Secret Invasion: Why Gravik's Choice Of Hideout Makes No Sense

This article contains spoilers for "Secret Invasion" Episode 1, "Resurrection"

Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) is exactly the type of villain a show that deals with paranoia needs. He doesn't grandstand or hold massive speeches. He simply makes plans and executes them to perfection, and whatever downtime he has seems to be spent deep in thought, with a detached look on his face. The end result is the kind of Skrull leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) was initially teased to be in "Captain Marvel" — a ruthless, calculating shape-shifter who's capable of anything and holds human life in little regard, to the point that Gravik kills Marvel Cinematic Universe mainstay Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) in his debut episode just to mess with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

With two major character deaths and a lot of stage-setting, the "Secret Invasion" series premiere gives us an idea of how far Gravik is willing to take things. What's more, he's made his faction virtually untouchable by establishing his base in a decommissioned Russian nuclear facility, reaping the rewards of the Skrulls' immunity to radioactivity. Unfortunately, immune or not, hanging around on a radioactive site would make Gravik's forces extremely easy to find because of the radioactivity that's lingering on them (via CDC), even if it doesn't affect them. This would essentially negate their shapeshifting advantage, which would be disastrous for a group that's specifically trying to maintain secrecy.

There are many types of radioactive contamination, and even though Skrulls can clearly deal with internal contamination and radiation exposure due to their immunity, they'd be hard-pressed to avoid external contamination in a fenced-off nuclear facility that's clearly pretty messy. This means they'd likely be carrying radioactive dust from the site wherever they go, which would make them radiation sources themselves.  

It's unclear exactly how radioactive the Skrull base is, but judging by its visuals, it seems to be a nuclear plant that looks a lot like Chernobyl, and is clearly so radioactive that the Skrulls feel comparatively safe from humans. As such, it'd be pretty hard for them and their equipment to not have at least trace amounts of radioactivity whenever they venture into the world. What's more, Talos and the humans are clearly aware of the radioactive nature of their hideout, and they could potentially use any amount of highly advanced MCU gadgetry to scan crowds in an area of suspected Skrull activity to easily locate Gravik's people. 

The show has barely left the starting blocks, so it's entirely possible that the protagonists will eventually figure out how to use the radioactivity factor to their benefit. Still, for an antagonist who uses secrecy and covert operations to achieve his goals, it's strange that Gravik seems to have left this part of his otherwise immaculate plans unaddressed.