Warning: This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion episode six.
Secret Invasion didn’t waste any time letting us know that Everett Ross had been one of the victims of the Skrulls. The character basically set the events of the Disney Plus show into motion in the first episode back in June, as he met a fellow CIA agent who had figured out that the Skrulls were infiltrating important organizations on Earth as well as enacting terrorist attacks.
Ross swiftly killed him, only to be chased down by Talos and get gunned down himself as his skin turned green and he reverted back to his Skrull form. Just in the first few minutes of the show, we learned that a recurring and fairly important character in the MCU had been a Skrull for an undefined period of time, effectively setting up the stage for more characters to possibly start showing their true alien selves.
It wasn’t until the finale, which aired Wednesday, July 26, that we were given a status update on the real Everett Ross. Thankfully, he is still alive and in much better condition than Rhodey — the other major Marvel character to be replaced by a Skrull. In fact, it’s the side-by-side comparison between the two men that gives us our biggest clue for how long Ross has been under the aliens’ control.
While Rhodey appears visibly emaciated, weak, and disoriented, Ross snaps out of the machine’s grip fairly quickly, immediately turning to the man on his right and asking how long he’d been there. It seems that the CIA agent had been abducted relatively recently, presumably after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Being blindsided by Marvel about the true identity of these characters doesn’t feel great. For Rhodey, the implications are immense given how long he’s probably been away, but for Ross, fans can rest a little easier knowing his deception didn’t last particularly long and what we saw in his prior outing was likely real.
Secret Invasion chose to not give us definitive answers, and instead feed us little hints that can help us put the pieces together ourselves. It’s possible that it will be a while before we know for sure just how long Ross had been replaced by a Skrull. Martin Freeman has been cryptic about when his next franchise appearance will be, telling Collider, “I never think I’ve got a future in the MCU.” It looks like we’ll have to wait and see, but for now, it’s somewhat safe to assume Ross’ past history as a character hasn’t been as severely damaged as his fellow government man.