Which Two Movies Are In Line After Secret Invasion?

During a recent interview with Screen Rant, Secret Invasion director Ali Selim discussed the “requirements” he was given to set up in the MCU.

In particular, he was told to “make sure that Rhodey’s legs don’t work for Armor Wars:”

“I was given some requirements for the next movie. You have to put Nick Fury up in space. For the next beat, you have to make sure that Rhodey’s legs don’t work for ‘Armor Wars.'”

Armor Wars was previously set to be a Disney+ series, before being upgraded to a theatrically released film starring Don Cheadle’s War Machine.

In an interview with ComicBook, Selim mentioned the idea that some of the questions about when James Rhodes was replaced with Skrull could be answered in Armor Wars.

The other MCU movie that Selim has teased as a direct connection from Secret Invasion is The Marvels. Many fans assumed this connection with the presence of Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury being featured in The Marvels trailers.

Selim mentioned in an interview with EW that his “job is to tell this story (Secret Invasion) within this box” but he felt they “did a pretty good job of launching Nick Fury” into The Marvels:

“I mean, my job is to tell this story within this box, within these six episodes. I do my best not to confuse myself or the audience with things outside the box. But there are also moments where Nick Fury needs to end up here, so the next film he is in works. I think we did a pretty good job of launching Nick Fury.”

Before being delayed to November 10, The Marvels previously was set to release on July 28, just two days after the Secret Invasion finale was released on streaming.

When asked by The Hollywood Reporter, Selim confirmed that there is a conversation regarding where certain characters need to end up by the end of Secret Invasion.

The director mentioned that they “write into that” and that those universe-connecting decisions are “all above [his] pay grade:”

“The answer is yes, but they’re not protracted conversations. It’s just simply, ‘Where do you need him? You need him here? Great.’ And then we write into that. So that kind of stuff is very simple because it’s all above my pay grade.”

Does Marvel Have a Cinematic Universe Problem?

Phase 5 is off to a rocky start in terms of setting the stage for an eventual two-part Avengers story through Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania starred Jonathan Majors as Kang the Conqueror, the antagonist set up as the biggest and the baddest of the entire Multiverse Saga.

Even before the arrest and legal troubles of Majors, people were left with mixed feelings about Ant-Man 3, many complaining of the fact that it felt like more of a setup for future films, than telling its own story.

While James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a beautiful example of being a part of the larger universe, focusing on its own story and characters, Secret Invasion felt reliant on being within the MCU.

The Marvels and Armors Wars could end up being fantastic films, but will Secret Invasion be retroactively enhanced because of them? No matter the answer, it won’t really matter.

The connective tissue of the MCU has always been something that drew audiences in, but is there a chance that it’s becoming more of a crutch, rather than a strength?