Secret Invasion: The first three episodes of Marvel’s alien infiltration thriller are streaming on Hulu

Last Updated on November 21, 2023

I have some great news if you’re a Hulu subscriber and feel you’re missing out on Marvel’s Secret Invasion. The first three episodes of the limited series, “Resurrection,” “Promises,” and “Betrayed,” are now streaming on Hulu through Thursday, August 17. Marvel’s alien infiltration thriller is sprinting toward its Episode 6 finale next Wednesday, July 26, bringing the conflict between the Skrulls and humans to a new inflection point.

While Hulu often streams Disney+ shows after a varying window of time, Secret Invasion’s debut on the service marks the first time a Disney+ original series is migrating to the platform. The process of bringing Secret Invasion to Hulu comes ahead of the service integrating into Disney+ as part of a “one-app” initiative. The two streamers could merge as soon as the end of this year.

The Skrulls are an alien race who can perfectly simulate any human being at will. This ability makes them the ultimate weapon in infiltration and a threat to humankind. They could be anyone at any time. Your friends. Your neighbors. Your partners. They’re everywhere. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) knows Earth is facing a threat unlike anything ever encountered, and there’s almost no one he can trust to stop the secret invasion.

In Secret Invasion, a group of Skrull extremists led by Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) radicalizes soldiers for a hostile takeover. Fed up with Talos’ (Ben Mendelsohn) leadership, Gravik defects from the group of Skrulls we met in 2019’s Captain Marvel. The situation mirrors actual world events where groups defect, sewing chaos and disorder in an otherwise peaceful alliance.

Unfortunately, Secret Invasion scored some of the lowest ratings for an MCU show. According to SlashFilm, “the viewership for the Secret Invasion premiere during its first five days of release (June 21-25) was 994 thousand. This is the second worst showing for an MCU show on Disney+, ahead of only Ms. Marvel at 775 thousand.” This is reported from the findings of SambaTV, a tech firm that measures TV viewership. In comparison, the series Loki would reportedly score 2.5 million in its first five days of release.

Following Secret Invasion’s underperformance, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the studio is pulling back on Marvel and Star Wars-related projects to cut costs. “You pull back not just to focus, but also as part of our cost containment initiative. Spending less on what we make, and making less,” Iger explained.

Iger continued, “Marvel is a great example of that. It had not been in the television business at any significant level, and not only did they increase their movie output, but they ended up making a number of TV series. Frankly, it diluted focus and attention.”

Would pumping the brakes on MCU projects benefit the brand? Let us know what you think in the comments below.