The following contains spoilers for Secret Invasion Episode 6.Secret Invasion goes out with a bang as episode 6 “Home” marks the finale of the limited series on Disney Plus. The conflict between Gravik and Nick Fury finally comes to a head as Fury seeks to stop the Skrull rebel leader once and for all. The episode essentially has a countdown clock as Fury needs to stop President Ritson from attacking Russia while Gravik is intent on destroying humanity. While the countdown is on, there are quite a few Easter eggs uncovered.
Like all the episodes of Secret Invasion before it, “Home” features more callbacks to the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe than it does Marvel comic book Easter eggs. The callbacks in the finale, however, are loaded. Most of them even come in just a single sequence in the episode with so many character references, it might be difficult for the audience to catch them all.
A Very Different Shot Of Nick Fury
Fans have long noticed that trailers for the Marvel Cinematic Universe projects include shots not used in the final movie or TV show. Sometimes, shots used in the trailer simply end up being cut from the final project in editing. Sometimes, things are shot specifically as misdirection, so the audience isn’t spoiled for something happening in the movie or TV show. It’s the latter that happens for Secret Invasion.
One of the sequences from the Secret Invasion trailer features Nick Fury walking into the buildings of New Skrullos in perfect health with his head held high. That’s the opposite of how he enters his face-off with Gravik in the series. Instead, G’iah, in the guise of a Nick Fury severely affected by the radiation in New Skrullos, stumbles, shakes, and coughs her way to the confrontation. It’s a drastically different presentation of Nick Fury, but one that sells a different kind of tension for the audience, so it makes sense that it wouldn’t have been revealed in the trailer.
The Harvest Includes More MCU Characters Than Just The Avengers
When Gravik loads the DNA from the Harvest for analysis, there is confirmation that the Harvest includes at least some of the Avengers. The computer scrolls through labeling all the DNA that exists in the Harvest. Among the Avengers listed are Captain America, Hulk, Thor, Valkyrie, Korg, the Winter Soldier, and Captain Marvel. Also included among the DNA are Guardians of the Galaxy members Gamora, Drax, and Mantis. There are several other surprising DNA samples included as well.
When Nick Fury discusses the Harvest in episode 5, he makes it sound as though the only DNA harvested by his team of Skrull spies following the Battle for Earth are Avengers. That isn’t the case though. The DNA cycles through Cull Obsidian, Frost Beast, and Flora Colossus, which the Skrulls already had access to, but it also cycles through several more MCU characters.
Included in the Harvest are Corvus Glaive, Thanos, Outrider, Proxima Midnight, Ebony Maw, and Chitauri. Those make sense to be included in the Harvest since they were also all at the Battle for Earth, though they were all on the opposite side of the battle from the Avengers. Interestingly, two more characters that were never explicitly stated to be at the battle are also included in the Harvest. Ghost and Abomination are included in the list of cycling labels.
Ghost is the codename for Ava Starr, the young woman whose DNA was altered during an experiment that killed her parents. She previously worked for SHIELD as an assassin while they worked to stabilize her phasing. Last the audience saw her, she was on the run from authorities in Ant-Man and the Wasp. The Pym family used energy from the Quantum Realm to help stabilize her temporarily, but she hasn’t been seen since they disappeared in the Blip. She is, however, set to appear in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie.
Abomination, on the other hand, has been in custody since the events of The Incredible Hulk. Emil Blonsky was last seen in She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, and it’s made clear that magic was used to break him out of custody multiple times, including to appear in an illegal cage match in Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. Neither the Abomination nor Ghost has ever been mentioned as having been recruited to appear on the battlefield against Thanos and his forces. Because of their connection to government agencies, however, their DNA could have already been stored away somewhere, giving Fury access to add it to his cocktail of super-DNA.
Abilities Used In Gravik And G’iah’s Fight
Gravik and G’iah are both inside the machine to create Super Skrulls when Gravik activates the use of the DNA in the Harvest. That’s what allows G’iah to gain the upper hand with him and eventually kill him. During their fight, however, which abilities they are using is showcased by their shapeshifting skills.
They don’t just go back and forth between their human and Skrull forms. Their limbs and skin patterns change as they replicate the powers of the DNA in the Harvest. Abomination’s skin, Hulk’s arm, Drax’s arm, Mantis’ antennae, Korg’s limbs, the Frost Beast’s ice, and the glow of Extremis. While the episode never pays off all the Black Widow references dropped in the series, it does pay off all the Captain Marvel mentions as both G’iah and Gravik also glow like Carol Danvers when they use her ability to fly or harness energy.
Gravik also uses the telekinetic abilities of Ebony Maw while using the powers of several others. When he does it, some of his skin changes, but not all of it. G’iah also uses the phasing abilities of Ava Starr, but when she does, she retains her human appearance, indicating that DNA is human.
James Rhodes In A Hospital Gown
When James Rhodes and Everett Ross are woken up by G’iah releasing the humans held at New Skrullos, Ross wonders just how long Rhodes has been there because he’s groggier and more unsteady than the rest. The implication is that he’s been in the hands of the Skrulls for a very long time, and that’s reinforced by his attire.
James Rhodes is wearing a hospital gown when he’s helped out the fracking pod and out to a car. That implies that he was taken by the Skrulls while he was in the hospital, which could be as far back as Captain America: Civil War when he had surgery to repair damage to his spine from a fall from the sky. That would mean the James Rhodes who helped the remaining Avengers during the Blip and the James Rhodes who fought in the battle against Thanos was a Skrull though, which makes Gravik not having access to the Avengers’ DNA something of a plot hole, and also makes the goodbye between Tony Stark and James Rhodes even sadder.
“One-Term President Stuff”
When President Ritson decides to declare all-out war on anyone from another planet that comes to Earth, it raises more eyebrows than just Nick Fury’s. It gives Sonya Falsworth an in with G’iah, who is likely the most powerful being on Earth now. It also isn’t going to sit well with those who have already welcomed the Asgardians or the Skrulls to the planet.
His speech prompts Nick Fury to tell him that is “one-term President stuff.” That not only indicates that Ritson is currently in his first term as President, but also opens the door to explain why he’s not President in Thunderbolts. There, Harrison Ford is supposed to play President Thaddeus Ross.
Peace Talks With The Kree
When Nick Fury and Varra talk as he prepares to return to SABER, he reveals that he’s not just leaving Earth because he wants to again. Instead, he’s on a mission for peace. He reveals that he’s entering peace talks with the Kree. This is likely what he's up to in space in The Marvels since there, the villain is also set to be a member of the Kree race.
The Kree are the same race that invaded and took over the Skrull homeworld, the ones who initially convinced Carol Danvers she wasn’t human, and who seem to be a more hostile force than the Skrulls have been. Members of the Kree have appeared in other areas of the MCU, like the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and they’ve also been antagonists in Agents of SHIELD, though where that fits into the current MCU timeline is still debated.
Secret Invasion is available to stream on Disney Plus.