An MCU producer explained the real reasoning behind the decision to have Maria Hill killed off in Marvel Studios’ Secret Invasion.
Although Maria Hill was billed to be a major part of Disney+’s Secret Invasion as she got her long-awaited reunion with Nick Fury, her return didn’t last long at all as Cobie Smulders’ hero met her end in Episode 1.
She became the first major casualty in this series as Gravik took her out in Russia, leaving countless MCU fans disappointed as Smulders’ run with Marvel ended after 11 years in action.
Why Maria Hill Got Killed In the MCU
In the recently released Marvel Studios Assembled episode centered on Secret Invasion, executive producer and writer Brian Tucker explained the real reason behind Maria Hill’s death upon her short return to the MCU.
Tucker explained that the team had to “really illustrate the scale and the reality of the danger” that Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Gravik and his group of rebel Skrulls posed to the humans of Earth.
To make that happen, there was no way for “all of [the] characters to make it out safely,” leading to the difficult decision to bring Cobie Smulders’ tenure as Maria Hill to an end:
“One of the kind of just most important decisions that we had to make early on was to really illustrate the scale and the reality of the danger that Gravik and his rebels pose to humans. And to do that, we couldn’t allow all of our characters to make it out safely. This is a contest for the planet. It’s being fought on the ground and it’s gonna be bloody. There will be casualties in this conflict, and that means making those tough decisions to say goodbye to beloved characters.”
This comes after Secret Invasion director Ali Selim confirmed in August that Hill was truly dead for good, noting that both she and Talos are “burned, and…buried:”
"I don't know what's going to happen to Maria Hill or Talos. They're dead. One is burned, and the other is buried. But in the MCU, anything can happen. So, where are they going to end up? I don't know."
Did Maria Hill’s Death Work in Secret Invasion?
Killing off Maria Hill in Secret Invasion’s first episode certainly set the tone and let fans know just how dangerous the Skrulls were, putting Nick Fury and his team on their heels from the start.
But with Hill’s death being so unceremonious and Smulders expected to play a bigger role in Secret Invasion, fans were left wildly disappointed by what happened.
Marvel has put forth a valiant effort in celebrating Smulders’ tenure with the MCU since she was killed off in this series, highlighting her character all throughout the series’ run on Disney+.
But considering how much Secret Invasion seemingly disappointed fans and critics every week, this decision wasn’t something that helped make the story better in most fans’ eyes.
Secret Invasion is now streaming on Disney+.
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