‘Secret Invasion’s violent ending may have ruined Captain Marvel’s reputation in the MCU

Carol is already shouldering a lot of blame — for not being there when Monica’s mom died, for not rushing to aid Earth-616 when Thanos attacked, and for joining the second battle a little too late. And now, courtesy of the messy note Secret Invasion ended on, Captain Marvel now has a big target on her back.

Now, this is strictly in-universe, as in the real world, Brie Larson has established beyond any doubts (ones that only trolls seemed to harbor, anyway) that she has not joined the MCU to “prove herself” — she already did that long before she became Captain Marvel. But in the MCU, especially in its OG reality, Captain Marvel will have a hard time revamping her reputation now, unless things take a miraculous turn out of the blue in The Marvels.

In its insane bid to be illogically shocking, Secret Invasion employed many unexpected and unwarranted plot twists. While we are still hung up on the pointless deaths of Maria Hill and Talos, the real curveball was thrown our way by the dear U.S. President Ritson, by announcing that he has introduced a bill that will, from here on, recognize every alien that sets foot on Earth as enemy combatants. Directly burned by the Skrulls — for he trusted one with his life for years — Ritson also openly threatens any extraterrestrial being, and claims every one of them will be killed.

Wow, he is pissed. And what’s more, his words and palpable anger have given others the chance to openly target anyone they think are Skrulls, while hiding their original agenda, and killing them without the fear of consequences.

While we know that a change in authority is right around the corner — Harrison Ford will become the new president in Captain America 4 — it would be childish to expect that the MCU’s Congress didn’t pass Ritson’s bloody bill, as Gravik and the Skrulls did manage to kill thousands of innocent bystanders, and infiltrated the highest ranks of the government with plans of staging a grand coup.

So, while Fury walked away, scot-free, after saving the president, even though he played a big role in keeping the Skrulls on Earth, guess who will now shoulder the brunt of the blame? Yep, Captain Marvel. She is the one who gave Fury agency to make promises to the Skrulls about finding them a home, and it is not a secret. Imagine the kind of reception she would now receive on Earth — the efforts she put in to thwart Thanos already paled in comparison to Tony Stark’s sacrifice, and with the destruction the Skrulls caused, she will now be remembered as the reason the aliens were able to wreck so much havoc.

As the trio is expected to keep switching places in The Marvels, only Nov. 10 will tell if Carol will get a taste of the brewing anger towards her on Earth during her short, glitchy stays on the planet.