worse...

MARVEL fans...

Variant
Variant - 6/22/2023, 11:32 AM
@lvcl - Nah. This is a dumb thing to jump to conclusions about.
jst5
jst5 - 6/22/2023, 11:54 AM
@lvcl - Marvel is trying to battle DC at this point for being the most clueless....and that sucks to know DC is in that shape being a huge DC fan since the 70's!
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 8:21 AM
Variant
Variant - 6/22/2023, 8:24 AM
@ObserverIO - Was Infinity War a direct copy from the comics? Hardly a big deal.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 8:36 AM
@Variant - Have the Russos ever read the comics? Yes, they have.
The Russos nearly even recreated the motion lines on Thanos' snap.

It is a big deal. And makes a significant difference.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/22/2023, 8:39 AM
@Variant , @ObserverIO -


There's actually a scene from backstage that shows a tome of the Infinity Gauntlet omnibus with notes from Feige, that both Russos and Markus McFeely were encouraged to read. That, and Hickman's more recent Infinity.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 8:43 AM
@DrReedRichards - That is so cool, is that on the physical media or online?
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/22/2023, 8:44 AM
@ObserverIO -

I think it was in one of the featuretes promoting Infinity War prior to the first trailer, after SDCC'17? Let me see if I can find it.
DrReedRichards
DrReedRichards - 6/22/2023, 8:52 AM
@ObserverIO -

Found it! You can see the tome at 1:08 and 2:15.


ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 9:23 AM
@DrReedRichards - That is dope. Thanks for finding that. I actually remember that video but I never saw that Infinity Gauntlet book. All those notes in there! That's passion for the source material right there.
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 6/22/2023, 10:00 AM
@ObserverIO - Some of these people here just baffle me. They claim to be comic book fans, and come to a site called “comic book” movie but they are quite content when studios flats fly disregard the comic book source material .
And they will defend Marvel no matter how badly they damage the franchise.
dagenspear
dagenspear - 6/22/2023, 10:05 AM
@Variant - Has anyone stated that it had to be a direct copy?
supermanrex
supermanrex - 6/22/2023, 10:16 AM
@TyrantBossMedia - dude its another universe events happen differently here. but they are staying true to the source material in that it involves skrulls secretly invading earth. if you thought it was going to be a orgy of super hero and villain cameos revealed as skrulls your crazy. that shit only worked in the comic story. how is this a bad thing?
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 6/22/2023, 10:45 AM
@supermanrex - It's not a different universe though. In Doctor Strange MoM they called it Earth 616 which is exactly the universe in the comics.

Originally it was Earth 199999 which would have made it different from the Comic Book Earth 616, but then made it 616.

And I had no preconceptions about this show, and I have not yet watched it, and I don't know if I will because most of post Infinity War Marvel has been underwhelming to me.
My point is specifically, as I stated below and above, if your writers for the show are told not to read the comic books, and then Marvel wants to deviate as from from the comic books as they can....then expect fans to be disappointed and less interested.

But some here, like you clearly, will defend Marvel no matter how bad a product they put out.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 11:16 AM
@supermanrex - " if you thought it was going to be a orgy of super hero and villain cameos revealed as skrulls your crazy. that shit only worked in the comic story."

Can you imagine what The Avengers would have been like if they had gone by that logic? No superhero orgy because that shit only worked in the comics?

No this?
Variant
Variant - 6/22/2023, 11:31 AM
@ObserverIO - Now you're making it about something different. I never said NEVER read the comics. And obviously reading the comics will give a writer / director information about the story they're adapting. But my point is that, not reading the comics to derive specific things isn't a big deal. And my comparison to IW is that it doesn't need to be a carbon copy to maintain the essence.

