Marvel’s Secret Invasion Has To Reshoot Because Of Russia-Ukraine War?
Sometimes fact and fiction hit too close to each other.
Marvel is no stranger to reshoots. By this point anyone working for Marvel Studios is likely well aware that the first wrap is never really the wrap, and once you get home there’s no point in getting unpacked. According to a new rumor, Disney+’s upcoming mini-series Secret Invasion is undergoing reshoots specifically because part of the show is a little too similar to images we’ve seen from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The unconfirmed rumor comes from insider DanielRPK’s patreon (via Secret Invasion News). The Twitter account says that before reshoots, one scene featured a “devastating sequence… involving Ukrainian citizens.” Specifically, the account reports that the scene would’ve had Skrulls disguised as criminals and, in the midst of a battle, blow up Moscow’s Red Square. One tweet shows smoke rising from the outdoor set. Another includes photos of Samuel L. Jackson and Emilia Clarke. One possibly shows Ben Mendelsohn, though his face is obscured behind an extra’s head. These shots are presumably from the reshoots — not the original shoots set in Red Square. You can see the tweet below.
While so far this story hasn’t been confirmed, on one hand it certainly seems feasible that Secret Invasion‘s reshoots would be because of the Ukraine-Russia War. As Movie Web notes, the mini-series initially wrapped production only two months after Russia’s invasion began. This would hardly be the first time a Marvel Studios production featured a lot of explosive violence in an eastern European nation and from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, we know the “blip” resulting from the events of 2019’s Avengers: Endgame has left the world of the MCU in a politically precarious state.
What does seem at least a little strange is the notion that that the Secret Invasion reshoots would be because of a scene set in Russia that kills Ukrainians. Obviously, it’s not out of the realm of possibility. Perhaps the explosion takes place during a large tourist trip or a diplomatic event?
Movie Web speculates that, regardless of the reasons for the reshoots, they may explain the April announcement that The Marvels and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania were switching release dates. The Marvels was originally going to be the first MCU movie to hit theaters in 2023 and was scheduled to bow February 17. The release date has since been pushed back to July 28, 2023 and Ant-Man 3 jumped forward to grab the February date. Movie Web speculates that this is because Secret Invasion‘s reshoots could delay its streaming release, and the events of the series are meant to lead into The Marvels. The timing makes sense, too — the date change was announced April 29, less than a week after principal photography wrapped on Secret Invasion.
No firm premiere date has been announced for Secret Invasion, though the word still is that the mini-series is expected to stream on Disney+ by the end of the year. Based on the 2008 Marvel Comics event of the same name, Secret Invasion will see Samuel L. Jackson return as Nick Fury, Ben Mendelsohn return as Talos, Cobie Smulders reprise the role of Maria Hill, Martin Freeman once more appear as Everett K. Ross, and Don Cheadle play the armored Avenger War Machine. Also in undisclosed roles are Kingsley Ben-Adir, Olivia Colman, Emilia Clarke, Killian Scott, Christopher McDonald, and Carmen Ejogo. In March Comic Book reported that Dermot Mulroney would play the MCU’s new American president, President Ritson.
