Credit: Marvel StudiosAlthough its first episode just dropped on Disney+, the pilot for Marvel’s Secret Invasion tells us a lot about the state of the MCU. While Nic Fury might be fighting his last battle against an army of rogue Skrull, he’s also fighting some inner turmoil brought on by surviving the Blip. Fury’s condition not only shows us how much the character has changed since we last saw him, but redefines what we know about the Thanos Snap.
Known in the canon as “The Blip,” Thanos wiped out half the universe at the end of Marvel’s Infinity War, but those who were rendered to ashes were soon brought back in the sequel. However, Fury is showing some behavior that the event didn’t just wipe them out of the universe; they died.
How Marvel Killed Their Heroes
Minor Spoilers Ahead!
Comic book logic dictates that if a hero dies, they never stay dead very long. While this is certainly true for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the weight of death didn’t really take effect until Secret Invasion. Like many others in the franchise, Nic Fury was one of the many brought back from oblivion in Avengers: Endgame, but as Maria Hill points out, he’s not the same.
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Fury is obviously dealing with some serious PTSD regarding the events of the Infinity War, but the fact that he has come back from the dead presents an element that should have every Marvel fan on high alert. This is something that is going to affect future characters and events, and Fury isn’t the only one who’s been experiencing these changes.
Bucky Barnes, Doctor Strange, Peter Parker, Maria Hill, and Nic Fury are just a few Marvel mainstays that were wiped out of existence before coming back for Endgame, but no one comes back from the dead without being permanently changed. Although characters like Spider-Man have adapted and tried to move on, others are permanently changed after the ordeal.
The most blatant example are the Guardians of the Galaxy, as Star-Lord, Groot, Drax, and Mantis all vanished at the Thanos snap. In Guardians 3, their mental and emotional damage brought on by their resurrections. They still have their lively personalities, but their antics are noticeably toned down compared to how they were before the event.
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Both Nic Fury and the Guardians prove that the Thanos Snap wasn’t just a standard-issue cataclysmic event seen in many superhero movies, but something that wiped out millions. Half of our favorite heroes were killed, full-stop, D-E-A-D, dead, and now we’re seeing the consequences. Fury might be the focus, but he’s definitely not the only one going through this as Marvel has truly redefined what we know about the Blip.
What do you think this means for the MCU? Let Inside the Magic know in the comments down below!