The sixth and final episode of “Secret Invasion” premiered on Disney+ this week, and the critical response was …not good at all. In fact, the show’s last episode is the worst-reviewed MCU project ever, with a 13% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics and fans alike have had qualms with the show, like its slow start and lifeless plot. And that poor reception likely has Marvel Studios on alert as it continues to adjust its release schedule for future projects. Do they want another rating that low for “Daredevil: Born Again” or another upcoming Disney+ show?
But bad ratings aside, “Secret Invasion” is not without its intrigue, namely that (spoilers ahead for those who haven’t watched the series) that Don Cheadle‘s Rhodey (aka War Machine) is a shapeshifting Skrull. In an upcoming episode of the “Bingworthy” Podcast, part of The Playlist’s podcast. network, “Secret Invasion” director Ali Selim talked about how long Rhodey’s been a Skrull in Marvel fare. And according to Selim, he believes it’s before the Skrulls first showed upon in the MCU in 2019’s “Captain Marvel.”
“I think [they switched at] “[Captain America:] Civil War,” when he was in the hospital,” Selim speculated about the Skrull/Rhodey switch while on the podcast. “But I don’t think it’s definitive. I think it’s a great opportunity for fans to go back and unpack the Rhodey/Skrull of it all. Revisiting Rhodey moments in the MCU. I think that’s more fun than me saying [it’s been] 10 years or 11. It’s more fun to go back and revisit it. If he was a Skull then, it means that he did not attend Tony Stark’s funeral, which I guess could be heartbreaking when you watch that scene.”
More spoilers ahead for those who haven’t watched “Secret Invasion” yet: the Skrull posing as Rhodey gets killed in the show’s final episode, with Rhodey also rescued at the end, but the show doesn’t elaborate on how long they switched places. But Selim’s idea that the switch happened during “Civil War” would make sense, since Rhodey gets paralyzed halfway through that movie, but the character in “Secret Invasion” doesn’t have the leg braces he acquires at the end of that film. So maybe the Skrulls abducted Rhodey during the events in the hospital of “Civil War” and replaced him with a Skrull doppelganger then.
Marvel fans will likely get answers about this in the upcoming “Armor Wars” film, with Cheadle set to star. And the ramifications for Rhodey in that film post-abduction are huge. If he was indeed abducted during “Civil War,” then he’s been out of the MCU for several year and missed several critical events. Rhodey doesn’t know that Tony Stark is dead, or anything about the events revolving around Thanos and the blip. In a sense, he’s a man out of time, having missed around 10 years of significant MCU events. This could make “Armor Wars” a potentially riveting story, as Cheadle’s Rhodey reacclimates to a world he doesn’t recognize, mourning his lost friends, etc.
So, even if “Secret Invasion” may be garbage (and the critical consensus suggests that; read The Playlist’s review here), at least it lays the groundwork for a great personal story for Rhodey in “Armor Wars” and beyond. The Bingeworthy Podcast episode with Ali Selim will be available soon.
– additional reporting by Mike DeAngelo.
