HIDDEN AGENDA

SECRET INVASION Nick Fury is the last line of defence against a rogue faction of shapeshifting Skrulls in Marvel’s gritty espionage series.

- JORDAN FARLEY

Nick Fury has been a reassuring constant throughout the 15-year lifespan of the MCU going all the way back to 2008’s Iron Man, where he invited Tony Stark to discuss the ‘Avengers Initiative’ in the series’ first post- credits scene. But despite being present at almost every inflection point in the all-conquering comic-book ’verse’s history, Samuel L. Jackson’s uber-cool, monocular mastermind has never been at the centre of his own story – until now.

‘It had always been talked about, but never really happened,’ says Secret Invasion producer, and Marvel Studios Parliament member, Jonathan Schwartz. ‘We really liked the idea of a more grounded espionage thriller. That felt like the right home for Nick. That’s the way things crystallise sometimes in the MCU. You talk about something for a long time, and then the right idea or the right medium or the right genre just catalyses it, and makes it real.’

A loose adaptation of the 2008 comic arc, which revealed that many of Earth’s mightiest heroes had secretly been replaced by bodysnatching Skrulls, Secret Invasion puts a fresh spin on the story by (mostly) jettisoning superfolk and adding a dash of Le Carré to the mix. ‘The first conversations I had [with Marvel] were, “Nobody flies in the air in the show,”’ says Ali Selim, who directs all six episodes. ‘I realised, “Yeah, they’re doing something very different, and that’s exciting.”’