At long last, the truth is about to come out!
Or will it?
Either way, I'm very excited for this series.
Spoilers Secret Invasion grade and discussion
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
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At long last, the truth is about to come out!
Or will it?
Either way, I'm very excited for this series.
No full red carpet video, but we do get a highlight reel with the whole cast (sans Martin Freeman who didn't seem to be there):
The whole cast clearly had a lot of fun making this show which elevates my excitement for it all the more.
The whole cast clearly had a lot of fun making this show which elevates my excitement for it all the more.
I have to admit that this has taken me by surprise. I guess maybe I heard something about this a while back, but I had now idea it was going to be a tv series. I thought it was going to be a movie?
Maybe it's just me and my horribly busy schedule, but have all things MCU started too "cool" a bit? I know "Quantumania" didn't do that well (I actually loved it), but it just seems the bloom has fallen farther from the rose than it already had.
Maybe it's just me and my horribly busy schedule, but have all things MCU started too "cool" a bit? I know "Quantumania" didn't do that well (I actually loved it), but it just seems the bloom has fallen farther from the rose than it already had.
As a setup episode this was ok, it definitely toned down the superhero antics ( for now) apart from the Skrull capabilities of course. I get why they are comparing it to Winter Soldier - it has a similar vibe, more grounded if you can speak of that within the MCU.
Didn't expect Maria Hill to die but i guess they needed something to show how high the stakes are even if she was just a side character throughout the MCU.
I did not like it. 
A very solid setting-of-the-table episode...right until shocking ending.
The bastards killed Maria Hill. I shouldn't be surprised by that moment since it clearly demonstrated that stakes are indeed high and anything is possible...but it still hurt, side character or not. I suppose I should've seen this coming since this coming considering Cobie Smulders wasn't in the opening credits but it still caught me off guard. I've always been a big fan of Hill's and a large part of that is Smulders' understated performance. I'm going to really miss her presence not just in this series, but the MCU as a whole. And just when we got Maria back properly after Far From Home's fun deception.
One thing did bother me about the episode: No one seemed to be concerned about Everett Ross' replacing. I get why Fury didn't seem to care, but it was a little weird that Hill didn't seem to have any concerns about his whereabouts or even if he's still alive. It's entirely possible he's still at the Skrullus camp hidden away somewhere, but considering the Skrull operative who masqueraded as Ross is now dead, what need would Gravik have with him now? Either way, I worry about Ross especially since we didn't see anymore footage of him in the trailers.
As for the larger plot, I'm on the fence about Gravik's grievances and why they have to have Earth. Surely there are other planets out there they could relocate to, especially after 30 years. Without saying more, was this the focus of the comic run that this series is loosely based on, and if so, was that something that was directly addressed?
The bastards killed Maria Hill. I shouldn't be surprised by that moment since it clearly demonstrated that stakes are indeed high and anything is possible...but it still hurt, side character or not. I suppose I should've seen this coming since this coming considering Cobie Smulders wasn't in the opening credits but it still caught me off guard. I've always been a big fan of Hill's and a large part of that is Smulders' understated performance. I'm going to really miss her presence not just in this series, but the MCU as a whole. And just when we got Maria back properly after Far From Home's fun deception.
One thing did bother me about the episode: No one seemed to be concerned about Everett Ross' replacing. I get why Fury didn't seem to care, but it was a little weird that Hill didn't seem to have any concerns about his whereabouts or even if he's still alive. It's entirely possible he's still at the Skrullus camp hidden away somewhere, but considering the Skrull operative who masqueraded as Ross is now dead, what need would Gravik have with him now? Either way, I worry about Ross especially since we didn't see anymore footage of him in the trailers.
As for the larger plot, I'm on the fence about Gravik's grievances and why they have to have Earth. Surely there are other planets out there they could relocate to, especially after 30 years. Without saying more, was this the focus of the comic run that this series is loosely based on, and if so, was that something that was directly addressed?
Not really, but sort of.
Comic spoilers ahead:
In the comic run the Skrulls had just relatively recently lost their homeworld to Galactus, and then seen their empire shattered by the Annihilation Wave. Which led to a faction that basically practiced an apocalyptic, extremist religion. They, for whatever reason, believed Earth was their promised new home. I can't remember if the story ever got into why, or if it was just "religious fanaticism."
I initially liked the opening sequence (and it's nice to have one instead of fun closing credits), but I'm very disappointed to learn that it was AI-generated.
The titles were developed by Method Studios—which has previously worked with Marvel on Disney+ streaming series Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and Loki. But while its work on those was seemingly on the more traditional side of VFX production (Method’s website cites work on Loki that includes 3D character animation, set extensions, and virtual set designs), it was approached for Secret Invasion to instead use AI-generated imagery for use in the titles—ghoulish, ever-morphing green-hued locales and figures that shape-shift between disguises and Skrull personas.
