Secret Invasion just set the new standard for how not to conclude an MCU Disney+ series.
Warning - This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion.
The 37-minute finale of Marvel Studios' ninth Disney+ series made some bold decisions, including turning Emilia Clarke into the most powerful being in the MCU.
The Origin of Marvel's Supergirl: G'iah
Super Skrull? No, Supergirl!
In the Secret Invasion finale, Clarke's G'iah is granted abilities hitherto undreamt of prior in the MCU. These come from the Harvest, the collection of various DNA samples of enhanced heroes and villains.
The list of superpowered beings whose abilities now coarse through G'iah's veins are Captain Marvel, Thor, Hulk, Abomination, Drax, Mantis, and many more.
Fighting an equally juiced-up villain, Gravik, Marvel Studios' new god-like hero takes him down with a cosmic energy blast directly through the abdomen. Leaving G'iah as the only Skrull with these next-level powers.
She teams up with Olivia Colman's Sonya at the end of the episode, but what's really next for Clarke in the MCU? This finale communicated that she can not only shape-shift but power-shift into basically any of Marvel's most powerful characters.
This is a big deal, so why doesn't it feel like it?
A Wasted Villain and Actor
Kinglsey Ben-Adir did what he could with how his Secret Invasion character, Gravik, was written. A one-note villain whose motivation was a simple "you lied" while looking directly at Nick Fury.
Nick Fury not living up to his promise of finding the displaced Skrulls a new planet after the events of Captain Marvel lead Gravik to threaten complete Earth domination.
After trying to frame Russia for an attack on the US President and government officials, Gravik's master plan ends quickly with a CGI fight against G'iah, a character he previously "killed" before her whiplash resurrection between Episodes 3 and 4.
Ben-Adir's villain is the ultimate example in Secret Invasion of a character, plot point, or sequence that was meant to be cool or badass, that was underwritten and executed lazily.
Introduced to present a temporary threat on Earth, just to die in the end.
Failing To Complete the Original Story
Six episodes felt rushed for a massive Marvel story like Secret Invasion. It gets even worse when weekly viewers realize the final three episodes' average runtime was 38 minutes, 14 minutes less than the first three episodes' average.
Sprinting to the finish line, G'iah, Gravik, and Fury's storylines were all quickly resolved to wrap up the series.
Nick Fury, in particular, felt forced to set up The Marvels, releasing in theaters on November 10.
After Fury's wife was introduced in Episode 2, Priscilla/Varra (played by Charlayne Woodard), quickly played a key role in the series.
In short, she was working with the evil Skrulls, was supposed to kill Fury (fully considered it), and in a matter of minutes switched her allegiances back and ultimately ended up heading up to space with her husband, who accepted her for her true alien self.
Conveniently, Varra says that her stay is temporary and that "all [her] work is here [on Earth], darling."
Will Varra even appear in the film starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris?
Additionally in the finale, a paranoid President Ritson sent out a worldwide hit on anyone who could be a possible Skrull threat. An intriguing storyline, but wasted for another time.
The next time this could be addressed would probably be in Captain America: Brave New World when Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross is the US President, played by Harrison Ford.
The aforementioned meet-up between Colman and Clarke's characters was a blatant tease for a future project, which one? It's unclear if anyone cares right now.
Where's the Post-Credits Scene?
Secret Invasion is the first Marvel Disney+ series to not include any post-credits scenes. For a culminating episode that reeked of setting up the future, this was a shock.
Even just a stinger reutilizing footage from The Marvels could've been appropriate, trying to lead into the studios' next big blockbuster.
If not The Marvels, then why not tease Armor Wars? The Don Cheadle-lead film is set to dive into what happens when Tony Stark's tech falls into the wrong hands.
While James Rhodes is a focal point of the series, specifically the fact that he's probably been a Skrull since the end of Captain America: Civil War (gross), nothing about Armor Wars felt teed up.
Rhodey has been in stasis while kidnapped by the Skrulls for at least seven years and when will this be resolved? Another time.
A pile of loose threads has taken over the MCU since Phase 4 (and the Multiverse Saga) began with 2021's Black Widow.
Secret Invasion's finale teased future stories more than it resolved its own (at least in a satisfying way).
Disney+ gets two more attempts to present crowd-pleasing MCU shows in 2023. Loki Season 2 begins on October 6 and the entirety of Echo drops on November 29.
