Secret Invasion Director on Finding the ‘Emotional Truth’ in Episode 1’s Shocking Climax — Grade the Premiere
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
The following contains major spoilers for the Secret Invasion series premiere, now streaming on Disney+.
In retrospect, it is quite evident why Cobie Smulders told TVLine last fall that Disney+’s Secret Invasion series would not necessarily give us the “most” Maria Hill ever, but instead offer “the most depth” she’d been able to bring to the character in her 11-year MCU run. Rewatch that video here:
More from TVLine
Comic-Con Crisis Deepens: Netflix, Sony and HBO Join Marvel in Skipping Event
Cobie Smulders Opens Up About 'Terrifying' Secret Invasion Twist and Her MCU Future as Maria Hill
Because not 55 minutes into the six-episode Marvel TV series, Maria Hill would take her last breath, after being most unexpectedly shot at close range by “Nick Fury” — or, more accurately, rebel Skrull leader Gravik, who had shapeshifted into her old boss.
Secret Invasion opened with Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) somewhat begrudging return to Earth after a personally extended stay at the S.A.B.E.R. space station he had overseen the construction of. He had been summoned by Maria Hill (Smulders) in the wake of it becoming ever more clear that a faction of Skrulls that has been hiding in plain sight on Earth were planning something big, by way of a series of global attacks framed as terrorist activity.
As the first episode neared its end, the good guys appeared to have possibly gained an upper hand, when Talos (Captain Marvel‘s Ben Mendelsohn) got tipped off by his daughter G’iah (Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke) on how to track the explosives being delivered by rebel Skrulls to a public square in Moscow. Alas, the marked knapsacks went missing anyway, after which Gravik (The OA‘s Kingsley Ben-Adir) began triggering deadly blast after deadly blast….
Amid the ensuing, violent mayhem, Maria was relieved to be found by Nick Fury — only to clock that he had a pistol trained on her. “Fury” then shot Maria in cold blood. As Maria slumped to the pavement, viewers saw that “Fury” was in fact Gravik, who disappeared into the panicked crowd after intently staring down the real deal. Fury himself then rushed to Maria’s side, barely in time to see her pass on.
“It was you,” a shellshocked Maria marveled with her last breath. “Not me,” Fury said, though it seemed his words did not register with his dying friend.
Disney+’s Marvel TV Shows, Ranked!
TVLine spoke with Ali Selim, who directed all six episodes of Disney+’s latest Marvel series, about doing justice to so pivotal a moment in MCU history. (Smulders had played Maria Hill in nearly a dozen live-action and animated Marvel projects since her debut in 2011’s The Avengers, including the MCU-adjacent ABC series Agents of SHIELD and most recently in Spider-Man: Far From Home.)
“I think that with any scene in a story,” Selim said, “you have to remain truthful to the story, and you have to remain truthful to Maria Hill’s character — being confused by the fact that she was just shot by who she thinks is Nick Fury.
“It’s really just about talking to Cobie about the emotional truth of that rather than the bigness of Maria Hill and the MCU,” the director continued, “because that moment lives or dies on the look on Cobie’s face, and that look is strictly, ‘I can’t believe that just happened,’ and wanting that to be truthful.”
What did you think of Secret Invasion‘s onset, and the very clear stakes established by Maria’s absolutely devastating death?
Best of TVLine
Get more from TVLine.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
