Could Captain Marvel's Skrulls Plan a Secret Invasion?

Since it was announced in 2016 that Brie Larson would be playing Carol Danvers -- aka Captain Marvel -- in her very own movie, Marvel fans have wondered how the character would fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and just what her movie will add to it. Well, it might have taken a year, but Marvel finally unveiled some new information about the Captain Marvel movie at 2017's Comic-Con International. We now know that not only will the movie be set in the early '90s and co-star Nick Fury, the the main villains of the piece will be the Skrulls, the shape-shifting race of aliens that have plagued the Marvel heroes in the comic books for a very, very long time.

OK, so it might not have been a lot of information, but these revelations bring with them a slew of new questions, first among them being what this time period means for the movie's story and Carol's presence (or absence) as a hero in the MCU. But the big revelation was the Skrulls themselves; the (sometimes) little green aliens introduced in the pages of the Fantastic Four comics in 1962, have been closely associated with Marvel's First Family for decades, though their presence has impacted the entire Marvel U.

One of their first major non-FF storylines was the classic, Avengers storyline The Kree/Skrull War, an event that involved the male Captain Marvel of the era> They were also a massivethreat to the Avengers and came very close to successfully taking over the Earth in the 2008 Marvel Comics event Secret Invasion -- an event that, arguably, could be seen as their biggest moment on the Marvel Comics stage.

While we know that the third Avengers movie is titled Infinity War, Marvel has been playing coy with the title of its sequel, the fourth Avengers movie. Originally announced as Infinity War Part 2, that title has now been scrapped and at least officially, the movie remains untitled. When it comes to the subtitles of many recent Marvel movies -- like The Winter Soldier, Civil War, Ragnarok and Infinity War -- Marvel readers know there's power in those titles, as they all call back to famous comic book stories or events. So what is the real title of Avengers 4? Could it be Secret Invasion?

Written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Leinil Francis Yu, Secret Invasion was the culmination of years of planning and seed-planting in Bendis' New Avengers. It was so secret, in fact, that barely anyone had any idea where it was all going. But when it was revealed that the Elektra everyone knew had been a shape-shifting Skrull for quite a long time, it sparked significant distrust among Earth's Mightiest Heroes as they realized any one of them could be an alien spy. This all led to an invasion of Earth by the Skull Empire that was nearly successful, culminating in a final battle between the Avengers and the forces of the Skrull Queen in the middle of Central Park, the fate of the entire world lying in the balance.

Shifting to Marvel's movies, we've known Thanos was going to be the main threat of Infinity War for a while and, because the fourth Avengers movie was announced for a time as Infinity War Part 2, everyone assumed that Thanos would have a major role to play yet again in the still untitled sequel. But what if Marvel is just making us look left while its are preparing something completely different on the right? What if the invasion is coming, and it really is a secret?

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Will Avengers: Secret Invasion Follow Infinity War?

The Captain Marvel movie is slated to release on March 8, 2019, a whole two months before Avengers 4. That's right, a movie starring Captain Marvel, set in a previous time period, will be released between both Avengers movies. What if Infinity War ends with the reveal that one character has secretly been replaced by a Skrull? General audiences wouldn't know what that would mean, until Captain Marvel arrives and explains who and what the Skrulls are, and what they were up to in the '90s. Then, with a return to the present for Avengers 4, we could be looking at the Skrulls as the main threat to the world. Maybe they used the emergence of Thanos to their advantage. Or, perhaps, when they saw that most of the Avengers were busy saving the world, the Skrulls snuck behind the smoke and the flames and discretely took the Earth for themselves.

But, if that is the case, then what could this mean for the MCU as it heads headlong into Phase 4? Well, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige did confirm that the Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel opens up minutes after the events of Avengers 4, thus ushering in the fourth phase of the MCU. While this could mean anything, Marvel readers know that Secret Invasion infamously ended with Spider-Man villain Norman Osborn killing the Skrull Queen on live television for all the world to see, something that led to him securing a position akin to Nick Fury as the man in charge of the entire world's protection... Something that also led to a storyline called Dark Reign, where most of the heroes were now in-hiding, operating underground as they were hunted by the new man in charge. With that in mind, it's entirely possible that the Homecoming sequel would look into some sort of Dark Reign storyline for the next phase of Marvel movies.

Is Secret Invasion the basis of the story of the untitled Avengers 4 movie? Obviously, we don't know this, but some of the signs are pointing to yes. Then again, Marvel has always been good at playing with our expectations. Maybe Avengers 4 really is the second part to Infinity War. Maybe Thanos is still the main threat our heroes will be facing. Maybe Secret Invasion will be something else entirely. Maybe, just like in the comics, the seeds of the Skrull infiltration will slowly be planted throughout multiple Phase 4 movies, leading to a massive team-up movie starring a new version of the Avengers, one led by Bucky Barnes, who was Captain America during the comic book event.

The fact is, with so many actors' contracts done after Avengers 4, we know little of who will be left standing when the dust settles. The one ting we do know for certain is that the Skrulls are out there... and they're coming to the MCU.