4 Easter Eggs from Secret Invasion Episode II
I’m no pro at identifying Easter eggs in Marvel properties, but over the past fifteen years since the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (MCU) inaugural film Iron Man (2008), I’ve gotten a little better at it.
Following the premiere of Secret Invasion (2023) episode II, here are four Easter eggs I spotted. Warning: spoilers ahead.
Inappropriate Joke
One scene depicts the torture of a Skrull radical named Brogan (Ben Peel). The covert Skrull operative sits tied to a chair in a meat locker with slabs of beef hanging throughout the room. Just before the torture begins, Sonya Falsworth (Olivia Colman) enters and sees a man punching Brogan who is disguised as a human. Upon entering the room, Falsworth says:
“Didn’t your mother ever warn you you could lose an eye beating your meat like that?”
I laughed too hard when I heard this line.
Aside from the line being funny because of it’s inappropriate innuendo, it is also uncharacteristic for the MCU. This indicates that Marvel Studios may be prepping us for the inappropriate, hyper-sexual punchlines we can expect in Marvel films and TV shows moving forward, especially with Deadpool’s induction into the MCU with Deadpool III (2024).
Torture
This is a 2-for-1 Easter egg.
During the aforementioned torture scene, Falsworth wants to ensure that Brogan is, in fact, a Skrull. To confirm this, she draws a knife and lops off one of his fingers.
The violence in and of itself reminds me of Deadpool. More specifically, however, think back to the first Deadpool (2016) film when DP (Ryan Reynolds) was searching for Francis (Ed Skrien). When interrogating Recruiter (Jed Rees), the man who suggested that he undergo the experimental treatment to cure him of his cancer, he resorted to breaking the man’s fingers in order to get answers from him. Seems like an Easter egg to me.
Toward the end of the interrogation, Falsworth injects Brogan with a serum. Initially, I thought it would be a truth serum, which would be a nod to Ant-Man and the Wasp when Luis (Michael Peña) gave up Scott Lang’s (Paul Rudd) location due to the truth serum. Instead, the serum was designed to boil an organisms blood, essentially cooking the victim internally.
Once Brogan’s blood begins boiling (literally) he glows an orange color. At that point the effects of the serum reminded me more of the Extremis virus that appeared in Iron Man III (2013). A fear of Extremis being weaponized was expressed in Iron Man III—have those fears been realized?
Super-Skrull
Toward the end of the second episode, G’iah (Emilia Clarke) learns that Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) intends to make Skrulls even stronger than they already are. In order to gain insight into Gravik’s plans, she surreptitiously searches through their database and realizes that the Skrulls have access to a lot of materials. Some of those materials include Groot DNA, Cull Obsidian DNA, Frost Beast DNA, and Extremis.
Groot DNA
In the MCU, Groot has only been to earth twice: in Wakanda during Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and at the ruins of the Avengers compound during the final battle in Avengers: Endgame. Since he did not die at either of those locations, how did the Skrulls obtain Groot DNA? There may be a few ways the Skrulls could have done so.
When the Guardians of the Galaxy fought Ronan on Xandar in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), Groot sacrificed himself to save the team. We know that Groot can regenerate himself with only a fragment of his former body. Since Rocket only grabbed one twig that we know of, who gathered the other pieces of Groot? Could a Skrull have been posing as a Xandarian and then retrieved a piece of Groot?
In Avengers: Infinity War, Groot attempted to trap Thanos (Josh Brolin) in his vines. Thanos easily broke free of Groot’s constraints. What happened to the pieces of Groot that Thanos broke through? If they were on the floor of the Wakandan forest, then perhaps a Skrull could have retrieved them. That, however, would mean that a Skrull either penetrated the Wakandan barrier, or someone in Wakanda is a Skrull. This Skrull would have to have access to Shuri’s lab in order to retrieve Groot’s remains. Could Shuri be a Skrull?
In Avengers: Infinity War, we learned from Thor (Chris Hemsworth) that Groot simply translates to tree. Perhaps the Groot DNA that the Skrulls have is not the Groot we all know and love. Perhaps it is another member of the Groot species. If that is the case, then there is no telling how the Srkulls obtained Groot DNA.
