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Marvels Secret Invasion in the MCU is wildly different from the original 2008 comics, but here is how episode 1 compares to those comics / Marvel's

How Does Marvel’s Secret Invasion Episode 1 Compare to the Comics?

Marvelā€™s Secret Invasion on Disney Plus puts Nick Fury center stage as a group of rogue Skrulls attempts to overthrow the earth. Itā€™s based on a 2008 Marvel Comics event of the same name that, in turn, led into another big crossover story. But knowing that, you might well be wondering ā€” how does Marvelā€™s Secret Invasion episode 1 compare to the original comics?

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How Secret Invasion Episode 1 Is Different from the Comics

Iā€™m not going to bring up every little difference because unlike HBOā€™s The Last of Us, episode 1 of Marvelā€™s Secret Invasion deviates pretty heavily from the source material.

Perhaps the biggest difference is that Nick Fury doesnā€™t figure into the first issue at all, nor does Maria Hill. Instead, it features many of Marvelā€™s major heroes ā€” Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and so on. And unlike the MCUā€™s Skrulls, the comic Skrulls are known for being villainous.

Like in the show, a dead character is revealed to be a Skrull. But in this case itā€™s Elektra, ninja assassin and Daredevilā€™s on-off-on girlfriend. And while the show has a very Cold War feel, the first issue of the comic is all action. In fact, thereā€™s so much going on in the first issue that itā€™d need a ridiculously massive budget.

A virus cripples S.H.I.E.L.D.ā€™s Helicarriers, S.W.O.R.D.ā€™s space station is destroyed, and everyone inside superhuman prison The Cube is freed. On top of that, the Fantastic Fourā€™s Baxter Building is sucked into a wormhole and the Avengers find a crash-landed spaceship containing copies of themselves.

The issue ends with the revelation that Hank Pym is a Skrull, and while no one technically dies at the end of the issue, Skrull Pym absolutely wrecks Reed Richards with a Skrull weapon.

In short, Secret Invasion issue 1 is absolutely wild in the comics.

Are There Any Similarities Between Secret Invasion Episode 1 and the Comics?

So given how different the comic is to the show, are there any actual similarities, other than the general premise? Aside from a dead character being revealed as a Skrull (Everett Ross, not Elektra Natchios), no, not really.

There is still that note of paranoia, of not knowing whoā€™s secretly a Skrull. You can expect that kind of mistrust to play a major part in future episodes. It may even be that some characters have been Skrulls the whole time. But on the whole, Marvelā€™s Secret Invasion episode 1 is really very different from the comics, making trying to compare them difficult.


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Chris McMullen
Contributing Writer
Chris McMullen is a freelance contributor at The Escapist and has been with the site since 2020. He returned to writing about games following several career changes, with his most recent stint lasting five-plus years. He hopes that, through his writing work, he settles the karmic debt he incurred by persuading his parents to buy a Mega CD. Outside of The Escapist, Chris covers news and more for GameSpew. He's also been published at such sites as VG247, Space, and more. His tastes run to horror, the post-apocalyptic, and beyond, though he'll tackle most things that aren't exclusively sports-based. At Escapist, he's covered such games as Infinite Craft, Lies of P, Starfield, and numerous other major titles.
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