Credit: Marvel StudiosThe Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has been off to a turbulent start since the end of Phase Three with the completion of the enormously successful, Avengers: Endgame in 2019. Phase Four and Five have had the formidable task of following up on this global phenomenon while starting on a nearly clean slate as many of the major story arcs of the previous three phases came to their conclusions. Unfortunately, these latest phases have been a rollercoaster of quality storytelling versus action-driven mediocrity.
This inconsistency has led to a fatigue resulting in declining viewership. Marvel’s Secret Invasion finale has continued this slump with an 8% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and disappointed fan reactions. Its controversial ending has now prompted the director, Ali Selim, to respond to the naysayers.
Much of the criticism Secret Invasion has incurred is due to the climax in the final episode. The final entry involved the antagonist, the Skrull leader, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), leveraging the start of World War III if Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) did not bring him The Harvest. This mysterious item was a formula that would give whoever ingested it the powers of the Avengers.
The one-eyed spy brought the elixir, Gravik proceeded to give a villain monologue, consumed the formula and went in for a killing blow. Yet, Fury blocked the hit to Gravik’s surprise. Fury revealed that he was actually the Skrull warrior, G’iah (Emilia Clarke), who has also consumed the super-powered concoction. The two Skrulls engaged in a CGI-filled slugfest that ultimately led to the hero being victorious.
Nick Fury’s real mission was to save the president (Dermot Mulroney) at the hospital and kill fake Rhodey. He succeeded and eventually returned back to his space station with his wife as the enraged American commander-in-chief declared war on the Skrulls.
Many fans have criticized the climax because it failed to fully resolve the conflict, develop the characters properly and ended with a short, underwhelming battle. Showrunner/director, Ali Selim, expressed that he was surprised by the mixed criticisms, but also does not read them. He continued that the unresolved ending was intentional because “Nick Fury has to have some opposition as we leave the series.”
He stated that they had the choice to give a “Pollyanna” (happy) ending, but wanted an ending with guts to it. The battle is ongoing and “it is up to two strong, beautiful women, G’iah and Sonya (Olivia Coleman) to come in and fix it.” Selim elaborated that the U.S. President’s hateful speech was an overreaction based on fear. He felt it was a more truthful and earnest response. The director also wanted to leave the MCU American president as a potential villain in the future.
The Secret Invasion showrunner believed that there was a “lovely resolution to the story.” Sonya and G’iah’s team-up at the end set up something potentially interesting. As for Fury’s fate, Selim confessed that he was given caveats to the big Marvel characters. He was required to make sure that Nick Fury would go back up to his space station and that Rhodey could still not use his legs. These directives were to set up their character arcs in other Marvel projects.
It has become clearer that Marvel Studios’ struggle with their Post-Endgame projects are due to a lack of a specific direction. The first three phases were all building up to the rise of Thanos, which gave every Marvel character an inevitable goal that connected them all. The last two phases have introduced the Multiverse and Kang, but the connective tissue that should link all of Marvels projects is not cohesive enough. Lastly, Marvel’s desperation to keep the universe connected has prioritized future set-ups, more than having strong, character-driven stories.
What do you think of the director’s comments? Is Marvel fatigue real or are fans just overbearing?