The following contains spoilers for Secret Invasion Season 1, Episode 3, “Betrayed,” now streaming on Disney+.
Marvel Studios’ latest offering, Secret Invasion, is one of the MCU’s darkest and quietest installments yet. Instead of focusing on superhuman action and Avengers-style team-ups, the new Disney+ series shines a light onto Nick Fury’s murky world of espionage, with the super spy having to face his latest challenge alone. Or rather, almost alone. Just as much as it is Nick Fury’s story, Secret Invasion is also a story about Talos.
First introduced in 2019’s Captain Marvel, Talos is a Skrull leader who initially clashed with Carol Danvers and Nick Fury in 1995, before he was able to reveal to them that the Skrulls are refugees simply searching for a new home. Talos would go on to become a long-standing ally of Nick Fury, with Secret Invasion revealing Fury has been employing and attempting to help the Skrulls living on Earth for years. While Secret Invasion pitched itself as a Nick Fury story, it is becoming clear that the story is built on the partnership between him and Talos.
Nick Fury and Talos Are in the Same Position in Secret Invasion
The third episode of Secret Invasion, “Betrayed,” sees Talos explaining why Fury needs him, in no uncertain terms. He tells Fury that the Skrulls’ intelligence and field work was the entire basis for Fury’s rise through the ranks at S.H.I.E.L.D. However, the episode goes further than this and makes it clear why Fury and Talos both need each other. Although Secret Invasion‘s focus has been on Fury finding himself down and out, lacking the authority he once held and the respect he once commanded, “Betrayed” makes it clear that Talos is in exactly the same position.
Talos had once been a commander on the Skrull Council, but following Nick Fury’s departure from Earth to the S.A.B.E.R. space station, faith in Fury’s promise to find the Skrulls a new homeworld began to wane. As Talos’ alliance with Fury appeared to have failed to deliver for the Skrulls, Secret Invasion finds Talos having been removed from the council and sent into exile. With his daughter, G’iah, having joined Gravik’s rogue Skrull faction, the death of his wife, Soren, and the loss of his forces, Talos is now just as alone and powerless as Nick Fury. At a parley with Gravik, Talos finds himself unexpectedly surrounded by Gravik’s loyal allies, forcing him to realize just how hopelessly outmatched he is.
Nick Fury and Talos Can Only Rely on Each Other
Tensions are running high between Fury and Talos in Secret Invasion. Upon learning that Talos has secretly relocated a million Skrulls to Earth, Fury became enraged at his old friend and seemed ready to part ways with him for good during the series’ second episode. However, after being fired by the US Government, Fury comes back to Talos in Episode 3. Although he is angry at Fury for his failure to recognize just how vital the Skrulls have been to his career, Talos agrees to accompany him on his mission to prevent an airstrike being launched by Gravik’s forces.
Neither Fury nor Talos have anyone else left to turn to in the fight against Gravik. After the Blip, Fury’s decision to remain distanced from Earth on S.A.B.E.R. harmed them both and left them without any other allies to back them up. While Secret Invasion is the story of Nick Fury’s struggle to fend off a threat of his own creation, going into battle on his own for the first time, Talos shares that story with him. They might have their issues with each other, but they are also each other’s only hope of preventing all-out war between humans and Skrulls.
New episodes of Secret Invasion are available to stream every Wednesday on Disney+.