Oh, Secret Invasion, at this point we’ve lost count of how many ways the once wildly promising series let us down. The finale, with its truncated runtime, generic final fight, and laughably lacking CGI (not the fault of the VFX workers, though, I’m sure) is officially the lowest-rated slice of the MCU of all time, and for good reason. But even as the Nick Fury vehicle speeds ever further away in our rearview mirror, while we await I Am Groot and Loki‘s second seasons, there are still more criticisms to be made.
Although whether they are actually valid or not is up to individual opinion. The latest Secret Invasion hate thread doing the rounds on Reddit claims that another of the show’s biggest missed opportunities is that it failed to feature the Fantastic Four. The OP argued that the Skrull invasion could’ve been used to explain the team’s MCU origins, tying them into the backstory of Earth-616 and even connecting the rise of Kang the Conqueror to the coming of Galactus.
Ambitious stuff, for sure, but honestly that’s probably why it never would’ve happened. As one cynical commenter responded, “They’re not going to introduce characters as important as the Fantastic Four in a TV show.”
While we don’t know if the FF were ever on the table, the way the Super-Skulls’ powers were clearly based on the Four’s abilities — Groot/Mr Fantastic, Extremis/Human Torch, Cull Obsidian/Thing, and Frost Giant/Invisible Woman — suggests Secret Invasion was forbidden from wading into the Fantastic Four end of the MCU pool early on in its story development.
Even so, it’s hard not to feel embittered that Marvel has refused to offer any kind of tease at the team’s imminent arrival when the Fantastic Four reboot is getting ever closer, with it currently due for May 2025. Besides, Secret Invasion made so many mistakes, we might as well throw another one on the pile.