What to watch before starting Marvel Studios’ ‘Secret Invasion’

We can’t really say we blame you if you’ve fallen behind on all the latest developments in the MCU following the thrilling conclusion of the Infinity Saga arc in Avengers: Endgame. Besides a few notable outliers, the quality of the biggest superhero franchise in the world has been middling ever since – and whatever your stance on superhero fatigue is; box office numbers and reception (both from critics and punters) paint a pretty clear picture – we haven’t been showing up anywhere near as much since.

With the debut of the MCU’s latest Disney Plus series Secret Invasion, we’re hoping for something of a return to form – particularly as it brings the franchise back to a thrilling espionage-style premise that has almost always been well-received ever since Captain America: The Winter Soldier. However, there may be a little bit of catching up to do before we go diving into the series headfirst.

What to watch before Secret Invasion

Of course, there’s a pretty valid argument to be made that you should just go ahead and start from the MCU’s beginning with 2008’s Iron Man. After all, the show’s leading man Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) has been around since day one. But let’s presume that you’re an adult with responsibilities and simply don’t have time to watch tens of movies and hours upon hours worth of television just for the sake of catching this miniseries. We get it – so with that in mind, let’s go over the essential Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D-related material you should refamiliarize yourself with:

Captain Marvel

Perhaps the single most essential bit of viewing ahead of Secret Invasion is Brie Larson’s 2019 debut as the supremely powerful Captain Marvel. Not only is it a very Nick Fury-heavy tale, it also introduced us to the Skrulls, an alien race which came to live on Earth in the 1990s. The Skrulls have since had a rogue faction split off from other peaceful inhabitants, hell-bent on taking the planet for itself, setting up the premise of Secret Invasion.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

The S.H.I.E.L.D-centric (and still phenomenal) Captain America sequel not only shares Secret Invasion’s overall ‘titillating espionage’ vibe, it was also a significant milestone for the organization in question. It serves as a nice refresher as to why S.H.I.E.L.D is in the state that it’s in, and why Fury has such limited resources to tackle the impending Skrull threat in the latest series.

Avengers: Infinity War / Avengers: Endgame

Not only was the two part culmination of the Infinity Saga an absolutely staggering moment for pop culture in general, it also explored an enormous turning point in the MCU as a whole, and a recurring point of discussion throughout Secret Invasion – The Blip. While Fury wasn’t all that involved in the events of these two films, it’s still worth revisiting. Honestly, we’ll take any excuse to watch that climactic battle in the final act of Endgame.

Spider-Man: Far From Home

While Infinity War and Endgame took us through the ‘macro’ of the Blip, Tom Holland’s second solo outing as our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man explores the ‘micro’ effects on Peter Parker and his high school pals, who now all have weird age gaps depending on which of the indiscriminate 50 percent of the universe’s population they landed in. While the majority of the film isn’t a direct tie to Secret Invasion, there are a few sequences (including its post-credits scenes) that catch us up on what Fury’s been up to since he was ‘blipped’ back into existence, including how he ended up in outer space.

Bonus points

While the above entries in the MCU are probably the most important points to hit before diving into Secret Invasion, there are a few optional flicks that you can revisit, if only for the sake of reacquainting oneself with recurring-not-so-super government and/or S.H.I.E.L.D operatives such as Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) and Everett Ross (Martin Freeman).

For the former, we’d suggest the original Avengers from 2012. And for the latter, the two Black Panther movies. The pair also have small parts to play in Captain America: Civil War. As far as Nick Fury is concerned, as we outlined earlier – you may as well go ahead and rewatch the entirety of the MCU if you want the most comprehensive refresher on the franchise mainstay, which, again would more or less defeat the purpose of this article.

Whichever approach you end up taking, all of the above can thankfully be found on Marvel’s streaming home, Disney Plus. Once you’re all caught up, the first episode of Secret Invasion is now streaming on the very same platform.