Prior to the release of Secret Invasion on Disney Plus, Marvel had already dampened the collective spirit of the fandom with lackluster installments on both the big and small screen. Given that the namesake of this particular TV series was steeped in a major moment in Marvel comic history, hopes were high for a thrilling, riveting, and just overall plain good story, as was the case with its comic book counterpart. Alas, we got the opposite of that.
One of the most contentious points among viewers — aside from that atrocious finale — was the sheer creative license the show took in deviating from its comic book origins. Major aspects from the page were either changed completely or left out entirely, something Samuel L. Jackson briefly touched upon in behind-the-scenes footage from Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Secret Invasion on Disney Plus.
“I’ve been having conversations about a Nick Fury series for a long time. So when it came up, or came about, that they were going to do Secret Invasion I was pretty chuffed about it, and not knowing what that story was I had to go back and find that particular storyline in the comic books. That doesn’t necessarily follow that but once we started dealing with the Skrulls and the Kree in Captain Marvel, that’s when things started to bubble in that particular way.”
Jackson’s glossed-over comment doesn’t highlight just how vast the differences between the Secret Invasion television series and the Secret Invasion comics really are. In the comics, there is no Harvest; in the comics, beloved Marvel characters weren’t needlessly killed off; in the comics, even the entire reason for the Skrull invasion is different.
The show’s director Ali Salim corroborated these issues when he spoke with IGN ahead of its premiere and confirmed that Marvel specifically told him not to read the Secret Invasion comics in preparation of developing the six-episode series. “This series was more born out of the electric relationship that was created between Nick Fury and Talos or Samuel L. Jackson in Ben Mendelson in Captain Marvel,” Salim said.
According to Salim, the Secret Invasion comics were simply the launching pad upon which the Disney Plus series was meant to operate. They were not intended to serve as fodder for an accurate adaptation, sadly.
Creative changes are all fine and dandy and typically par for the course for any Marvel adaption, but if wants to be celebrated for its boldness it has to stick the landing, which this mediocre espionage thriller absolutely did not.
Marvel as a whole has done a relatively good job of adapting its source material to the current, modern storytelling landscape. Perhaps its track record for not completely ruining entire comic book storylines was the main reason Secret Invasion was so jarring to the fandom, aside from ending up looking like a haphazardly stitched-together patchwork quilt.
You can catch more insight into the dizzying creation of Secret Invasion, including how all those DNA samples were collected from the Battle of Earth (you’ve been warned), by watching Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Secret Invasion, now streaming on Disney Plus.