Secret Invasion: Why The Everett Ross And Agent Prescod Scene Makes No Sense

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

From the very first moments of "Secret Invasion," the viewer knows that nothing is like it seems. The show begins with a gruff monologue about a Skrull conspiracy, which turns out to be a meeting between the speaker, Agent Prescod (Richard Dormer), and our old friend Everett Ross (Martin Freeman). The gist of Prescod's theory is that Skrulls have secretly invaded Earth and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) can't be trusted. However, Ross doesn't actually need much convincing, as it turns out later that he actually is a Skrull, and here for Prescod's evidence. 

While Skrull-Ross does indeed acquire said evidence, things don't go smoothly. Prescod grows suspicious and attacks Ross, and the ensuing fight forces Ross to kill the justifiedly paranoid agent. 

Why does Prescod attack Ross, then? Because the experienced (former) CIA operative makes an awful rookie mistake specifically telling Prescod that he'll take the information to Fury ... immediately after hearing a big rant about how Prescod suspects that Fury may be in on it. Making a foolish mistake like that seems like a grievous and uncharacteristic error on Ross' part, seeing as most people would instinctively avoid mentioning Fury while the unhinged Prescod is within earshot. Even if we forget the fact that a Skrull-strong Ross should have a far easier time in the fight, his Fury name-drop alone warrants a raised eyebrow.

Of course, there's also another option. It could be that the Skrull Ross makes such an uncharacteristically silly mistake because the real Ross is still out there, and the Skrull is merely temporarily impersonating him to try and fool Prescod.

The thing about Ross is that he's no fool. Sure, he has his comedic moments, but those usually stem from the fact that he's a non-powered CIA operative who keeps having to deal with superheroes and villains, which puts him on the comic sidekick seat by narrative default. In his own spy world, he's been consistently presented as quite a capable guy. 

Because of this, it's always possible that Ross' poor choice of words in "Secret Invasion" is a stealthy hint that we're not necessarily seeing the Ross who's turned up in multiple movies. Right now, there's simply no way to tell what's up until the show decides to show its hand ... but hey, that's "Secret Invasion" for you. If the first episode is any indication, we'll see many more moments like this before the show is over.