Warning: The following includes spoilers for Secret Invasion episode 4.The Marvel Cinematic Universe reveals plenty of the twists that have been hinted at throughout the first three episodes in Secret Invasion episode 4. As it does, it features a handful of Easter eggs for fans. These particular Easter eggs in episode 4, however, won’t be the kind that comic book fans have to search the episodes for. Instead, they call back to other chapters of the MCU.
Episode 4 of Secret Invasion sees Nick Fury learn the truth of some of the betrayals in his life. It allows the audience to flashback to earlier chapters of Nick Fury’s life, filling in some gaps in the MCU. The episode also features some pretty big moments for the Skrulls as Gravik makes a big move for the rebellion.
2012’s Nick Fury
The beginning of Secret Invasion episode 4 flashes back to 2012. Just like previous flashbacks, the time marker to show the transition between scenes is in the same style as those employed in Captain America: Civil War. Samuel L. Jackson is also de-aged using CGI technology to appear as he did in The Avengers movie, which is the big MCU event of 2012. Though he’s de-aged, eagle-eyed fans will notice that in the flashback, the scars peeking out beneath his eyepatch, however, are the same as the ones he sports in Secret Invasion, not the more spider-web-like scars he had in The Avengers.
The Battle of New York
During the flashback, Fury meets with Varra, now living completely as his wife Priscilla, in France. She has a French newspaper on the table with her that features a headline about the Battle of New York. That battle is the climax of The Avengers movie and the MCU has featured numerous newspaper headlines and reports that have alluded to it in the past. Most of them, however, have been confined to the United States.
Decoding The Superhuman Gene
It’s revealed in the episode just how Varra becomes Priscilla. It’s also revealed that she’s a professor, and while it’s not specified what field she works in, viewers are able to hazard a guess. One of the pieces of artwork on the walls of the home she shares with Fury is of a book by Priscilla titled Decoding the Superhuman Gene. That would imply she works in biology.
Interestingly enough, those with powers in the MCU so far aren’t called superhuman. That’s because they are either enhanced by scientific experiments or accidents (like Captain America or Spider-Man) or they come from another planet entirely (like Asgardians and Skrulls). “Superhuman” is a term here more related to characters like X-Men or Inhumans who have genetic differences that create their abilities. That means that even though the audience only knows Ms. Marvel’s Kamala Khan as someone whose DNA gives her powers, there are others, and they’re already being studied in the MCU.
Priscilla And Fury’s Standoff
When Fury confronts Priscilla about her being loyal to Gravik’s rebellion, the two have something of a brief standoff with their guns on the table. When they both draw and shoot, they also both purposely miss and joke about it. While it’s clearly done as a narrative choice to keep both characters alive and show they truly care about one another, it’s also a nod to historic duels.
When two gentlemen would call for a duel, they risked their reputations if they backed down. They couldn’t simply call off a duel without repercussions, so they would go through the motions of the duel, but sometimes, fire into the air so that they wouldn’t have to go through with killing the other person. The duel itself would be symbolic. One of the most famous instances of this is actually the duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, reenacted in the Broadway musical Hamilton. Though he wouldn’t back down from the duel, Hamilton didn’t aim at Burr, firing into the sky, but Burr shot and killed Hamilton.
Rhodes Calls Back To Episode 2
When Fury breaks into the Skrull pretending to be Rhodes’ hotel room to confront him, the two have a tense conversation over a bottle of alcohol. That entire conversation is a callback to episode 2 of Secret Invasion. It’s not just that it’s the same two people, and it’s not just that there’s talk of Black men having to stick together in the world of politics and espionage. This time around, their roles are reversed.
This time, it’s Fury who offers Rhodes a drink, and it’s Fury who catches Rhodes off guard. It’s also Fury who has more information that Rhodes, giving a clear indication that their roles have changed significantly from episode 2 of the series, despite them still dancing around the same information.
Nanotech
Also during the meeting between Fury and the Skrull pretending to be Rhodes is a callback to another part of the MCU. When the Skrull wonders if Fury is trying to poison him, Fury makes a joke about the alcohol having nanotechnology in it, which isn’t far from the truth since he has a liquid tracker in it.
Nanotechnology has its start in the MCU way back in Iron Man 2 when Tony Stark began experimenting with new ways to store and implement his Iron Man suit. Since then, the technology has appeared in numerous chapters of the MCU, most recognizable in Avengers: Endgame as Tony Stark uses his nanotech to great his own version of Thanos’ gauntlet and use the Infinity Stones.
Fury’s Shot Calls Back To The Avengers
Fury gets yet another callback to an earlier time in the MCU as well during the confrontation between Fury, Talos, and Gravik’s team ambushing President Ritson. Fury has weaponry hidden in his car, similar to vehicles the audience has seen him use before in movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Fury’s employment of a rocket launcher against the helicopters in the sequence, however, calls back to The Avengers, just like the episode’s opening did. He employed a similar move in The Avengers, aiming a rocket launcher at a plane carrying nuclear missiles in the movie. Fury enters the scene in the middle of all fo the fighting to help save the day once again.
Extremis And Groot Abilities Appear
The previous Easter eggs for Frost Beast, Cull Obsidian, Groot, and Extremis DNA being experimented with by the Skrulls are finally starting to pay off. Episode 3 featured Gravik healing himself with Extremis, and G’iah heals herself in this episode to prevent her death as well. That’s not the only pay-off though.
In the confrontation between the Skrulls and the President’s men, Gravik doesn’t just stick to using human weapons. He’s so intent on his goal that he reveals he has Groot’s ability to create and extend tree branches from his limbs. He uses it in the middle of battle. That means he’s got two more abilities to demonstrate in the last two episodes of the series.
New episodes of Secret Invasion are available Wednesdays on Disney Plus.