Secret Invasion has a list of problems longer than G’iah’s Drax arm, but perhaps its most MCU-shattering is the heavily implied reveal that Rhodey has been a Skrull as far back as Captain America: Civil War. To remind you just how significant that is, that means almost half of the character’s entire lifespan has been spent following an imposter. It’s a frankly ludicrous retcon that’s basically Marvel’s equivalent of the time The Simpsons revealed Principal Skinner was Armin Tamzarian.
As director Ali Selim was the first person from the studio to outright confirm that, yes, suggesting War Machine had been a Skrull for the past three phases was the intention, most of the blame for SI‘s narrative problems has been laid at his doorstep. Finally, though, one brave Redditor has decided to stand up in Selim’s defense and point out that it seems the real impetus for making Rhodey a Skrull for so long came from much higher up the food chain. Kevin Feige himself, in fact. And here’s the receipt to prove it.
After we first learned of the Rhodey reveal in episode four, Feige spoke to Marvel.com and explained: “We like the idea of fans going back and watching some of the other appearances of Rhodey and realizing that that wasn’t him.”
On paper, turning Rhodey’s previous appearances into a guessing game could’ve been a smart way to enrich the rewatching experience for Marvel fans, but as it happens everyone is just way too attached to Don Cheadle’s hero to buy that he’s been a Skrull all this time. The hefty comments section to this thread utterly annihilates the validity of the twist, pointing out numerous times over the years that surely must’ve been the real Rhodey.
As far as most are concerned, then, the Marvel prez is just straight-up lying to them. “Feige can tell me that to my face and I won’t believe it,” one wrote, while another said: “Feige is just gaslighting us into thinking this was a master plan. They haven’t had s**t planned since Endgame ended.” A different commenter summed up their grievances in just five words: “Feige has lost the plot.”
If even the Marvel community’s typically boundless adoration for all Kevin Feige has achieved is being eroded thanks to Secret Invasions and other recent MCU disappointments, that’s a serious sign the franchise needs to up its game as we move deeper into the Multiverse Saga.