‘Secret Invasion’ could bring an ‘Across the Spider-Verse’ fave to live-action, and turn the MCU upside down

The Secret Invasion series is right around the corner, so now would be a great time to introduce one particular Spider-variant, considering how much love she’s been getting from fans thanks to her appearance in Across the Spider-Verse.

We’re talking about Jessica Drew, of course, the original Spider-Woman, who finally found her way to the silver screen in Marvel’s aforementioned animated flick earlier this month. Her character naturally became a standout in the film — she’s just plain cool — and now we can hope to see her make the leap into live-action. 

In one of the most talked about comic stories, we see Nick Fury facing off against the Skrull, a species of shapeshifting aliens capable of disguising themselves as practically anyone. Over many years, the Skrull have slowly been replacing powerful heroes in preparation for a more overt invasion. Pretty soon we’ll be seeing the story play out in live-action, and if the series is even close to the comic’s plot, then we could be seeing Spider-Woman enter the MCU.

Jessica Drew was pretty integral to the original comic book storyline as she ended up being confirmed as a Skrull in issue 42 of The New Avengers, but not just any Skrull, she was revealed to be Veranke, the queen of the Skrull and leader of the whole invasion. Of course, that’s a pretty important detail to the story, so some are hopeful that when we finally get to see it all serialized on Disney Plus, they will somehow keep that plot point from the source material.

Does Marvel Studios have the rights to the character?

It’s entirely possible that we could see Spider-Woman debut in the Secret Invasion series considering that Marvel Studios is well within its rights to use the character. Unlike many Spider-Man characters, Marvel and Sony both have the rights to the character, however, the condition is that Marvel can only depict Jessica Drew without making reference to Spider-Man.

It’s a weird agreement, but it’s similar to how Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were allowed to be used by Marvel so long as the X-Men weren’t referenced as the rights belonged to 20th Century Fox. But the important takeaway is that technically, there’s nothing stopping Jessica Drew from appearing in the show.

Bringing Spider-Woman into the MCU could also bring about a lot of changes. With Tom Holland casting some doubts over his return for a fourth Spider-Man film, maybe Marvel Studios will want to shift its focus to Spider-Woman. It could mean an end to the Sony-Marvel deal as the rights to Spider-Woman belong to both.

Will it actually happen?

But will the studio actually do it? The fact is the character of Spider-Woman hasn’t been established on screen yet. In the comics, she was already pretty well known by the time Secret Invasion came around, so when it was revealed that she had been a Skrull, it was a real shock for the reader. It wouldn’t have the same impact if she was introduced and revealed to be the leader of the Skrull within six or fewer episodes.

It needs to be a character who’s been around in the MCU for a while, someone who the audience would be surprised to find out they were a Skrull. Marvel will probably change elements for the sake of keeping in line with its own universe, which could mean airbrushing Jessica Drew from the story altogether. Just look at what they did to the Mandarin in Iron Man 3.

Even if the story is changed a little bit, that doesn’t mean that she can’t still make an appearance in the series. Some fans have even theorized that Emilia Clarke will be playing Spider-Woman, although the prevailing theory is that she will be Abigail Brand, a mutant with Pyrokinesis.

Then again, Marvel Studios has a penchant for secrecy and misdirection so it wouldn’t be too shocking if it was all an attempt to throw fans off the trail by making them believe that Clarke is Abigail and not Jessica. Some have speculated that Carmen Ejogo will be playing Abigail Brand instead, meaning that Clarke would obviously be playing someone else, and we can only hope that it’s who we think it is.

Secret Invasion arrives June 21 on Disney Plus.