26 Years Ago, Marvel Knew How To Make The Avengers Spin-Off Phase 4 Fumbled

Secret Invasion is one of the MCU‘s biggest fumbles, a fact that’s rendered even more frustrating by the fact that Marvel was sitting on a far better 26-year-old story. 2023 was a rocky year for the MCU overall, with a few notable slip-ups that were thankfully tempered by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Loki season 2. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania remains the MCU’s worst-rated movie so far, though it is hardly terrible, and The Marvels made history as the MCU’s biggest financial flop to date.

Secret Invasion, meanwhile, boasts an unfortunate couplet. It is a far more universally derided offering by Marvel Studios that also failed to draw a significant audience. Despite its intention to spotlight one of the MCU’s most beloved characters – Nick Fury – in a more grounded setting, Secret Invasion fumbled the ball when it came to adapting one of Marvel Comics’ most sprawling and compelling runs as a spy thriller. The reasons for Secret Invasion‘s failure are myriad, but it’s frustrating that Marvel could have simply repurposed a story it had already told.

1998’s Nick Fury Movie Could’ve Been Perfect For Samuel L. Jackson’s MCU Story If It Had Only Happened Later

David Hasselhoff Starred In Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. is a lesser-known, straight-to-TV superhero movie from 1998 that featured David Hasselhoff in the titular role. It depicted an admittedly relatively comic-accurate story in which Fury is drawn out of retirement before teaming up with such characters as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine to thwart a nefarious HYDRA plot to unleash a pathogen on Manhattan. Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. was lambasted upon release, with critics citing terrible dialog and hammy plot, while Hasselhoff himself garnered mixed responses for his portrayal of Fury.

Had it been released 26 years later, however, things might have been decidedly different. Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. would have slotted perfectly into the MCU’s current narrative, from having Fury emerge from retirement to including Val de Fontaine as a central figure. In fact, including Val would have been one of many ways in which the entirety of Secret Invasion might have improved, if only Marvel had thought to give its 90s flop a new lick of paint instead of severely warping a misplaced beloved comic book story.

Nick Fury’s Movie Story Would Have Been Better Than Secret Invasion

Nick Fury: Agent Of S.H.I.E.L.D. Was A More Appropriate Fury Story

While it is one of the MCU’s worst-rated offerings, Secret Invasion is still superior to Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nevertheless, had Marvel used its current standing, resources, and skill to recycle its first failed attempt to spotlight Fury, it would be in a much better place today. One of the largest criticisms leveled at Secret Invasion was its botched attempt to adapt the comic book run of the same name, reducing the cataclysmic eponymous event in Marvel Comics to a circular non-event by Secret Invasion‘s final episode.

Instead, the Nick Fury solo series that Secret Invasion turned out to be would have benefited from a different title and the espionage-laden narrative already told in the 1990s. Even a Nick Fury doppelgänger (which also comes from a comic book precedent) could still have made an appearance. Sure, it would have had to replace HYDRA with some other nefarious body, but the scale of the Skrull invasion storyline ultimately seems better saved for an Avengers-level movie, not a solo project.

The MCU Has Neglected Fury’s Solo Career

Nick Fury has appeared in more MCU projects than any other MCU character (not counting Stan Lee’s cameos). Nevertheless, he has been deprived of a movie enlightening audiences of his origins or deepening his character, while the same privilege has been afforded to the majority of the prominent characters he stars alongside. This is despite being one of the MCU’s most beloved characters (for which Samuel L. Jackson’s depiction is largely to thank, of course) – raising questions as to why he was never bestowed his own solo movie.

The cynical answer is that Marvel may not believe that Fury engenders the same spectacle as the super-powered Avengers he once orchestrated. His failed 90s movie attests to this, although it was released well before the MCU established his widespread appeal. Secret Invasion was ostensibly Marvel’s attempt to cater to the demand for a solo Nick Fury project, however, and the tragic truth of the matter is that its failure has all but driven the nail in the coffin for any potential future Nick Fury movie.

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