Just when everyone thought things were beginning to look up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 delivered the return to form the franchise was in desperate need of, Secret Invasion has debuted to reviews that took everyone by surprise based entirely on how lukewarm they were.
The prospect of the biggest brand in the business tackling political intrigue and espionage-driven subterfuge in a hard-boiled thriller headlined by Samuel L. Jackson was a mouthwatering prospect on paper, but the early consensus is that the six-episode series has failed to maximize its potential.
In fact, at the time of writing Secret Invasion still only holds a Rotten Tomatoes approval rating of 67 percent, which makes it the fourth worst-reviewed episodic offering of the entire Marvel Studios era, a development that nobody could have predicted even as recently as 24 hours ago.
At the very bottom of the pile – and deservedly so – is the disastrous Inhumans with an entirely warranted 11 percent score, followed by the equally-dire Iron Fist‘s 37 percent average across its two seasons. Next up in the hall of shame is somewhat surprisingly Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher on 64 percent, with Secret Invasion currently languishing way behind The Defenders, which is directly above it on the aggregation site with a 78 percent rating.
That’s right; the hotly-hyped Skrull storyline has curried less favor with critics than She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and that’s only one reason why it’s such a shock to discover just how negative the initial response has been.
Published: Jun 15, 2023 02:53 am