‘Secret Invasion’ Star, Director on Killing [SPOILER] in the Premiere

The first Marvel Studios TV series of 2023 sure started with a bang — and a body count. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Secret Invasion is playing for keeps, though. After all, it’s Nick Fury’s show, and fans have been waiting to see Samuel L. Jackson take the lead since he first appeared way back in the post-credits of 2008’s Iron Man. Any show with Nick Fury at the helm is gonna leave a mark on the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Secret Invasion’s already done just that with the murder of — oh, SPOILER ALERT.

And this is a major SPOILER ALERT because this is a major death and one that looks way, way more permanent than the deaths we’ve seen in comic books. In the final moments of Secret Invasion’s premiere, we watch revolutionary Skrull leader Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) shoot and kill Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) mere moments after detonating a few dirty bombs in the middle of a Russian holiday celebration. Making matters somehow even worse is the fact that Gravik got the drop on the usually perceptive and quick-witted Hill by posing as Nick Fury himself. That’s how serious Secret Invasion is. A Marvel mainstay let her guard down for a split second and that was all it took. R.I.P. Maria.

For those of you looking for answers regarding this tragic turn of events, Decider tried to get some from Kingsley Ben-Adir, the man who pulled the trigger. Ben-Adir was, however, quick to point out that it actually was not he who pulled the trigger. It was Samuel L. Jackson, thanks to how shapeshifting works. But, he added, “I knew it in a story sense, that it was me that did it, but I didn’t actually have to act it.”

Still, since his character killed Hill, Ben-Adir was tasked with rationalizing why Gravik did what he did and using that to propel his performance forward. “What was interesting to me about that was Gravik’s need for that level of sadism, really, to want Nick to see him do it as it’s happening, and then to want Nick Fury to see that happen as she’s dying. This is why this [is] so important to him. It’s not just about blowing up the town square. It’s about seeing the infliction of that pain as it’s happening on [Fury]. It’s deeply personal between them.”

Maria Hill’s loss comes as a major blow not just to Secret Invasion (the series) or Nick Fury (the character), but to the MCU (the franchise). Maria Hill debuted in 2012’s Avengers, acting as Nick Fury’s right-hand agent. She stuck by Fury, and by default the Avengers, through Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and brief appearances in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. It’s also worth pointing out that Smulders was one of the very few MCU actors to actually appear in episodes of ABC’s Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. All that is to say, Maria Hill’s murder is a big deal, especially as the number of Phase One characters still active in the MCU continues to dwindle.

However, Maria Hill’s MCU legacy couldn’t get in the way of the scene itself. It was important for director Ali Selim to find this tragic, intimate, emotional moment in the midst of actual chaos. “It’s a balance of, what’s the emotional truth of that moment for Maria Hill? What’s the emotional confusion of that moment for Maria Hill, and helping Cobie find that and be truthful to it?” Selim told Decider. “What’s the emotional truth for Sam Jackson in that moment? And then also never losing sight of the fact that that truthful, small moment happened in this big burning location, and you just have to keep that all as part of it. It’s all just story.”

That’s how the moment was approached on set, too, explained Selim. “It comes from story. It comes from the script. [Cobie] reads the script, and she says, ‘Oh, how can I make this truthful?’ And where she needs help she comes to me and says, ‘How can I make this truthful’ and we talk about it. The conversations are not about your leaving the MCU. The conversations are about what happens to a woman who gets shot by her best friend and her boss and is confused and dying in the same moment. So it’s less about the bigger MCU thing and more about just what’s happening in this moment.”

Whether or not we’re in for a classic MCU switcheroo, especially considering all of the fake-outs Nick Fury has pulled regarding his own demise, remains to be seen. This could be Cobie Smulders’ final outtng in the MCU, or there could be more on the way thanks to time travel or alternate dimensions or magic — or even just because of a postponed release date (Smulders is listed as part of the cast of The Marvels, opening in theaters this November). But no matter what Maria Hill’s future is in the MCU, if she even has one, that doesn’t make Cobie Smulders’ performance any less impactful.

New episodes of Secret Invasion premiere on Wednesdays on Disney+.