Secret Invasion looks set to be a major change of pace for the MCU. While the comic book the Disney+ series shares a name with was an action-packed epic, this version will be an espionage thriller that puts Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury front and centre.
Talking to Empire Online, Secret Invasion director Ali Selim shared some of the main sources of inspiration for this story. "We talked a lot about classic espionage noir, like The Third Man," he explains. "As Nick moves through it, he walks out of a noir and into a Western. He becomes the lone gunslinger walking down Main Street looking for bad guys to vanquish."
"We go from The Third Man to John Wayne in The Searchers, and Sam walks effortlessly from one into the next."
The filmmaker went on to tease what we can expect from Kingsley Ben-Adir's villainous Skrull rebel Gravik. "[He] is not just a bad guy with a bomb," Selim says. "His story and how he came to this grievance is clearly explored here. That doesn’t just refer back to movie history and noir; it refers to our times today."
A new still from Secret Invasion has also been released featuring Ben Mendelsohn's Talos. Many fans believe that's Dermot Mulroney's character next to him, though as set photos have confirmed he's playing the U.S. President, we're not 100% convinced about that!
In 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 show 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 and Olivia Colman, and Don Cheadle.
Secret Invasion arrives on Disney+ on June 21!