Now that the debut episode of Marvel’s Secret Invasion has officially hit Disney Plus, fans are reacting with memes to one of the most gut-wrenching moments at the end of the show. Since the series is about a group of alien Skrulls who disguise themselves as humans in order to overthrow the world as we know it, it appears no one — not even fan-favorite characters — is safe.
Warning: the article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion.
Those who have seen Secret Invasion episode 1 can probably relate to the absolute devastation of seeing Cobie Smulders’ triumphant return to the MCU as the ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill only for our hearts to be broken at the end of the episode when she is apparently killed by a Skrull disguised as Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury.
Indeed, that heart-stopping moment, as well as the fake-out death of Martin Freeman’s Everett K. Ross at the beginning of the episode, made for quite the combination of emotions that arguably perfectly set the tone for the more grounded, espionage-oriented show. But the show’s quality did little to soothe the pain of seeing one of the MCU’s most underrated characters possibly bite the dust for good.
Only a sweat-drenched concert-goer hoping to see a musician’s encore while a stadium concert is being broken down could summarize one fan’s feelings on Maria’s abrupt exit.
The psychotic grin of starlet-hopeful-turned-axe-murderer Pearl, as seen in the end credits of the titular Mia Goth-starring film, proved to be many Marvel fans’ spirit animal today.
Simply trying to keep up with who’s a Skrull and who’s not in the show has proven to be quite overwhelming, as fans have pointed out.
The most sob-inducing revelation of all? Maria may not have even known it was an imposter Nick who shot her before taking her last breath.
Yet another strong female character gone the way of Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow is enough to make anybody not want to get out of bed.
Our hopes were dashed once again when the end of the credits revealed…. absolutely nothing at all.
Can we take some time out of all this seriousness to just admire the meme-worthiness of Secret Invasion co-star Emilia Clarke reciting a classic Snoop Dogg track? Not to mention Ben Mendelsohn’s instantly iconic utterance of “shiznit.”
Clarke continues to give us internet gold with her uncanny impression of co-star and fellow Skrull, Mendelsohn.
Taken out of context, it was enough motivation for one young man to check out the show for himself.
Another TikToker simply seemed pissed that Marvel did not continue their tradition of casting British actors as American characters.
We’ll have to see what other terrifying and hilarious moments inspire the next round of memes on the internet when Secret Invasion episode 2 drops on Disney Plus next Wednesday.