That hazy surreality was the intention behind using AI-generated imagery. “When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it,” Secret Invasion producer Ali Selim told Polygon, who first confirmed the AI nature of the sequence. “It just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?”
However, what “makes sense” for a series about shapeshifting superspy hijinks and the actual reality of the controversies around AI-generated imagery are two very different things. There is a level of obfuscation about the process around this sequence and just what tools were used, and how. In the same Polygon interview, Selim simply states that “the computer would go off and do something,” and the team behind the sequence would tweak and alter the response with new prompts. Secret Invasion’s end credits—which note that 12 VFX studios, including Method, worked on the show—only credit a handful of producers and an art director, as well as a single animator, an AI director, a VFX director, and a concept credit.
But in a world where creatives have repeatedly pushed back against commercial usage of tools like DALL-E and Midjourney—citing concerns of displacing jobs for human artists; plagiarism from databases trained on uncredited, stolen artwork; ethical crediting practices; and more, both in the worlds of art and cinema in general, as the ongoing writers’ strike has made AI content protections a key part of union demands—Secret Invasion’s title sequence is a scary line to cross. This is a major Marvel Studios production using the current tools of AI-generated imagery on a scale no other mainstream show has right now, and while it’s not uncommon for various VFX and art teams to not know what other teams are working on aspects of the same series, there are already artists who worked on Secret Invasion expressing shock and concerns at the show’s use of AI technology.
That hazy surreality was the intention behind using AI-generated imagery. “When we reached out to the AI vendors, that was part of it,” Secret Invasion producer Ali Selim told Polygon, who first confirmed the AI nature of the sequence. “It just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity, you know? Who did this? Who is this?”
However, what “makes sense” for a series about shapeshifting superspy hijinks and the actual reality of the controversies around AI-generated imagery are two very different things. There is a level of obfuscation about the process around this sequence and just what tools were used, and how. In the same Polygon interview, Selim simply states that “the computer would go off and do something,” and the team behind the sequence would tweak and alter the response with new prompts. Secret Invasion’s end credits—which note that 12 VFX studios, including Method, worked on the show—only credit a handful of producers and an art director, as well as a single animator, an AI director, a VFX director, and a concept credit.
But in a world where creatives have repeatedly pushed back against commercial usage of tools like DALL-E and Midjourney—citing concerns of displacing jobs for human artists; plagiarism from databases trained on uncredited, stolen artwork; ethical crediting practices; and more, both in the worlds of art and cinema in general, as the ongoing writers’ strike has made AI content protections a key part of union demands—Secret Invasion’s title sequence is a scary line to cross. This is a major Marvel Studios production using the current tools of AI-generated imagery on a scale no other mainstream show has right now, and while it’s not uncommon for various VFX and art teams to not know what other teams are working on aspects of the same series, there are already artists who worked on Secret Invasion expressing shock and concerns at the show’s use of AI technology.
Thanks for the information. I have a bad feeling it's going to be left unadressed here.
That, I think, is the key here. This wasn't like DALL-E or Midjourney. This was ostentatiously AI, DeepDream-style stuff (the swirling eye-shaped background patterns are especially weirdly retro), from back when computers didn't know what giraffes looked like, shapes surreally merging into other shapes without any grounded real-world logic. It'd be like criticizing "The Mind's Eye" for using CG and not models.
I don't see a problem with it, and it's getting people talking about the show. That wouldn't have happened if they tried go for a similar vibe with datamoshing.
It is a departure in tone from the usual MCU style - big flashy action scenes involving super or special powers/tech with funny one liners.
I haven’t loved most of the Marvel tv shows to date and had heard poor things about this show online but was pleasantly surprised by this. It had a nice paranoid vibe throughout the episode and Jackson put in his best MCU performance since TWS. Pretty shocking ending too, as others have said.
I’d read earlier today that Dubliner Killian Scott was in it but was pleasantly surprised to see Richard Dormer, who lives about 1/2 a mile away from me and often hangs out in one of my favourite bars. I’m beginning to think his characters are following the Sean Bean route though…
I’d read earlier today that Dubliner Killian Scott was in it but was pleasantly surprised to see Richard Dormer, who lives about 1/2 a mile away from me and often hangs out in one of my favourite bars. I’m beginning to think his characters are following the Sean Bean route though…
I thought it was...fine. Nothing really stood out, good or bad. It did the job but nothing more. I hope there's a good explanation as to why Fury and Carol didn't find the Skrulls a new home. They had thirty years. It would look pretty bad on both of them if they just couldn't be bothered.
The stuff with Fury walking through Moscow looked weirdly cheap.
Maria's a character I've always wanted to see more of as I like Cobie Smulders, but after eleven years we never really found out anything about her other than that she's very loyal to Nick Fury.
The stuff with Fury walking through Moscow looked weirdly cheap.
Maria's a character I've always wanted to see more of as I like Cobie Smulders, but after eleven years we never really found out anything about her other than that she's very loyal to Nick Fury.
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