Secret Invasion was released on Disney+ last year and, despite a strong (albeit controversial) start, the show quickly went downhill and ultimately disappointed fans.
The six-part series didn't do the comic book it shares a name with justice and seemed to have little to no impact on the wider MCU; The Marvels followed just a few months later and despite Nick Fury's prominent role, literally no one mentioned that Earth had just fended off an invasion from shape-shifting aliens!
Kingsley Ben-Adir played Secret Invasion's lead villain, Gravik, and had the unique experience of starring in a poorly-reviewed MCU project the same year he was front and centre in 2023's biggest movie, Barbie. That received rave reviews.
Talking to The Direct, Ben-Adir addressed the contrasting critical responses to both projects.
"I feel like the experience of making a movie is why I do my work, you know. Once we wrap, it's done," he said. "It's over to you guys and over to them. You know, my job is to come in and find a psychological point of view on the character and try and figure out a journey for the story."
"And then after that, it's really - you take your high as the same way you take your lows."
Ben-Adir, who is doing the rounds to discuss his new movie Bob Marley: One Love, went on to share how his approach to these three characters - Gravik, Ken, and the real-life musician - differed.
"Well, 'Secret Invasion' was exploring a character who wanted to see everyone burn and suffer. Ken, I feel, didn’t really have a brain; he didn’t really have any thoughts of his own. His only purpose in life was to live for [Ryan Gosling’s] Ken," the actor says "There’s something quite simple about that. And it was very much about Slapstick and physical comedy."
"Bob [Marley’s] a musical artist, and he’s one of the most loved people on the planet, but I’m not a musician. But they’re all very different."
Last year, The Marvels director Nia DaCosta shared her take on why the Captain Marvel sequel glosses over what Fury went through in Secret Invasion.
"We wanted to kind of keep that connection to Captain Marvel [the movie] where we saw a lighter side of him, because of his relationship with Captain Marvel," the filmmaker explained. "Something I really like about Fury is that he kind of shifts depending on who he's with, and I think with these women, he's a much softer Fury."
"He's very weary after the events of Secret Invasion. It's a lot, and as we've seen throughout the MCU, he's sort of obsessed with protecting the entire world," DaCosta added. "It's like, 'How can I do that?' In Winter Soldier, you see him doing some ill-advised things as he tries to be on top of everything. Now he's in space literally watching over the entire planet, so I think [The Marvels is] just a continuation of that."
Did you think Ben-Adir was a good villain in Secret Invasion?