Warning: The article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion episode one.
I told myself I won’t slip down the rabbit hole of obsessive theorizing after WandaVision, but how can I stop when it is becoming increasingly obvious that the Skrulls’ nefarious plans — and the show’s not-so-subtle hints of a non-canon Marvel character’s MCU debut — are not at all destined to be the “Woah!” curveball Secret Invasion is planning to throw our way. It is Nick Fury himself.
Now, I wouldn’t say there are obvious hints highlighting the theory I am about to paint for you. No, there are more like breadcrumbs spread throughout the first episode of Secret Invasion, but when put together with existing details, they make one mean Jalapeno Popper.
So, instead of dumping my epiphany on your head, I am going to walk you through the steps that brought me to a fascinating possibility that is bound to have Fury fans fuming. So, bear with me:
Clue #1
Fury’s behavior, people! Yes, he got dusted away for five years, and yes, he lost a big chunk of the team he put together. It is bound to be difficult to adapt to all that has changed and everything he lost in those five years. Such circumstances can break the strongest of morals. But by these standards, Fury should have looked lost, with shaky confidence, and possibly reckless because he has nothing to lose now.
But the Fury we meet in Secret Invasion is just… clueless. It doesn’t feel like he can’t muster the motivation to be the tornado that scared the most powerful villains — it’s more like he has no idea what he is doing. He appears to be more of a novice when he wanders out at night and gets captured. My initial watch of the episode, which ended with Maria Hill murdered in cold blood, had me slotting this behavior as a forced-calm setup to lend more gravity to Fury rising from the ashes, finally pushed into action by Hill’s untimely death.
But soon, the other clues caught up.
Clue #2
What is with everyone stressing that he is not the Fury he used to be? His being traumatized by the events post the Snap is something I understand, but why is everyone underlining and then bolding the fact that he is out of his depth? Maybe he is pretending, so he can lull his enemies into a false sense of security and then strike when they think he has given up. Or is it a Skrull spy posing as Fury? But if it is, they are surprisingly devoted to the whole mission of ending the Skrull rebellion.
Again, many would argue that it is Fury finally processing everything he has been through, which would make this a rather weak point on its own, but you will see how this “breadcrumb” fits into the grand picture I am painting.
Clue #3
Well, it was actually you guys.
Yeah, my tired but hyped brain jumped to Twitter to see what everyone else thought the minute the episode ended. And while nodding to all the angry tweets about Hill’s unjustified killing, I came across posts celebrating Fury and Talos as a couple. Wait, what?!
Turns out I totally missed the scene where the duo reunites and weirdly (and rather intimately) butt their heads together for a few seconds. So, now, I would totally dig Fury and Talos being in a relationship — seriously, the man really needs and deserves it — but the moment felt very out of place. Yes, Fury became buddies with Talos and we haven’t really seen all the interactions he had with him in the last 30 years to comment on how close they are as friends.
But we have seen a major chunk of what Fury has been up to, and a lot of it involved fending off threats within and outside of the planet. When did he get that close to Talos?
Interestingly, this is how Talos greeted his wife, the currently “dead” Soren, in Captain Marvel.
This realization pretty much had other very weird scenes make a lot of sense all of a sudden.
Clue #4
The way Talos described Soren’s death to G’iah — to my eyes, he didn’t look that torn up over it. After all, she was alive after the events of Spider-Man: Far From Home, which takes place in the second half of 2023 (as per the MCU timeline). As Secret Invasion is set in 2025, it rules out the possibility that Talos has adapted to her passing or has been so bamboozled by everything else for years that her absence doesn’t bother him anymore.
No, the way he describes her death felt more like someone who hasn’t experienced the loss at all.
Clue #5
Let’s circle back a bit. Remember Fury roaming the streets of Moscow at night, all lost in his thoughts? When he comes across the little girl in the street playing with the ball, his expression shifts. He is close to tears as he looks after the girl with an aura of longing.
Why would Fury be grief-stricken after seeing a child? Well, we would understand Soren looking like that as she would be reminded of her daughter, G’iah, who ran away from home.
Clue #6
Now, this one was pointed out by a friend who just couldn’t get over Fury’s twitching forehead while he was remembering the moment he was dusted away. In the wake of discovering the above hints, I rewatched the scene with fresh eyes only to be more sure than ever that this is not Fury but Soren in disguise.
We know Skrulls can take up anyone’s appearance as long as they can see that person. But to replace them completely, they need their memories as well. In the episode, humans are kept in pods while Skrulls, mimicking them, copy their memories by touching their forehead. Seeing how the Skrulls have no reservations whatsoever about ending human lives, it felt strange that they keep these loose ends alive.
But what if they are kept alive because retaining the “borrowed” memories becomes difficult after a certain time and the process has to be repeated? So, what if “Fury’s” twitchy forehead and extreme sweating are symptoms of Soren finding it difficult to remember the Snap from the real Fury’s memories as it has been some time since she downloaded them from its real owner, who never left space in the first place.
If true, it is bound to raise some tempers as technically, Fury, despite being one of the solid figures of the MCU, once again didn’t get to star in his own show.
Many will point out how Fury and Talos’ one-on-one interactions don’t always give the vibe of the former being a planted imposter and the latter being aware of it. To these people, I would recommend one exercise — remember all the films and shows where the core members of a secret plan still put up appearances and pretend otherwise, even when they are not in the vicinity of other people.
Why do they do that? Simple — to not let the viewers decode the big surprise, either! Once the jaw-dropping reveal is made, these past moments sure look stupid, but they did aid in building up the mega twist. Who is to say that Marvel, after reverting to using a hated trope in the series, isn’t employing the same technique? Think, people, think!
