Much like a Skrull itself, Secret Invasion appeared to be one thing at the outset but ended up being something totally different once we got to know it. The Samuel L. Jackson vehicle was pegged as being the most mature, darkest MCU entry yet, a noirish conspiracy thriller with a political edge. Except, by the notorious finale, it had descended into the kind of over-egged superpowered smackdown that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law had thoroughly roasted a year before.
What’s more, the realization of the flawed concept of the final battle only added insult to injury. Gravik and G’iah’s Super-Skrull death-match was brought to life with some truly head-scratching visual decisions. We get it, the Super-Skrulls can copy the powers of any of the beings whose DNA makes up the Harvest. But how does that explain Gravik being able to spontaneously generate Ebony Maw’s magic rings? Or give G’iah Drax’s tattoos? The absolute worst example of this has now been found, however, and it’s being dubbed the “stupidest moment in MCU history.”
As user John1701d pointed out on Reddit, the moment Gravik channels Bruce Banner to Hulk out sees his pants change from black to purple. Yes, apparently the Harvest also affects clothing too. For this particular vexed viewer, this was the final straw in a finale full of failures, although those in the comments admit that they think the episode lowers its IQ even further elsewhere.
“It’s not even the stupidest moment in SI,” the most upvoted comment snipped, while someone else argued Nick Fury handing the Harvest over to Gravik in the first place takes the cake: “The stupidest moment in SI is Fury intentionally powering Gravik up to begin with.” Like another commenter suggested, “Fury could have given Gravick [sic] anything. It could have been a vial of frog DNA.”
Unexpectedly, though, another subset of fans hijacked this good-natured, team-bonding experience of skewering Secret Invasion to turn the hate towards Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. “No. The stupidest moment in the MCU is in Wakanda Forever,” said one of the sequel’s slanderers, before explaining that they believe Shuri and the Wakandans’ tactics against Namor and the Talokanil were dumber than Secret Invasion. Which is one very bold take indeed.
Let’s just say that, out of Secret Invasion and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, one of these projects was nominated for five Academy Awards and the other is officially the second worst-rated Marvel or DC production on Rotten Tomatoes, beating only Catwoman. If one of them is going to be crowned the stupidest child of the MCU, there’s surely only one choice.
