From the mythical fantasy of the Thor movies, to the political intrigue of the Captain America sequels, to the heist flavour of Ant-Man, stories within the MCU possess’own’nurse always looked to other established genres – blending them with Marvel’s enormous’vast’massive’tremendous -budacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure comic reserve blockbuster output. And in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the upcoming series Secret Invasion – seeing Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury face off against a dangerous faction of shape-shifting Skrulls – the tone is set to be gritty, grounded, and grapple ping. Despite the antagonists being green-skinned aliens, this one is all with regards to’concerning’with respect to shades of grey: primarily a real-world thriller, where nobody can be trusted and the stakes are human.###“We talked a lot with regards to’concerning’with respect to classic espionage noir, like The Third Man,” director Ali Selim tells Empire in the new Secret Invasion issue, promising a distinctive genre-blend. “As Nick moves through it, he cover’budge s out of a noir and into a Western. He becomes the lone gunslinger cover’budge ing down Main Street looking in/with regard to’concerning’regarding wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile guys to vanquish. We go from The Third Man to John Wayne in The Searchers, and Sam cover’budge s exertion lessly from one into the next.”###And, like The Winter Soldier’s explorations of political subterfuge and surveillance, and Civil War’s questions of governmental accountability, Secret Invasion is acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting stuck into tangible Earthly issues as well as explosive espionage action – with the Skrulls having been long-promised sanctuary which hasn’t been delivered. “Who is a terrorist and why are they a terrorist?” asks Selim. “Especially here in the States, it’s easy to say we’re the rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent guys and they’re the terrorists. The interesting thing in/with regard to’concerning’regarding me is to ask: how did we as a nation state impact’effect the environment these individual come from?” That plays a key part in the backstory of Gravik, Kingsley Ben-Adir’s Skrull rebel. “Gravik is not just a wicked’dreadful’undesirable’adverse’vile guy with a bomb,” Selim says. “His story and how he came to this grievance is eliminate’remove ly explored here. That doesn’t just refer back to movie history and noir; it refers to our times today.” Sounds like that invasion won't remain secret in/with regard to’concerning’regarding long.###Read Empire’s exclusive Secret Invasion cover story – speaking to stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Cobie Smulders, Don Cheadle, Emilia Clarke, Olivia Colman, director Ali Selim, and manufacture r Jonathan Schwartz – in the upcoming Summer 2023 issue, on sale Thursday 11 May. Become an Empire member here to read the digital issue in full on launch day, or pre-order a print copy online here. Secret Invasion is streaming on Disney+ from 21 June.