Having become so synonymous with the fake-out death that nobody buys it for a second anymore, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has only gone ahead and murdered two prominent female characters in the first three episodes of Secret Invasion. Or so we’ve been told.
Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill bit the dust in the premiere to leave viewers shocked and appalled, while the most recent installment saw Emilia Clarke’s G’iah take a bullet to the chest at the hands of Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik. Of course, nobody bought it for a single second thanks to the franchise’s penchant for fakery and f*ckery when it comes to death, but a forgotten slip-up on the studio’s part could offer a logical explanation.
From almost the second Clarke was first announced as part of the Secret Invasion ensemble, fans speculated that she’d be playing S.W.O.R.D. figurehead Abigail Brand, which was seemingly confirmed when Marvel accidentally revealed that was indeed the name of her character.
Cue mass confusion when she was instead confirmed as Talos’ daughter, then, but what if there’s another switcheroo on the cards? After all, we know the Skrulls keep humans captive when they assume their identities, so what if G’iah really is kaput, and somebody breaks into the holding facility to free the person Clarke was impersonating, who just so happens to be called Abigail Brand?
It’s technically not a fake-out death, and allows the popular star to carry on in the MCU, so it’s not exactly outside the realms of possibility for it to be revealed over the final three chapters of Secret Invasion.