Secret Invasion introduces a new Skrull character: Gravik – but who is he, and what is he planning?
In our review of the first two episodes, we wrote: “Secret Invasion is a return to smoke-and-mirrors tension à la The Winter Soldier that opts for mature storytelling over the weightless toy box thrills of the multiverse.”
Episode 1 sets up the overarching story of the show: it’s been decades since Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) promises to find a new home for the Skrulls, but they’re still living on Earth with no sense of belonging and indefinitely helping humans protect their world.
Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) warns that an invasion is happening, and Gravik is at the forefront of that uprising – so, here’s what you need to know about him. Spoilers to follow…
Who is Gravik in Secret Invasion?
Gravik is a Skrull who leads a small population in New Skrullos, an abandoned nuclear station in Russia. He’s played by Kingsley Ben-Adir.
We don’t know a lot about Gravik at this point, beyond his basic agenda: he wants to inspire intense conflict between countries all across the world so he can seize the planet’s resources and land for his own race.
He also has hundreds, perhaps even thousands of operatives in the field, as we’ve seen by the random people staring at Fury on the streets. He’s quite a scary individual, happy to capture all sorts of people, steal their faces and brains, and leave their bodies trapped in some sort of mind flayer.
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'SECRET INVASION' director Ali Selim on Kingsley Ben-Adir's character, Gravik:"Gravik is not just a bad guy with a bomb. His story and how he came to this grievance is clearly explored here. That doesn’t just refer back to movie history and noir; it refers to our times today."… pic.twitter.com/J6ld5Iwsrv
— Agents of Fandom (@AgentsFandom) May 5, 2023
He’s also an original character created for the show, instead of the comic’s antagonist Queen Veranke.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Ben-Adir was asked how Gravik’s childhood life on Earth led him to taking up arms against mankind. “That’s kind of the whole backstory. That’s where all of the creative thinking was behind, what was his experience before he got off?” he said.
“How much trauma and war and devastation did he see as a child? And then what was it that happened here to sort of change him over? I think it was his mistrust in leadership and having put so much faith into people time and time again, and the feeling that he’s just been dropped on his head time and time again. We meet him at a point where it’s like, no more.”
As for how Gravik could impact the wider MCU, he continued: “On one level, he’s creating a machinery that’s going to change the outlook of everything that’s going to happen in the MCU potentially. That’s what Fury has to try and stop, but I think his motivation [is] really on a more personal level.
“Because if you think about the first episode, there was a few things in the script where he’s doing this stuff; he’s creating this chaos. But at the same time, there’s something sick in him where he wants Fury to see him doing it. That kept coming up.”
Secret Invasion Episode 2 hits Disney+ on June 28. Check out our other coverage below:
