"Better than Secret Invasion right?" - Fans react as Samuel L. Jackson confirms MCU return for Avengers: Secret Wars

This week, Marvel fans were happy to learn that Avengers: Secret Wars would mark the return of a long-awaited Marvel character: Nick Fury. Samuel L. Jackson himself confirmed that his legendary Marvel character would return in next year's Avengers movie in an interview with The Direct, which was published on Wednesday. Jackson said:

"I have no idea. [Marvel] hasn't told me anything, other than, 'You're not gonna be in this movie. You'll be in the next.'"

We haven't seen Nick Fury in a mainline MCU continuity project since 2023's The Marvels. Fury survived the events of that movie; therefore, fans have been wondering about his return for nearly three years.

Now that fans know that the MCU super-spy will be seen in next year's Avengers: Secret Wars, fans are hoping that his character's return will be better than what we saw of him in Secret Invasion and The Marvels. One fan even went on to say in a Reddit comment:

"At least secret wars will be better than secret invasion.....right?"

How did fans react to the latest Avengers: Secret Wars update?

Comparison with Secret Invasion | Image Via: Reddit/r/marvelstudios

Most of the MCU projects released between 2022 and 2025 have had their fans and detractors. However, there is one project that has no fans: Secret Invasion, a Disney+ MCU series that streamed between June 21, 2023, and July 26, 2023. An adaptation of an early 2000s event comic, the thriller series was criticized for its pacing and seeming disregard for what came before it.

That is why no one defends Secret Invasion like some fans would do for She-Hulk or Ms. Marvel. Thus, the infamous 2023 Disney+ MCU series has been a punching bag amongst fans online. This one fan hoped that Avengers: Secret Wars would somehow write off Secret Invasion from the canon:

Hoping for a reset | Image Via: Reddit/r/marvelstudios

Another fan refused to acknowledge the 2023 Disney+ series. They instead lauded the adaptation of the same storyline by The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (2010-2012):

"Secret Invasion? You mean the Secret Invasion arc in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes? Because that was awesome. As far as I know, there's no other Secret Invasion that was ever made so that must be what you're talking about."

Thus, based on the reactions before, we can ascertain one thing: Secret Invasion is clearly the most disliked MCU project in the past few years. The upcoming Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars will give Marvel a chance to re-adapt Secret Invasion.

Why do people think that Avengers: Secret Wars will decanonize Secret Invasion?

The upcoming Avengers movies, Avengers: Doomsday and next year's Secret Wars, are being marketed as the closing chapters of the Multiverse Saga. It is rumored that these two Avengers movies are adapting the nine-issue comic book storyline, Secret Wars. That comic begins with Doom creating the Battleworld, a new Earth by patching multiple realities together.

Doom does this as a last-ditch effort to save the multiverse. However, after creating the Battleworld, Doom takes over all of reality by becoming a ruler. The comic ultimately ends with the heroes restoring the multiverse and rewriting reality. This plotline is why some believe that the next two Avengers movies will use Secret Wars to reset the MCU.

Furthermore, the Russo Brothers said this last March:

"What's compelling about these two new Avengers movies is they're a beginning. It's a new beginning. We told an ending story; now we're going to tell a beginning story. And then who knows where we'll go from there."

Therefore, it will not be surprising if Secret Wars indeed serves as a reset for the MCU so that Marvel can streamline its entire continuity, i.e., one Earth and one universe, a status quo before Loki.