Here's What Went Wrong With Marvel's Secret Invasion
Look, despite the title, it's not exactly a mystery that Marvel's "Secret Invasion" all but crashed and burned upon release on Disney+ earlier this year. I would know, since I had to recap those episodes on a weekly basis! By far the most critically-savaged streaming series that the studio has ever released (not to mention a finale that somehow reached even lower lows), even the most diehard fans felt thrown off by a haphazard and aimless plot that meandered its way towards an anticlimactic ending, a head-scratching adaptation of a seminal comic book storyline, and the pervasive feeling that Emilia Clarke and Kingsley Ben-Adir were wasting their talents week in and week out. Oh, and of course, there was also the visual of Clarke's stubby Drax arm that instantly became a meme. It was a lot, folks.
What we didn't realize at the time, however, was just how deeply ingrained all those issues really were. It's easy to chalk up every bad choice in "Secret Invasion" to nothing more than poor writing, but that doesn't quite get to the root of what went wrong. According to a new report taking aim at Marvel's recent issues in the streaming space, much of it comes down to some serious behind-the-scenes tension.
The Hollywood Reporter just published some eye-opening details concerning the status of Marvel's suddenly in-flux "Daredevil" series, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. The article sheds more light on the mess that was "Secret Invasion," and as it turns out, those rumors of reshoots and writer shakeups (which we previously covered here) were more than just rumors. Between an abrupt firing and hiring a new head writer, COVID-related scheduling issues, and a series of power struggles for creative control, "Secret Invasion" may have been doomed from the start.
A mess of Marvel's own making
If you thought the Marvel movies had a "Too many cooks in the kitchen" problem, well, a new challenger has emerged: Marvel's chaotic streaming shows. In a continuation of a trend that shouldn't surprise anyone, THR explains that original "Secret Invasion" writer Kyle Bradstreet was abruptly fired from the series (after a year of work on the scripts!) after Marvel decided to shift its creative vision for the series. So, in came new writer Brian Tucker, who received the bulk of writing credits on the finished scripts, and directors Thomas Bezucha and Ali Selim. Unfortunately, it didn't end there. The report claims that preproduction on "Secret Invasion" turned into a bloodbath of multiple different groups fighting for creative control. According to an anonymous source quoted in the article:
"It was weeks of people not getting along, and it erupted."
With the show at risk of falling far behind schedule, to the point that certain actors would've had to be replaced or lost altogether due to prior commitments on other projects, the studio reportedly sent high-level executive Jonathan Schwartz (a member of the studio's creative committee apparently called "The Parliament," THR casually reveals) onto the set of "Secret Invasion" to help whip the production back into shape. All this allegedly took place in the summer of last year and, by September, a host of below-the-line crew members had been replaced. Casualties extended to line producers, unit production managers, assistant directors, and even Marvel executive Chris Gary, who was originally in charge of overseeing production.
Tellingly, the article also mentions that similar creative shakeups occurred on both "Moon Knight" and "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law." It's clear that Marvel TV has bigger issues to address these days. "Secret Invasion" might not be an outlier, after all.