How Marvel's Secret Invasion Was Finally Stopped... By Deadpool?

The "Secret Invasion" storyline has quickly become one of the most well-known and adored to come from Marvel Comics. The premise alone that numerous beloved heroes and villains have been replaced by shapeshifting Skrulls as part of a plan to overtake Earth is fascinating. Not to mention, as the story unfolds and the secrets of the Skrulls are revealed, readers are treated to several unforgettable moments. For instance, who could forget the unconventional yet effective way Deadpool managed to single-handedly decimate a pretty sizeable portion of the Skrull army, thus derailing the invasion entirely?

As the heroes of Earth struggle to wrap their heads around the Skrull invasion, Nick Fury sends Deadpool to take out a Skrull general. Instead, the Merc With a Mouth chooses to work with Skrull scientists, giving them access to his healing factor. They then take his genetic material and inject it into a new batch of Skrull warriors with the hope that they'll be unstoppable. However, Deadpool's healing factor is constantly working to combat his cancer, which the Skrulls don't have. Thus, the healing factor overworks itself in their system, causing an entire army to grow rapidly and then explode. Evidently, he was never on their side at all.

With that in mind, it's too bad Deadpool isn't around to help out in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's take on the "Secret Invasion" story.

At long last, Marvel Studios has come around to doing its own "Secret Invasion" adaptation in the form of a Disney+ series. It focuses on Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his efforts to stop a rogue group of Skrulls led by the real cult leader-inspired Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) from destroying human society and taking over Earth. While there have been some big reveals in terms of tenured characters turning out to be Skrulls, it's overall a vastly different story than the one Marvel Comics readers have come to know.

Of course, it's not surprising that it's such a different story given what we know about how it was developed. During an interview with IGN to promote the MCU series, director Ali Selim shared that he was told by Marvel Studios higher-ups to avoid the source material altogether. "The first thing Marvel said to me was 'Don't read the comics, they have nothing to do with this series.' The series was more born out of the electric relationship that was created between Nick Fury and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn)," Selim recalled, so the adaptation became more of a spy thriller than a superhero mystery epic.

Sadly, this and the fact that Deadpool has yet to make his MCU debut means that his outsmarting of the Skrull science division isn't a part of the series. Had he been around to help out, though, it stands to reason that the "Secret Invasion" series would've ended much sooner.