Marvel’s Secret Invasion, starring Emilia Clarke and Samuel L. Jackson, is more spy thriller than superhero action TV series

‘People doing people stuff, without all those supers,’ is how Samuel L. Jackson sums up Marvel Cinematic Universe series Secret Invasion on Disney+

He stars as Nick Fury, sometime boss of the Avengers, in a show that takes a new turn after poorly received Marvel films Eternals and Thor: Love and Thunder

Reading Time:2 minutes

Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury a still from Marvel series “Secret Invasion”. The show on Disney+, also starring Emilia Clarke and Oscar winner Olivia Colman, is more spy thriller than superhero action series. Photo: Des Willie

Published: 5:15pm, 17 Jun 2023

Alien conspiracies, Oscar winners and hardly a superhero in sight: Marvel is taking its record-breaking franchise in a new direction with Secret Invasion, a spy thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson, Olivia Colman and Emilia Clarke.

The series, out on June 21 on Disney+, marks Jackson’s 14th Marvel film or television series, but the first time his character, Nick Fury, is the undisputed star.

Fury, the mysterious, sometime boss of the all-powerful Avengers, originally appeared on screen way back in 2008’s Iron Man – the movie that launched the entire Marvel franchise that has come to dominate Hollywood.

But the new series “ranks number one, in terms of things I’ve done in the Marvel cinematic universe”, says Jackson. “It’s a story about people doing people stuff, without all those supers coming in to save you,” he says, referring to superheroes.

Jackson at the premiere of the Marvel series “Secret Invasion” at El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California on June 13, 2023. Photo: EPA

The series finds US spy chief Fury battling shape-shifting, reptilian humanoids known as Skrulls – introduced in previous Marvel films – who live among us, and are intent on fomenting war between Moscow and Washington.