The following contains spoilers from Secret Invasion, Season 1, Episode 2, "Promises," now streaming on Disney+.
One of the most impressive things the first two episodes of Secret Invasion accomplished was taking a character very familiar to Marvel Cinematic Universe fans and showing them something new. However, the show's biggest revelation about Nick Fury actually closes a plot hole from Captain America: The Winter Soldier. In the final scene of Episode 2, Nick Fury arrives at a house in London where his wife, a Skrull, waits to greet him.
The Skrull appears to be Varra from the opening scene set in 1997, though in the credits, she's billed as "Priscilla." Knowing that Fury's had a wife all this time recontextualizes everything about the character. From his disappearance into the shadows after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. to his post-Blip trauma, the addition of a spouse proves fans don't really know this character they've spent 16 years with. While some critics might complain that Priscilla's introduction is a "wife out of nowhere" for Fury, it's actually a payoff for a moment dating back to Captain America's second film. Fans often use the term "plot hole" when they really mean a "dangling plot thread." In a serial story like the MCU, these mysteries are often mistaken for poor writing. The revelation that Fury has a wife turns a legitimate The Winter Soldier plot hole into one of the longest dangling threads in the franchise.
Nick Fury Really Did Have a Wife When He Showed Up at Captain America's Apartment
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury is almost killed while driving around Washington, D.C. He is able to use a super-torch to cut through a significant chunk of the street and escape into the sewers below. He shows up at Cap's apartment later, having a conversation that sounds banal to anyone listening in. He warns Cap, using his smartphone, that there are "ears everywhere" in the apartment. He tells Steve that his wife kicked him out of the house, which at the time seemed like a dumb lie.
After telling Cap via text that S.H.I.E.L.D. is compromised, Steve replies by asking how many people know about "his wife." He's asking how many people know about the threat, which Fury answers again via text. But he answers the question out loud by saying only his "friends" know about his wife. What made this a plot hole was that Alexander Pierce, the head of both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYRDA, was Nick's best friend. It didn't make sense that he'd lie about having a wife when Pierce would be one of the few people who knew that wasn't true. Except, it was.
Secret Invasion Introduces Nuck Fury's Skrull Wife
In the Secret Invasion series premiere, Nick Fury says he doesn't know when a Skrull is pretending to be a human. This could be foreshadowing that Fury is unaware his wife is a Skrull. However, since it appears to be the same Skrull who introduced him to Gravik, that seems unlikely. While that's a mystery the series itself will likely answer, that he has a wife at all closes The Winter Soldier plot hole. If Pierce knew Fury better than anyone, it wouldn't have made sense for him to lie about having a wife. Except Fury is smarter than that, it just took fans nearly a decade to learn what Pierce already did. Fury is married.
When Fury arrives, Priscilla asks him if he forgot anything, and he immediately puts on the wedding ring he never wears. It makes perfect sense that Fury would keep his marriage a secret from both his enemies and his colleagues. Pierce likely wasn't aware that his wife was a Skrull (if Fury even is), but he likely knew that his friend did have a significant other. Saying his wife kicked him out of the house might have been another way to protect her, cluing whoever was listening in that she wasn't aware of the problems at S.H.I.E.L.D. Still, instead of lamenting that Nick Fury's "lie" was a plot hole, MCU fans should've been asking if he was really married.
Secret Invasion debuts new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.