When it was revealed that Captain Marvel would feature the Skrulls, Marvel Comics fans instantly readied themselves for an adaptation of the 2008-09 line wide Secret Invasion arc. Conceived and written by Brian Michael Bendis, the story saw the Skrulls, a race of shapeshifting aliens who first appeared in 1962’s Fantastic Four #2, move into the spotlight and present the Avengers, along with all Earth’s heroes, with one of their greatest threats to date.

The comic book arc saw the infiltration of the Skrulls breed distrust in a new team of Avengers, both within the team and in the eyes of the public. It also lead to the dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the installation of Norman Osborn as the director of a new organization, H.A.M.M.E.R., where he assembled his own group of heroes in the title Dark Avengers.

For years prior, Bendis built towards the crossover event by layering in little things here and there that paid off down the line. It appears that Marvel Studios may be using the 1990’s setting of Captain Marvel to follow suit. The film will show us the origins of Carol Danvers set against the backdrop of an ongoing intergalactic dispute known as the Kree-Skrull War. We know that the Kree have been active on the Earth for thousands of years and the trailers show that the Skrulls are poking around as well. Now, some new information has become available from the 2019 Marvel Studios Character Encyclopedia by DK Publishers which recently became available for pre-order on Amazon. According to the book, Talos (played by Ben Mendelsohn) and his small group of Skrulls are a scout team sent to gather intel on Earth ahead of a full scale invasion!

The details of how the Skrull spy Talos comes into contact with Danvers and what, if anything, she’ll learn about their plan to conquer Earth are going to be left for the film to explore, but it’s certainly enough information to propagate the idea that Marvel Studios is using Captain Marvel to introduce the Skrulls as they build towards adapting Secret Invasion to the big screen.

The post-Infinity MCU will provide the Skrulls with ample opportunity to follow through on their long term plans. Following Avengers: Endgame, we’ll certainly see a new team of Avengers come together as old favorites move out and new characters take center stage. With the knowledge that the Skrulls have been on Earth since at least the 1990s and could potentially be anyone, the comic book tagline of “Who Do You Trust?” will most certainly apply.

As the post-Infinity landscape continues to come into focus, it’s clear that the film won’t be a direct adaptation of the comic as there are too many key players absent from the MCU, but it’ll certainly be interesting to keep an eye on things going forward and see how Kevin Feige and company begin to sprinkle in the beginnings of a Secret Invasion!