Series Phase 4 — Multiverse Opens (2024–2025)

Secret Invasion (Season 1)

Name: Secret Invasion (Season 1)
Released: 2023-06-21
Duration: 330 min
Rating: 6.5
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Killian Scott, Samuel Adewunmi

"Who do you trust?"

Released June 21, 2023 5h 30m ★ 6.5TMDB ○ Optional

Nick Fury and Talos discover a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls who have been infiltrating Earth for years.

Watch note

Rogue Skrulls attempt a nuclear attack. Fury's post-Endgame Skrull replacement revealed. No confirmed Doomsday payoff.

Why It Matters in the MCU

The six-episode Skrull conspiracy series drew on the premise of the classic comics event — any human could secretly be a Skrull, including the people closest to Nick Fury — and delivered a political thriller with Sam Jackson anchoring every frame. The compressed format prevents the kind of paranoia build-up the premise needed, but Olivia Colman's Sonya Falsworth and the Gravik antagonist's radicalization arc are both genuinely strong performances in service of a storyline that needed more room. The finale's consequences — including a central death — carry more dramatic weight than the build-up fully supports.

Watch These First

17 titles lead into Secret Invasion (Season 1) — 38 hours in total, 13 of them essential.

Captain America: The First Avenger Essential 2h 4m ★ 7.0
Captain Marvel Essential 2h 4m ★ 6.8
Thor Essential 1h 55m ★ 6.8
The Avengers Essential 2h 23m ★ 8.1
Iron Man 3 2h 10m ★ 6.9
Thor: The Dark World 1h 52m ★ 6.5
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Essential 2h 16m ★ 7.7
Guardians of the Galaxy Essential 2h 1m ★ 7.9
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 2h 16m ★ 7.6
Avengers: Age of Ultron Essential 2h 21m ★ 7.3
Captain America: Civil War Essential 2h 27m ★ 7.4
Black Panther Essential 2h 14m ★ 7.4
Spider-Man: Homecoming 2h 13m ★ 7.3
Doctor Strange Essential 1h 55m ★ 7.4
Thor: Ragnarok Essential 2h 10m ★ 7.6
Avengers: Infinity War Essential 2h 29m ★ 8.2
Avengers: Endgame Essential 3h 2m ★ 8.2

Create a watch plan for these 17

Opens the planner with just these titles, so you can set your own pace.

Where It Fits in the MCU

Secret Invasion (Season 1) sits at position 147 of 165 in the MCU's story-chronological order, placing it within the Phase 4 — Multiverse Opens (2024–2025) era. It is rated Optional — can be skipped without losing the main thread. Watching in story-chronological order provides the most coherent character development experience — individual arcs build naturally toward the franchise's major crossover events, with each film's post-credits scenes carrying forward into what follows.