‘I never had a chance to work with her’: ‘Secret Invasion’ has apparently wiped the memory of a $774m superhero franchise from Samuel L. Jackson’s mind

Nobody’s denying Samuel L. Jackson‘s never-ending loyalty to the MCU. The guy’s had to star in such Marvel duds as Iron Man 2 and Secret Invasion and he’s still eager to come back for more. It seems that the Nick Fury icon is so loyal to Marvel Studios, in fact, that he erases the memory of his other superhero projects not made by the House of Ideas from his mind. At least, that’s how it appears going by a shocking amnesiac assertion Jackson has just made in Marvel’s latest Disney Plus release.

In Marvel Studios Assembled: The Making of Secret Invasion, streaming now, Jackson reflects on working with his old friend Charlayne Woodard on the recent six-part series. It’s touching to know how much these two pals getting to share the screen in the MCU meant to Jackson, but fans of a certain comic book-inspired trilogy that earned $774 million at the box office and spanned 20 years may feel a little put out by his comments.

“Charlayne Woodard is a friend of mine that I’ve known for a very long time,” Jackson recalls. “Back in the ’70s and ’80s, when all of us were, you know, pounding the pavement and doing plays and doing all this other stuff. She’s fascinating to work with and I never had a chance to work with her, we’ve just been friends forever. So, all of a sudden, we’re working together, so that’s an amazing kind of thing.”

Yes, despite Jackson’s claim that he and Woodard have “never had the chance” to work together before, they actually have. Twice, in fact. Specifically, they both starred in 2001’s Unbreakable and its surprise belated sequel, 2021’s Glass. Despite Woodard being five years younger than him, she played the mother of Jackson’s supervillain character, Mr. Glass, the nemesis of Bruce Willis’ superhero David Dunn, in M. Night Shyamalan’s ambitious trilogy which also encompasses 2017’s Split.

I guess in a friendship that encompasses 50 years of their lives, not to mention a movie career that includes a whopping 200 credits, it’s fair enough that Jackson briefly forgot that he and Woodard have made two films together before this Marvel show. It’s just that his momentary memory lapse is ironic as many a Marvel fan would love to forget that Secret Invasion ever happened.