Another Wednesday means another episode of Marvel’s Secret Invasion on Disney+. After last week’s episode concluded with a Skrull attack in Moscow and the apparent death of Maria Hill, things go from bad to worse for Nick Fury in episode two, titled “Promises.”
This episode opens with a flashback from 1997. A Skrull woman leads a Skrull child to meet with Fury and introduces him as Gravik, the same Skrull who eventually shoots and kills Hill. The woman explains to Fury that Gravik’s parents were killed by the Kree and he survived after being behind enemy lines. Fury reluctantly asks Gravik to work with him and Gravik agrees.
Fury then turns to a room full of Skrulls and Talos gives them an impassioned speech regarding his trust for Fury. Fury then follows that up with a speech of his own and asks the Skrulls to help him so that he can eventually find them a new home planet. Fury specifically mentions that Earth is facing “a serious threat.” It’s unclear exactly what threat the Skrulls are helping Fury with in 1997. Several Skrulls step forward and agree to help Fury.
Gravik watches as Skrulls step up toward Fury and the episode cuts back to present day to see Gravik, now disguised as a human, in the chaos of his attack on Moscow. Fury is pulled away from Hill’s body by a man while a Skrull, again in human form, is grabbed by the authorities. As he is pinned against a vehicle, he repeatedly screams “I’m an American,” pushing the Skrull plan to start a war between America and Russia. The man throws Fury in the back of a van before getting into the driver’s seat and revealing himself to be Talos.
On a train, Russian soldiers question a woman as they are searching for Fury. The woman sends them away and returns to a private car before the reveal that she is Talos. Fury steps out of a restroom to join him and goes off on a story about riding the train with his mother as a child. The story leads to a game called “tell me something I don’t know,” during which he questions Talos about the surviving Skrulls. Talos reveals that there are a million Skrulls left and, more importantly, they are all currently on Earth. Fury is evidently enraged by this news and he immediately shoots down Talos’ idea that Skrulls and humans could coexist. He then tells Talos to get off of the train, leaving him alone. Fury, without an audience, shows some vulnerability for the first time, seemingly confirming this is not just an act and Fury is really not in control of the situation.
In London, we see American soldiers taking a coffin, presumably with Maria Hill’s body inside. A woman, clearly distraught makes her way to meet with Fury. He calls her Elizabeth and tells her he was there when Hill died. The woman reveals herself to be Hill’s mother and Fury explains that she was killed because someone tried to hurt him. Elizabeth blames Fury and tells him Hill believed in him and he can’t let her die for nothing.
We then see news reports of the attack in Moscow, pointing toward an inevitable war between Russia and America. An American report denies any American involvement.
G’iah and Gravik make their way to a meeting of the Skrull council. Gravik tells her that Fury is not the man he once was and that he could have killed him. He continues however, by saying “you don’t punish a man by giving him what he wants.”
As they arrive, G’iah is told to wait outside as Gravik meets with the council. Several world leaders and the American reporter we saw earlier sit around a table and begin to scold Gravik as he joins them. Gravik gives a powerful speech about how the Skrulls need to take Earth for themselves. While the council is not on board, the UK Prime Minister moves that they promote Gravik to the title of Skrull General “whilst at war.” The commander of NATO protests but is struck down and threatened. The Prime Minister stands and reverts to her Skrull skin in a sign of submission to Gravik. All but one member of the council follows suit. Gravik allows the one holdout to leave peacefully.
The woman, whose name is Shirley, calls Talos and informs him of what just happened. He asks her to get him a meeting with Gravik and, after warning Talos that Gravik will kill him, she agrees.
Back at the Skrull compound, Gravik returns to applause from everyone. G’iah watches as he whispers something to Pagon and then follows him into a lab. She sees Pagon meet with a scientist and inform her that “the harvest wasn’t there.” A conversation between the two reveals her name to be Rosa Dalton and that the Skrulls are harvesting some kind of DNA for her to use in some kind of machine, which G’iah sees turned on with a blinding light.
