Secret Invasion's Opening Credits May Tease Its Big Bad - And The MCU's Big Plan

Contains spoilers for "Secret Invasion" Episode 1

We're only one episode into "Secret Invasion," and all this cloak-and-dagger business is making a solid case to prove that this might be the show that's just too cool for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We've got a patchless Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) being far more badass than usual, Ben Mendelsohn keeping his cool as alien confidant Talos, and Kingsley Ben-Adir highlighting the Gravik of the situation as the show's Big Bad. Among the coolest elements of the show so far, though, is the incredibly creepy Skrull-tinted title sequence, which might be one of the best we've had in MCU shows to date.

Dripping with AI imagery, the grainy, green sight of shape-shifting silhouettes sets the tone for what show creator Kyle Bradstreet hopes to deliver. Naturally, though, comic book fans will have been keeping one good eye on what that entails, and one part of the show's opening may have stuck out more than most. Between haunting images of a green sky lingering over the White House and Fury, looking not quite human, there's a striking image of a queen chess piece with briefly flashing pointy ears towering over a board. Factoring in this and the pieces that have already moved in the debut episode, could it be teasing even more significant ties to the original Marvel Comics event and the coming of feared female foe Veranke?

In the "Secret Invasion" event in the comics, it's revealed that some of Earth's Mightiest Heroes aren't who they appear to be at all, making the threat level much higher. It's all built from a carefully planned attack from the inside out, orchestrated by Queen Veranke, leader of the Skrull Empire, who is initially posing as Spider-Woman Jessica Drew.

On the show, Kingsley Ben-Adir's Gravik is undoubtedly the brains of the Skrull sect that has turned on humanity and caused trouble for Fury. However Veranke not being mentioned opens up the opportunity for Her Royal Highness to drop in at a later date.

Then again, could this stunning image be alluding to something else? Could Gravik, no matter how much of a grip he has on the situation, have his power taken from him by someone else? A potential new queen who could lead the opposing Skrull threat in a new direction with some help from our heroes instead? Well, let's look at the facts here, folks: There's already one Skrull working closely with Gravik at the moment, and the actor who plays her already has experience as a ruler, albeit as part of another beloved franchise.

While G'iah (Emilia Clarke) has made her opinion that her father, Talos, is on the wrong side of their people's future clear, that's not to say some of her pop's perspective hasn't rubbed off on her. It may only be a matter of time before she sees that Gravik's methods and plans aren't what she signed up for, which could potentially cause unrest within her group. If that's the case, might G'iah lead an uprising that could see her overthrow her leader and take charge of the matter instead? Could this be the secret invasion on "Secret Invasion"? Yeah, we know, our minds are blown too.

It would be fitting that the daughter of Talos, the Skrull who formed the initial alliance with humanity and had the intention of living in peace, carry on what came before. It'd also naturally be a brilliant meta moment for Clarke to rule another corner of a massive world of fantasy that has dragons and monsters of its own. For now, though, we can only see what comes as "Secret Invasion" continues next week on Disney+.