How Does Marvel’s Secret Invasion Episode 3 Compare to the Comics?

Secret Invasion episode 3 shows just how far Gravik is prepared to go in order to wipe out humanity. Like the comic run it takes its name from, the stakes are high and with each episode it becomes increasingly obvious this isn’t going to end with everyone hugging it out. But is this episode anything like Marvel’s 2008 cross-comic event? If you’re wondering how exactly does Marvel’s Secret Invasion episode 3 compare to the comics, here’s the answer.

How Marvel’s Secret Invasion Episode 3 Is Similar to and Different from the Comics

The biggest difference between Marvel’s Secret Invasion episode 3 and the third issue of the main comic is that the Skrulls are still very much undercover. In the comic, a group of superpowered Skrulls are battling it out in plain sight, taking on Earth’s superheroes in Times Square.

Could Disney have found the budget for that kind of big battle? Maybe, but even if Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. hadn’t exited the MCU, it’d still be hugely expensive. And it seems unlikely they’d have relegated it to the middle of the season.

What about the rest of the episode? I’ve cast my eye over it and put together a list of the other similarities and differences.

Similarities:

• Nick Fury is in both the show and issue 3, though his comic appearance is more of a cameo. Also, it’s Nick Fury Sr., and eyepatch aside, he bears no resemblance to Samuel L. Jackson.
• Gravik describes himself as a Super Skrull and plans to give other Skrulls power. In the comics, the Super Skrull was the first Skrull to get powers and often pops up to hassle the main Marvel universe’s heroes. The Skrulls fighting in New York are also Super Skrulls.
• In both the comic and the show the Skrulls keep the people they have replaced alive, to draw on their memories and/or genetic material.

Differences: 

• Nick Fury Sr. and Nick Fury Jr. are both accomplished spies and hugely badass. The show, on the other hand, undermines the MCU’s Nick Fury by suggesting it was the Skrulls’ infiltration skills that helped him rise through the ranks.
• Gravik gives the Skrulls their new identities with little fanfare. In the comic, there’s a great deal of ceremony involved.
• Queen Veranke attempts to make Tony Stark think he’s a Skrull, viewing him as one of the biggest threats to their invasion. No one has tried to tell Nick Fury he’s a Skrull. Yet.
• In the comic, the Skrulls are out to conquer humanity. In the show, Gravik is trying to bring about humanity’s near-total extinction.

Secret Invasion episode 3 is, like the previous episodes, very different in tone to the comics. It’s a spy thriller while the comic, despite the whole who-do-you-trust angle, is more of an action story.

So, if you wanted to know how Marvel’s Secret Invasion episode 3 compares to the comics, those are the few similarities and many differences.