Frost Beast
During the post credit scenes of Thor: The Dark World (2013), we see the Frost Beast that was accidentally teleported from Jotunheim to earth while Thor and Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) were fighting. In that final scene, the Frost Beast is seen jumping over shipping containers chasing birds. Based on what we’ve seen in the second episode of Secret Invasion, it’s not only possible, but likely, that whoever was in charge of capturing the Frost Beast had connections with the Skrulls, enabling them to get their hands on the animal.
Is this a nod to Thor, Loki, or both? One could assume that the Frost Beast is a nod to Thor since it appeared in one of Thor’s movies. However, it seems that Loki will be playing a much bigger role in the next several phases and, through the introduction of the Time Variance Authority (TVA), may be the link between the MCU and other Marvel properties like the Fox Marvel Universe and the Sony Marvel Universe. Looks like a Loki Easter egg to me.
Cull Obsidian DNA
The database indicates that the Skrulls have access to Cull Obsidian’s hand. Think back to Avengers: Infinity War. Just before Cull Obsidian could kill Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Wong (Benedict Wong) opened a portal that sent Cull Obsidian to some frozen tundra. As Cull Obsidian tried to return to New York through the portal, Wong closed it but not before Cull Obsidian reached through the portal. When Wong closed the portal, it severed Cull Obsidian’s hand off. His hand fell to the ground and Banner (Mark Ruffalo) kicked it.
So, how did the Skrulls come into possession of Cull Obsidian’s hand? Could a government team sent to retrieve alien tech and corpses similar to the team we saw in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) be the key? Perhaps a government official was working with the Skrulls or a Skrull was covertly working with the government.
What if, however, the plot twists even more than that? What if Banner or Wong are Skrulls? After Iron Man, Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), and Spider-Man fly off to space in the “flying donut,” the only two who are left in New York are Wong and Banner. Wong returns to the Sanctum Sanctorum, but could he have doubled back to claim Cull Obsidian’s hand? Conversely, Banner attempts to get in touch with then-Captain America, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans). Could Banner have taken possession of Cull Obsidian’s hand after contacting Rogers?
Extremis
As aforementioned, it seems as though Extremis has been weaponized. If that is the case, how did the Skrulls get their hands on it? The scientists who created Extremis, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), was killed by Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce)…or so we think. What if Hansen survived and teamed up with the Skrulls to continue her work? On the other hand, what if Aldrich Killian survived and teamed up with the Skrulls?
If Killian did survive, perhaps he followed in the footsteps of Dr. Wilfred Nagel (Olli Haaskivi), the scientist who successfully recreated the super soldier serum in Madripoor as explained in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and completed his work with Extremis in secret. Killian, being the unscrupulous, money hungry, murderer he was, would have opted to sell Extremis to anyone, Skrull or otherwise, who was willing and able to pay the right price for it. This could explain how both the Skrulls and Falsworth had access to it.
Could access to the DNA of these different organisms lead to Super-Skrull? In the comics, Skrull warrior K’Irt was given the powers of all the members of the Fantastic Four. Since the Fantastic Four have not assembled on Earth-19999 yet, could a different version of Super-Skrull with the combined powers of the aforementioned characters be in the works?
Meat Hook
Toward the end of the episode, Gravik and a couple of his goons execute a rescue mission. Their objective is to retrieve Brogan. Being one of the final scenes in the episode, a fight ensues. Gravik shows his combat prowess by hanging one of the men on a meat hook!
Again, the violence seems like a preparation for Deadpool. However, this particular instance seems more like a preparation for another violent character who will be joining the MCU: Punisher!
In season II episode I of the Daredevil series titled Bang (2016), Punisher (Jon Bernthal) hung men on meat hooks and let them bleed out as a testament to his self-appointed mission to rid New York of gangs. Could this be an indication of the violence we’ll get to see from the Punisher himself moving forward?!
Conclusion
As aforementioned, I’m no pro at identifying Easter eggs. If there are some Easter eggs I might’ve missed in the second episode of Secret Invasion, let me know in the comments below.
