In today's Secret Invasion premiere, we learn the Skrulls - who were promised a home by Nick Fury and Captain Marvel but never actually received one - are hellbent on making Earth their own.
That could eventually lead to humanity's extinction and it seems like only Nick, Maria Hill, and Talos currently stand in Gravik's way. Talos' daughter, G'iah, appears to have a change of heart upon learning of her leader's plans and helps the three heroes stop a bombing which could result in a war between America and Russia.
Alas, Gravik manages to outsmart the former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director and, as the bombs go off, he taunts Nick by changing into various people we've seen the one-eyed badass encounter throughout the episode.
Fury eventually calls out to Maria...and guns her down.
It was Gravik, and as he makes his escape, Maria dies in Nick's arms after saying, "It was you." Tragically, it appears as if she dies believing one of her closest friends and allies killed her, and before you start theorising that she's a Skrull, the final shot establishes that can't be the case.
Unlike another character in "Resurrection," Maria doesn't revert to her alien form at the moment of death meaning this is indeed the real deal. And she's dead!
Marvel Studios first brought Cobie Smulders into the fold as Maria Hill in 2012's The Avengers. Despite being one of Fury's biggest detractors and an antagonist to Earth's Mightiest Heroes (she tried to arrest Captain America and forcibly unmasked Spider-Man) on the page, her MCU counterpart has largely been a supporting player.
Many of you likely hoped to see her take on a much larger role in Secret Invasion, but unfortunately, her time as part of this shared world has reached its end.
How do you feel about Maria's shocking death in the Secret Invasion premiere?