Secret Invasion is all about hidden identities and the fear of being unable to trust people, even someone you’ve known for years. Or at least that’s what it’s supposedly about. The way it wound up playing out, Marvel’s most recent series was much more about Nick Fury and a group of Skrulls who chose to almost never impersonate recognizable faces. There was just one meaningful exception.
[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for Secret Invasion, Marvel’s Disney Plus TV series.]
As we’ve known for much ofSecret Invasion, James “Rhodey” Rhodes (aka War Machine) was replaced by a Skrull imposter — but the show didn’t give any hints about how long Iron Man’s best friend had secretly been an alien. At least not until this week’s season finale, featuring Skrull Rhodey’s death and human Rhodey’s rescue.
When human Rhodey gets pulled out of Skrull stasis prison, he’s wearing a hospital gown, and seems to be missing the leg-braces he got afterCaptain America: Civil War. Sure, this could mean the Skrulls nabbed him while he was at a hospital for routine surgery. (Don Cheadle is 58, and that’s a very good age to practice routine colonic health screenings.) But this isn’t a real-life documentary, it’s a TV show where people’s costumes and movements are meant to reveal information.
Which is all to say: It looks like the information Secret Invasion means to reveal is that Rhodey has been a Skrull imposter since the events of Captain America: Civil War, where the Avengers battled it out at a German airport, and a stray bolt from the Vision injured Rhodey’s spine. Meaning Rhodey has been a Skrull since 2016.
Rhodey missed Thanos’ entire arc. The initial invasion of Wakanda, the Blip, the five-year time jump, the Avengers’
UPS
Show
Don Cheadle