Rhodey attend an emergency security summit in London where he is asked questions about America’s involvement in the attack on Moscow. Rhodes dances around the questions with a Tony Stark-level of snark and smugness and quietly threatens to “put on the suit.”
After the summit, Rhodes takes a call from Fury to set up a meeting. The two meet at a bar, surrounded by Rhodes’ security. After some sharp banter, Fury reveals to Rhodes that they are being invaded by Skrulls. When Rhodes asks about bringing in the Avengers, Fury refuses and says they can’t risk them getting duplicated. Rhodes refuses to help Fury in this fight and instead informs him that he’s bee fired, presumably from his position at SABER. Fury takes the gun and breaks the arm of one of the guards before saying something about relinquishing his DNA. Is Fury becoming paranoid regarding who may and may not be a Skrull? He leaves the gun on the table and walks out before showing more of that vulnerability, again with no audience present.
Sonya Falsworth enters a building and is shown to a room where a prisoner is being tortured. She informs the men doing the torturing that she is taking over, handing them a phone that allows someone else to confirm the order. The men leave and Sonya gives the prisoner a chance to talk before cutting off his finger and watching it revert back to Skrull skin.
At the compound, G’iah snoops on a computer, looking for information on Rosa Dalton. She gets to a screen that shows several samples that have been “harvested,” including Groot, a Frost Beast and Cull Obsidian. Another shot pans down a bit to also reveal Extremis on the list. DNA samples from all of these characters – or in the case of Extremis, any one who took the tech-based serum from Iron Man 3 – have been acquired from around Earth. Samples from Groot could have been found from Wakanda or New York, the Frost Beast was left on Earth after Thor: The Dark World, the remains of Cull Obsidian – one of the children of Thanos – could also have been found in Wakanda or New York and Extremis could have been found just about anywhere.
Gravik walks in and G’iah covers by switching to a search on the new recruit introduced in last week’s episode. Gravik talks about her father, seemingly questioning her loyalty, before informing her that they’ve located Brogan, the prisoner being tortured by Falsworth, and that they’re going to get him.
Sonya threatens Brogan with a chemical that will literally boil his blood and, after giving him another chance to talk, injects him with it. Brogan screams in pain as we see Gravik and his team make their way to get him. Eventually, Brogan gives up that a married couple names Dalton is building a machine to “make us stronger.”
Gravik and Pagon make their way inside and quickly take out the team of men guarding the room. Falsworth gets out through an escape hatch in the room before Gravik and Pagon get inside. Meanwhile, G’iah sneaks away and makes a call in Russian, but it’s unclear who she is speaking with. Pagon picks up Brogan but before they leave Gravik asks what information he gave them, clearly not trusting him.
The group of Skrulls see that their safehouse is surrounded by police, and Gravik, Pagon and G’iah share a series of looks that tell us they all know what has to happen next. They pull over in the woods and Pagon leads Brogan out. The two men walk away from the car before we hear a gun shot. G’iah is visibly upset by the killing of Brogan, but she says nothing.
Fury arrives at a house where we see a Skrull cooking. As he enters the house, she transforms off camera before he sees her. Fury enters to see a woman standing in the kitchen and she points out that he’s forgetting something. Fury picks up a ring and puts it on his finger. The two kiss as the episode comes to a close. There’s a lot to take away from this final scene. First, Fury has long been a spy who hasn’t let personal relationships get in the way. Now, it appears he has given himself something to lose.
Second, it’s unclear if Fury is aware that he is married to a Skrull since she transforms before he sees her in this scene. However, going back to last week’s episode, there are a couple of signs that he is in fact aware. He jokes with Talos about knowing some good looking Skrulls, perhaps referencing his wife. We also saw Hill question if there was someone else Fury owed something to in addition to Talos, which clearly took Fury aback a bit. Either way, we’re going to have to wait to learn more about Fury’s mysterious wife.
New episodes of Marvel’s Secret Invasion premiere every Wednesday on Disney+.