Warning: Spoilers ahead for Marvel’s Secret Invasion, currently available on Disney+.
The Disney+ series Secret Invasion, composed of six episodes and centered around Samuel L. Jackson’s portrayal of Nick Fury, concluded with a 37-minute finale on Wednesday. In an interview with Variety on the same day, executive producer and director Ali Selim discussed the passionate Marvel fan base and the challenge of meeting their expectations.
“Oh, I don’t read reviews, with all due respect,” Selim said. “For me, I view all the storytelling work I do as a dialogue with an audience. When the show is finished and put up on the screen, that’s my half of the dialogue. And the audience then starts their half of the response to it. I think that’s valuable, but I don’t know. I don’t know how to answer the question.”
GameSpot’s Phil Owens praised the solid start of Marvel’s Secret Invasion series, noting its potential to shake up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In GameSpot’s review of Secret Invasion based on the first two episodes, Chris E. Hayner found the absence of prominent superheroes in the story refreshing, but felt the episodes were frequently bogged down with pacing issues due to an overwhelming amount of plot crammed in. Still, despite the reception of the early episodes, the finale left far more unanswered questions than answered ones.
More recently, Selim highlighted the diverse nature of audience preferences, noting that resonance with different individuals is natural, and expectations from Marvel’s devoted fan base can play a significant role in shaping opinions. Despite the mixed reviews, Selim holds no regret, recognizing the intrinsic variability in audience reactions and expressing contentment with the overall response to the series.
“Is it our job to fulfill their expectations?” Selim asked. “Or to tell the story that we’re telling? So, it’s a tricky thing. I would love it if everybody loved it, but I also don’t have that expectation myself, so I feel great about the response to it.”
When asked whether there’s another MCU project he’d want to direct by Variety, Selim said after working for 28 months on the show he’s “just thinking about lunch and maybe a bike ride or something like that. But I was deeply moved working with Olivia Colman and Emilia Clarke, and this thing that’s left dangling at the end of sixth [episode] is really inspiring to me. So, we’ll see where it goes.”
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