@DrReedRichards
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 12:00 PM
@Variant - Well you never said that, but the article is about Marvel saying "Don't read the comics", you were responding in defence of that by saying it's "Hardly a big deal".
Ryguy88
Ryguy88 - 6/22/2023, 12:42 PM
@Variant - you still hope the director has read and understands the source material though.
supermanrex
supermanrex - 6/22/2023, 5:13 PM
@TyrantBossMedia - its CLEARLY another universe different than the comics dude. C'mon man, dont be so edgy that you just parody yourself and come off as weird.
supermanrex
supermanrex - 6/22/2023, 5:23 PM
@ObserverIO - you obviously didnt read the original secret invasion or you would know what i was referring to. alot of the characters that made that such a good story line in the books are not even introduced in the MCU yet and to just have random ass new characters popping up to be revealed as skrulls wont have the impact the comics had. cause people wont feel betrayed by a character who was just introduced to only be a skrull. this example you give is not a super hero cameo orgy. they are all established and earned their place to come together after being fleshed out in other projects. it took time to get to this point and fans felt invested. throwing in rando heros with no MCU past but serve as cool cameo will feel cheap and silly.
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 6/22/2023, 5:31 PM
@supermanrex - Hey they're the ones who made it Earth 616. You can't have two Earth 616's.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 5:50 PM
@supermanrex - I did read it. But I can see what you meant now.
Of course they do have some of the heroes, so they could have done a much closer adaptation in the vein of Civil War. They didn't just choose to make Civil War a SHIELD thing with #TeamFury and #TeamHill instead of #TeamCap and #TeamStark.
marvel72
marvel72 - 6/22/2023, 8:27 PM
@Variant - No it wasn't but parts of it was taken from the comics.
Variant
Variant - 6/23/2023, 8:15 AM
@Ryguy88 - Yes of course. Don't completely ignore the source material. But with things like this, I think it's so easy for people to jump to a conclusion. With a little thought, we can discern that they didn't mean to downright ignore the source material but to not get too attached to it. That's the context of what's being said here.

But they're clearly maintaining the essence of the storyline.
supermanrex
supermanrex - 6/23/2023, 9:57 AM
@TyrantBossMedia - its all fake. they can have as many as they want.
TyrantBossMedia
TyrantBossMedia - 6/23/2023, 10:30 AM
@supermanrex - That’s ridiculous:
Variant
Variant - 6/22/2023, 8:22 AM
It's important to remember the films and shows are not the comics. We should still certainly be maintaining the essence of the characters and the storylines, but if they're direct copies, we depart from creativity, originality, and ultimately we'll just always know what happens next.
Usernametaken
Usernametaken - 6/22/2023, 8:34 AM
@Variant - Then don't call it Secret Invasion...
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 8:41 AM
@Variant - That's why I never watch Shakespeare or Agatha Christie. That's why I didn't go see Lord of the Rings or the Harry Potter movies or The Godfather trilogy.

I have to stop myself from listing any more because the point I am making is so good that I will literally be all day today and probably for the next few months just listing films and plays, etc. It'd probably be like a decade long project just to make a list like that. That's how good my point is.
Origame
Origame - 6/22/2023, 8:54 AM
@Variant -...how can they maintain the essence of the characters and storyline when they aren't reading the comics?
dagenspear
dagenspear - 6/22/2023, 10:03 AM
@Variant - It's pretty hard to maintain the essence of the characters and storylines, if you don't actually know what happens in it.
Clintthahamster
Clintthahamster - 6/22/2023, 10:10 AM
@dagenspear - But the characters and storylines from the comics aren't what this TV show is about. Like, at all. It's a show that has Skrulls, and that's where the similarities end.
Variant
Variant - 6/22/2023, 11:27 AM
@Origame - @Usernametaken - Are the Skrulls secretly invading? Yes they are.
Origame
Origame - 6/22/2023, 11:44 AM
@Variant - ...actually they aren't. Fury Already knew about the attack. And the skulls have lived on earth for many years. A more accurate title would be "known domestic terrorism".

But even if it were accurate, you're idea of staying true to the essence of the characters and storyline is to make the title still make sense?

ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 6/22/2023, 12:05 PM
@Origame - Lets remake Spider-Man and do it about a guy named Pete who works for pest control. If you've got a spider problem, he's your man. Pete, the Spider-Man.

What? The name still makes sense and he's even called Pete like in the comics?
Origame
Origame - 6/22/2023, 12:12 PM
@ObserverIO - let's make a movie about a shrimp boat captain named Marco America and call it captain america.

But seriously, it's sad we're at the point where sony is giving us more accurate movies than the mcu. And what he said about the title isn't even as bad as what they've been saying about she hulk. Apparently being a comedy about lawyers and breaking the fourth wall is enough for that show to be super accurate.
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