Secret Invasion: The Harvest Could Create MCU Villains Worse Than Super Skrulls

Contains spoilers for "Secret Invasion" Season 1, Episode 5 — Harvest

Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) secrets have been causing problems in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since its inception, but a bombshell in "Secret Invasion" may be his worst one yet.

The latest episode of the Disney+ series revealed that the superspy conveniently has the DNA from almost every Avenger stored in the Harvest. He used the heroes' climactic fight against Thanos in "Avengers: Endgame" to steal it. As Fury puts it, "Nearly every Avenger spilled blood in the Battle of Earth. Even Carol Danvers." He took advantage of that, sending his Skrull spies onto the battlefield to collect samples after Thanos' defeat. To make matters worse, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) was one of those spies, so not only does he know about the Harvest, but he now wants it to make the Super Skrulls even more super.

Fury sitting on an untapped well of superhero DNA doesn't bode well for the MCU. While he may have meant to use it for good, "Secret Invasion" shows the danger of such technology, as Fury now has no choice but to hand it over to Gravik. However, if we look at the comics, the Harvest could bring many more villains to the MCU, who would make the Super Skrulls look like yesterday's news.

What do you get when you combine the powers of multiple Avengers? The Super-Adaptoid. First introduced in 1966's "Tales of Suspense" #82, Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM) created the robotic adversary, which has the power mimicry ability, which allows it to copy the powers of any superpowered individuals near it. It can also duplicate the individual's looks, resulting in an awesome mixture of multiple superhero costumes.

Over the years, the Super-Adaptoid has come face to face against some of Marvel's biggest players, including Captain America, the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. During those encounters, it gained the powers of Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Human Torch, and even Deadpool. Its run-in with Mar-Vell gave the Super-Adaptoid access to the Negative Zone, and it even got access to some quantum energy while fighting Phyla in space.

It's obvious how Marvel Studios could adapt the Super-Adaptoid using the Harvest introduced in "Secret Invasion." If the U.S. government were to get its hands on the Avengers' DNA, it would be a reasonable plotline for them to create the Super-Adaptoid with the powers of a few Avengers. To make this option even more appealing, the superpowered android could fit nicely into a project like "Armor Wars," which will need a villain as it jumps from a Disney+ series to an MCU movie.

Another option would be for Marvel Studios to follow the "Secret Invasion" comic book arc, which ended with the introduction of the Dark Avengers.

Following the Skrull invasion, Norman Osborn became head of SHIELD, the Thunderbolts, and many more government organizations, including the Mighty Avengers. He used the government-funded group to create his Dark Avengers, with many villains donning the iconic costumes of previous heroes while on the team. Bullseye became the new Hawkeye, Venom took over for Spider-Man, Moonstone was Ms. Marvel, and Daken wore his father's Wolverine costume. Sentry, Ares, and even Norman joined the group, wearing the America-themed Iron Patriot armor.

Of course, most of these characters aren't in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (yet), so Marvel Studios would have to play around with the lineup. However, the Harvest gives them an easy way to transfer the Avengers' powers to the new team, putting an even darker spin on the Dark Avengers. There's also a convenient absence of an Avengers team in the MCU currently, opening the door for a villain to form a new one. Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) seems like the most likely candidate to fill Norman's spot in the MCU, and "Thunderbolts" could be a slight adaptation of the Dark Avengers. If that's the case, the Harvest gives Marvel Studios plenty of leeway, either powering up some of the team's weaker members or creating a villain like Sentry for the Thunderbolts to take down.