The latest entry in the long-running Marvel Cinematic Universe is quite a departure from the superhero fare you're used to. It's hard to narrow down a Marvel project to just one thing, but chances are it involves superheroes, mind-bending special powers, and a massive roster of returning characters that may or may not mean something in the long run. Secret Invasion isn't that and, truthfully, that's somewhat refreshing.

Secret Invasion isn't a run-of-the-mill superhero story. Instead, it's a Nick Fury-centric tale of espionage, foreign adversaries, and attempting to stay two steps ahead of the governments of the world--including Fury's own--as he attempts to stave off a literal alien invasion.

The gist of the story is that Fury has been building up a space station for years, and while he wasn't looking, the Skrulls fully invaded Earth, with many of them bent on overthrowing humans via terrorist attacks. In the first two episodes of the series provided for review, viewers are introduced to a world that looks more like The Falcon and the Winter Soldier than anything else in the MCU, but it quickly becomes obvious that unlike that show's terrorist group, the Flag Smashers, the Skrulls have a long-term game plan in mind and are playing it to the letter. It all helps the show to play less like an Avengers movie and more like FX's The Americans--or even Disney+'s Andor. A franchise drenched in lore and god-like characters doing a street-level exploration of a non-powered spy? It's certainly believable that Marvel Studios looked at the critical success of Andor and tried to replicate it.