‘Secret Invasion’: Don Cheadle Teases New Character Details, Praises Samuel L Jackson’s Performance in Marvel Series
Don Cheadle as James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell, via Entertainment Weekly. © 2023 MARVEL.
After a clunky string of projects that didn’t go over very well with the public, with the exceptions of Ms. Marvel and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Studios is hoping to win back some momentum by releasing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Secret Invasion back-to-back. Despite our own reservations about the former, it has earned a solid reaction from audiences around the world and it’s making money hand over fist, so all eyes are now on the new Disney Plus series.
Early buzz surrounding the show is quite positive, and the somber marketing campaign has helped with that. The two trailers released so far, along with every comment from the cast and crew, have previewed a darker tone that is more akin to what the Russos did in Captain America: The Winter Soldier than, say, last year’s She-Hulk. We know the series will feature the return of Don Cheadle as Rhodey, and the actor had a small chat with Entertainment Weekly as part of the website’s Summer Preview, where he teased some character details and recalled a few moments from the set.
(L-R): Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Des Willie. © 2023 MARVEL.
Speaking about the tone of the series, Cheadle used this example to highlight the versatility that Marvel Studios has been able to acquire, where the audience can believe that a comedy like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 belongs in the same universe as Secret Invasion:
“It speaks to the elasticity of what the MCU can be. This one feels much closer to a movie like Bourne Identity or something that’s more along the tone of a ’70s movie. It’s not as much about the bells and whistles of big special effects. It’s more about the intrigue and drama, the espionage and double-crosses. And I still think it fits perfectly with what the MCU is able to do and pull off.”
Secret Invasion is led by Samuel L Jackson (in fact, it’s that project that was initially reported in 2020 as a “Nick Fury spin-off series”, back when every character in the Marvel universe seemed to be getting the Oprah treat — “You get a series! You get a series!”), but it goes well beyond that. Jackson recently told Empire Magazine (via Screen Rant) that the series will help kick off the plot of this November’s The Marvels.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury in Disney Plus’ Secret Invasion. Photo via Empire Magazine.
It will also help establish some of the new politics in the Marvel universe that will then be explored in Captain America: New World Order. That film, currently in production, will feature Harrison Ford as the President of the United States, and in Secret Invasion, we will see Rhodey as his right-hand man (Ford is not expected to appear in the series, though). In his new position, he will be helping the White House to contain new threats, which pivots him against our protagonist:
“In this one, he finds himself not directly at odds but somewhat on the other side of where Fury is.”
In fact, in Secret Invasion, Cheadle shared for the first time the screen with his longtime friend Sam Jackson, despite the two of them having been in movies together (but not acted together) and having been pivotal parts of the MCU for over a decade. As Cheadle put it to EW:
“Day one, we sat down and were like, ‘This should have happened a long time ago, but it’s great that it’s happening now.’ Sam’s a good friend, and I’ve known him a long time. It was cool to be able to sit across from him and go back and forth.”
Emilia Clarke as G’iah in Marvel Studios’ SECRET INVASION, exclusively on Disney+. Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
Cheadle also praised his friend’s performance in the series, saying he really gets to explore his character and, well, act:
“Sam gets to act, and we really get to see why he’s such a revered actor,”
Cheadle will also have his own movie, Armor Wars, though we still don’t know when that is happening. The project, initially conceptualized as a Disney Plus series, has been in development for years. Rumor had it earlier in 2023 that it could go into production as soon as this spring, but that obviously hasn’t happened yet. We will hopefully get an update at Comic-Con. Despite that, the story is there for the film, and Cheadle has said before, and reiterated here, that Secret Invasion is just the next stop in that arc:
“The fun part about it is that we’re going to continue to explore Rhodey and — in some ways for the first time — get to see what makes him tick. We understand his physical challenges, but we haven’t really yet dug into a lot of his emotional and psychological [challenges].”
Secret Invasion debuts on Disney Plus on June 21.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
