Secret Invasion seemed poised to bring Marvel’s Cinematic Universe back to basics. It was meant to be a small-scale affair, one that kept the Avengers out of the fight and focused on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). That the series would expand on the cosmic side of the universe — and reintroduce some pulpy espionage — was further cause to get excited. But after six weeks of build-up, the series ended like all MCU projects do: not with a bang, but with a bewildering superpowered showdown.
Secret Invasion wasn’t so much a grounded thriller as a roundabout origin story for a new superhero. It was G’iah (Emilia Clarke), not Nick Fury, who defeated the Big Bad, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir), and she did it after inheriting the abilities of the MCU’s most powerful heroes and villains. Thanks to some grossly underexplained DNA science, both G’iah and Gravik are exposed to The Harvest, a serum that contains blood samples from Avengers, anti-heroes, and aliens. Not only is G’iah now imbued with Captain Marvel’s cosmic strength, Mantis’ telepathy, and Ghost’s intangibility, but she’s also got the powers of Thanos’ armies… and Thanos himself.
This doesn’t mean G’iah inherited Thanos’ thirst for genocide, but it does mean Fury had access to Thanos’ blood. Why he would store it in a serum full of Avenger DNA is an open question, but if Skrull science can somehow extract Thanos’ powers from his blood, what’s stopping another scientist from reconstructing the Mad Titan altogether?
The Harvest may have been conceived as a mere MacGuffin, but it’s creating huge ramifications for the MCU. G’iah is still an active hero who may or may not be keeping her powers secret. But if word ever gets out about the Harvest and whose DNA it carried, someone may try to extract that DNA from G’iah.
It could prove difficult to swipe a sample of G’iah’s blood, but Gravik’s body may still be in New Skrullos, since G’iah left him to rot. Very few people would have access to his body, given that New Skrullos is built within the ruins of a nuclear plant, but it’s not impossible to reach, especially not after what we witnessed in the Secret Invasion finale. G’iah’s now an honorary member of MI6, and she could work with Sonya Falsworth to ensure that Skrull assets — like Gravik’s body, and the tech that turned him and G’iah into Super-Skrulls — don’t fall into the wrong hands.
Then again, there’s a chance Marvel just didn’t think about the ramifications here. The Harvest was a blindsiding addition to Secret Invasion that didn’t feel thought out. Given the series’ current standing in the MCU (it might be the least popular Disney+ series to date), Marvel may do away with any threads the finale left dangling. Time will tell, but fans probably wouldn’t be too upset if the Super-Skrull plotline is shelved.
