The Secret Invasion finale is about to drop, so before watching Episode 6, here’s everyone you need to know in the cast and all the characters they play in the new MCU show.
Ever since the closure of the Infinity Saga, the MCU has been trying to find direction in a franchise without a clear Endgame, with varying results. Spider-Man: No Way Home has been its biggest success since, but it doesn’t have much bearing on the rest of the franchise, despite its multiversal chaos.
Notably, we’ve seen a huge influx of Disney+ shows: WandaVision, Loki, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk, among others. Sometime last year, Marvel felt inescapable, made worse by the tepid response to most releases on screens big and small; if Black Panther 2 is underperforming and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, the debut of the next big bad, flops, is there a larger problem?
Well, there’s been positive steps: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 was an extraordinary threequel, the upcoming slate has been scaled back and spaced out, and Secret Invasion has had… some good episodes – so, here’s everyone in the cast you should know. Spoilers to follow…
Contents
- Nick Fury: Samuel L. Jackson
- Talos: Ben Mendelsohn
- Maria Hill: Cobie Smaulders
- G’iah: Emilia Clarke
- Gravik: Kingsley Ben-Adir
- James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes: Don Cheadle
- President Ritson: Dermot Mulroney
- Everett K. Ross: Martin Freeman
- Sonya Falsworth: Olivia Colman
- Priscilla Fury: Charlayne Woodard
- Rick Mason: O-T Fagbenle
Secret Invasion cast and characters
Below, you’ll find all the major characters in the cast of Secret Invasion.
The official synopsis reads: “In Marvel Studios’ new series ‘Secret Invasion,’ set in the present day MCU, Nick Fury learns of a clandestine invasion of Earth by a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls. Fury joins his allies, including Everett Ross, Maria Hill and the Skrull Talos, who has made a life for himself on Earth. Together they race against time to thwart an imminent Skrull invasion and save humanity.”
Nick Fury: Samuel L. Jackson
Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D. who’s been working on S.A.B.E.R., “the most complex aerospace defence system in the history of mankind.” While he’s been posted in outer space, he returns to Earth amid the threat of Skrulls throwing humanity into a state of war.
“There are things that even I really didn’t know about Nick Fury that I just found out. The minds behind what happened during the Blip are fantastic. That’s part of what we’re uncovering when we do this series now,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly.
Jackson is a screen legend whose best-known credits are too plentiful to list in their entirety, but we’ll put forward a few: Pulp Fiction, Coach Carter, Unbreakable, and Django Unchained, among many others.
Talos: Ben Mendelsohn
Ben Mendelsohn plays Talos, a Skrull whom Fury first met during the events of Captain Marvel in the ’90s. He was initially seen as an antagonist, but he’s since formed a close bond with Fury, even taking his identity in Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The star told Uproxx: “For me, it was just an opportunity to come back and work with something that was going to be very much about Nick Fury to do my job well enough that whatever Sam did had the benefit of the people around him.”
Mendelsohn has also starred in Animal Kingdom, Starred Up, Mississippi Grind, Ready Player One, and Star Wars prequel Rogue One.
Maria Hill: Cobie Smulders
Cobie Smulders returns as Maria Hill, the former S.H.I.E.L.D. operative who’s now a covert intelligence agent. She’s been apart from Fury for a long time, but they reunite in the series.
Smulders made her MCU debut in 2012’s The Avengers and has made several appearances across the franchise, last seen in Far From Home, and is due to pop up in The Marvels. She’s best known for her role as Robin in How I Met Your Mother.
G’iah: Emilia Clarke
Emilia Clarke plays G’iah, Talos’ estranged daughter who’s aligned with the Skrulls trying to tear mankind apart – however, she has good reasons.
“She’s a refugee kid who’s had Talos for a dad, you know what I mean? Maybe the fact that we didn’t know he had a kid up until this point tells you everything you need to know about their relationship,” she told Vanity Fair.
While Clarke’s most famous performance will always be Daenerys Targaryen in Game of Thrones, she’s also starred in Last Christmas, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and Me Before You.
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Gravik: Kingsley Ben-Adir
Kingsley Ben-Adir plays Gravik, the leader of a Skrull rebel cell who live in “New Skrullos.” Because Skrulls aren’t affected by radioactivity, he’s based in an old nuclear plant in Russia, where he plots to seize the Earth’s resources and make it the new home for his kind.
“I think as foul a feeling as he has about himself and what he’s been through, he needs Nick and Talos to feel, too,” Ben-Adir told Collider, saying he wants Fury and Talos to “experience the pain that he feels they’re partly responsible for… he’s not just trying to take over everything. He wants them to see him doing it.”
Ben-Adir has also starred in The Commuter, One Night in Miami, Peaky Blinders, and he’ll star in Barbie.
James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes: Don Cheadle
Don Cheadle plays James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, otherwise known as War Machine. When we catch up with him in Secret Invasion, he’s the right-hand man to President Ritson, so it’s unclear if we’ll see him in action in the show.
“In this one, he finds himself not directly at odds but somewhat on the other side of where Fury is,” he told Entertainment Weekly. We’ll say this: we’ve been getting rather suspicious of Rhodey…
Cheadle has also starred in Hotel Rwanda, the Ocean’s trilogy, Crash, Boogie Nights, and The Guard.
President Ritson: Dermot Mulroney
Dermot Mulroney plays Ritson, the president of the United States. We don’t know much about him, but we can say this: we know Harrison Ford’s Thunderbolt Ross will be president in Captain America 4, so perhaps he’s a Skrull.
Mulroney has also starred in The Family Stone, The Wedding Date, Insidious: Chapter 3, and Scream VI.
Everett K. Ross: Martin Freeman
Martin Freeman plays Everett K. Ross, a former CIA operative who we last saw escaping custody in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
As well as his multiple appearances in the MCU, Freeman is also known for The Office, The Hobbit trilogy, Sherlock, and The World’s End.
Sonya Falsworth: Olivia Colman
Olivia Colman plays Sonya Falsworth, an MI6 agent who’s a bit like Britain’s Nick Fury, but she has a “scorched-Earth policy” and isn’t afraid to use brutal tactics to get what she needs.
Colman is an Oscar-winning actress who’s starred in The Favourite, Peep Show, Hot Fuzz, and Heartstopper.
Priscilla Fury: Charlayne Woodard
Charlayne Woodard makes her MCU debut as Priscilla Fury, Nick Fury’s wife. Read more about her character here.
Woodard has also starred in Unbreakable (in which she played Jackson’s character’s mother), Pose, and Animal Kingdom.
Rick Mason: O-T Fagbenle
O-T Fagbenle returns as Rick Mason, the smuggler and black market contractor first introduced in Black Widow.
Fagbenle has also starred in The Interceptor, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Five, and Maxxx.
Secret Invasion Episode 6 hits Disney+ on July 26. Check out our other coverage below:
- Episode 1 review
- Episode 2 review
- Episode 3 review
- Episode 4 review
- Episode 5 review
- Secret Invasion cast and characters
- Secret Invasion episodes and release schedule
- How to watch Secret Invasion
- When is Secret Invasion set in the MCU timeline?
- Who is Gravik?
- Who is Olivia Colman’s Sonya Falsworth?
- Super-Skrulls explained
- Is Talos dead?
- What is the Harvest?