‘Secret Invasion’ Writer Explains Why Maria Hill Had to Die

Marvel Studios’ latest Disney+ series, ‘Secret Invasion,’ premiered on the streamer last June and aired for six episodes. Although the premise teased a more mature and grounded approach, similar to 2014’s acclaimed movie ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier,’ the series was a disappointment due to its slow pacing, writing, and the simplification of the plot compared to the source material.

Another thing that fans disliked about the series was mishandling the new characters and the unjustified and pointless deaths of some fan-favorite characters. Cobie Smulders’ Maria Hill, who was part of the MCU since 2012, and Ben Mendelsohn, who joined the franchise in 2019, didn’t survive to see the series’ last episode. Although these deaths could’ve been justified for the sake of the main villain’s character development, it turned out they really died for nothing, particularly Smulders’ character.

‘Secret Invasion’ writer tries to explain Maria Hill’s death.

Cobie Smulders joined the MCU as Maria Hill in 2012’s ‘The Avengers.’ She reprised the role in ‘Captain America: The Winter Soldier,’ ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ post-credit scene of ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ ‘Avengers: Endgame,’ and ‘Spider-Man: Far From Home,’ in which the actress actually played the Skrull Soren disguised as Hill.

Fans anticipated her return in Secret Invasion, only for her to be killed off at the end of the first episode. Here’s how the series writer Brian Tucker explained her death in ‘Marvel Studios: Assembled — The Making of Secret Invasion,’ which is currently streaming on Disney+.

“One of the kinds of just most important decisions that we had to make early on was to really illustrate the scale and the reality of the danger that Gravik and his rebels pose to humans. And to do that, we couldn’t allow all of our characters to make it out safely. This is a contest for the planet. It’s being fought on the ground, and it’s gonna be bloody. There will be casualties in this conflict, and that means making those tough decisions to say goodbye to beloved characters.”

Brian Tucker

We can agree with Tucker to some extent. The deaths of beloved characters are sometimes needed for the sake of the plot and to increase the stakes, but not when it’s handled like this. ‘Secret Invasion’ sometimes seemed like a chessboard where supporting pieces were just removed from the table without much justification.

In other words, if the twist happened, it wasn’t deserved and executed well. No matter how hard they tried to build up Gravik as some ruthless villain, nothing changed the fact that he was still rushedly taken down like another chess piece in the final episode.

Some fans disliked the fact that the ‘Secret Invasion’ storyline from the comics was adapted like this since the storyline was massive enough that it could potentially serve as an idea for an Avengers movie or some gigantic crossover event, but in our opinion, that simplification of the plot would’ve been the least of the problems if this approach was handled with some better writing.

‘Secret Invasion’ is now streaming on Disney+, as well as its making-of documentary, ‘Marvel Studios: Assembled — The Making of Secret Invasion.’

How do you feel about Maria Hill’s death in the MCU? Do you think the character deserved a better ending? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

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