The following contains spoilers for Secret Invasion Episode 2, "Promises," streaming now on Disney+.
Secret Invasion director Ali Selim recently revealed that he ignored Marvel Studios' instructions not to read the comic book crossover that inspired the Disney+ miniseries.
Selim admitted that he thumbed through Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu's original Secret Invasion comics prior to filming their Marvel Cinematic Universe adaptation in an interview with Uproxx. "I didn't say I didn't read it... I said I was told not to read it," he said, when asked about the challenges of adapting an unfamiliar story. Selim then added: "I like to stay informed. And then I can come to the end of it and say, 'Oh, I see. That's why they didn't want me to read it.'"
Selim's remarks track with previous statements he's given regarding Marvel Studios' advice to him after he signed on to helm Secret Invasion. In a recent interview, the director recalled the production company pushed him to ignore the comics since Secret Invasion creator Kyle Bradstreet had a different vision for the miniseries' story. "I didn't write the script. So a lot of those decisions were made by Kyle Bradstreet and the other team of writers that we had. The first thing I was told is don't read the comics. It had nothing to do with what we're trying to do here," Selim explained.
Secret Invasion Director On Nick Fury's Character Arc
But while Selim disregarded at least one of Marvel Studios' requests, he also delivered on several others. This includes Secret Invasion's portrayal of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), whom studio executives asked Selim to recast in a more "film noir" light. Selim confirmed that he took this note on board during production and said fans can expect Fury to become "more of a lone wolf, Western character" with each new episode of Secret Invasion. He noted the influence of classic films The Third Man, The Searchers and Unforgiven on the show's revamped take on Nick Fury, as well.
Fury's increasingly solitary status in Secret Invasion belies the big reveal at the end of Episode 2, "Promises," that the former S.H.I.E.L.D. director is secretly married. The episode also establishes that Fury's wife, Priscilla, is a Skrull -- although it's left ambiguous whether Nick himself is aware of this. "In the script, he knows. And when we shot it, it was interesting that maybe he didn't know. We ultimately edited it in a way that made people feel like, 'I wonder if he knows or not,'" Selim said in an interview following Episode 2's release.
New episodes of Secret Invasion arrive on Disney+ Wednesdays.
Source: Uproxx