Warning: spoilers ahead for Secret Invasion episode 1.

Secret Invasion comes out all guns blazing in episode 1, with Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) back in action right away after reuniting with old allies and facing new foes.

In the new Marvel series – starring Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir and Cobie Smulders – present-day Earth is facing the threat of an extremist group of Skrulls, an alien species with the ability to transform themselves to look like anybody.

Some Skrulls such as Talos (Ben) are still loyal to Nick and his comrades including Maria Hill (Cobie).

However, others have grown detached from him, including the extremist group’s young leader, Gravik (Kingsley), who is angry that the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. failed to fulfil his promise to help them find a planet to call their own home.

There’s plenty of history to unpack in the years after the Skrulls were first introduced in the 2019 film Captain Marvel, with the ending of episode one featuring the devastating death of a longtime MCU character.

Nick Fury returns to Earth as extremist Skrulls cause havoc

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In the time that Nick Fury has been away from Earth in space, trouble has been brewing down below.

A series of terrorist attacks have been taking place across the planet, and while some might think that they’re not connected, it turns out that the extremist Skrulls who are unhappy that they don’t yet have a home to call their own are behind it all.

When Nick comes back from spending time on a space station, he’s reunited with Talos, as well as his trusted ally Maria Hill, who also appears disgruntled that the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been away for so long.

Will Nick be able to clean up the mess that’s developed in his absence?

Tension lingers between Talos and daughter G’iah

In the 2019 movie Captain Marvel, viewers were first introduced to Talos’ daughter G’iah, who was just a child. Now three decades on, G’iah is all grown up and disillusioned with her father’s belief in Fury, siding with Gravik and helping to carry out the attacks on Earth.

G’iah is shown introducing a refugee Skrull to their sanctuary, showing the man kindness while explaining that he can either stay at the base behind its gates, or be allowed to leave the perimeters in human form if he decides to join them as a warrior.

The warriors not only take on the appearances of humans, but their memories too, embodying them from the inside out while the real humans are kept captive.

Later, Talos chases after G’iah while she’s on a bomb supply run, managing to catch up with her to reveal that not only has her mother died, but her death was caused by the man that she’s now working for.

Having reassessed her priorities, G’iah provides Talos with vital information about Gravik’s next planned attack in Russia. And so, a double agent is born.

Olivia Colman and Kingsley Ben-Adir make scene-stealing turns

There’s been plenty of anticipation about the arrival of several newcomers to the MCU in Secret Invasion, including Emilia, Olivia and Kingsley, all of whom deliver standout performances in the first episode.

Olivia’s MI6 agent Sonya appears to be an extremely conniving former ally of Nick’s, one that he knows that he cannot fully trust, while Kingsley’s Gravik seems to have no qualms with taking any human lives that get in the way of his plans.

Nick realises that Sonya clearly isn’t telling him everything that she knows about supplies that were raided in Kazakhstan, and so he slyly bugs her room with a camera.

Meanwhile, during the bombing attack in Russia, Gravik comes face to face with Nick… but rather than kill him point blank, he makes the seasoned spy suffer by witnessing the death of a close friend.

Their connection feels very personal, one that will surely be explored in greater depth in the future episodes.

Ending explained as Agent Maria Hill is brutally murdered

Cobie made her entrance as Agent Maria Hill more than a decade ago in The Avengers, a role she reprised in releases including Captain America: Winter Soldier, Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.

Considering she’s been in the promotional material for Secret Invasion, one might have thought that she’d survive at least the first episode of the series.

However, she’s killed during the attack in Russia – and what makes matters worse, she’s shot by Gravik impersonating Nick, and so in one of her final moments, she might have thought that her old friend was the one who pulled the trigger.

While we had a sliver of hope that she might turn out to be an unknown Skrull just pretending to be Maria, the sight of her red blood pouring out of her made it clear that this was the devastating end for a longtime MCU character.

One fan tweeted in reaction to the fateful moment: ‘THE ENDING??? WHAT?’

Another responded in shock: ‘BRO WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL JUST HAPPENED.’

Meanwhile, someone else wrote: ‘Was just gonna tweet about how happy I was that Maria was finally getting her well deserved screentime and how I loved her so much…’

Secret Invasion is available to watch on Disney Plus with new episodes released on Wednesdays.

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