Where does Secret Invasion fall in the Marvel Cinematic Universe timeline?

Secret Invasion is hitting Disney+ this week, promising an exciting storyline as Nick Fury has to face a Skrull invasion. However, there may be some confusion as to where it falls in the MCU timeline, and fans wondering how it will affect future MCU projects.

Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for the premiere of Secret Invasion. 

The MCU timeline can be a tricky thing to figure out between the big-screen movies and the TV shows. It’s not helped by “the Blip,” aka the five-year period after Thanos “snapped” half the universe out of existence in Avengers: Infinity War. Thus, technically, the “current” MCU takes place in 2025, although they don’t mention the actual year often.

Where does Secret Invasion fall in the MCU timeline?

For Secret Invasion, the premiere makes it clear that Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) were among those “Blipped,” so they lost five years. Fury has been working in space trying to help the shape-shifting Skrulls find a new home. However, a renegade faction is tired of this and wants to take over Earth instead.

So it appears the movie takes place following recent Marvel projects Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. A key bit is that Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) appears in the premiere, only to be revealed as a Skrull. That leaves the question if the Skrull just impersonated him this one time or if Ross has been a Skrull himself in his last few appearances.

What comes after Secret Invasion?

Complicating matters is that it’s pretty obvious how Secret Invasion ends, given that Fury will appear in this November’s The Marvels movie. Since Fury looks okay and Earth is still standing, it’s a pretty safe bet he manages to defeat the Skrull attacks.

However, that still makes this show a unique stand along the limited series projects. Note that on Disney+, there is the option of watching all MCU movies and shows in a timeline, and Secret Invasion is the last project there, indicating it does take place after all these other projects.

So it looks like the MCU is pretty current with Secret Invasion, the last project so far in Phase 5, to make it easier to put into the timeline.

Secret Invasion is now streaming on Disney+.