Secret Invasion: How Did G’iah Survive? Extremis Explained

Ever since ‘Secret Invasion‘ started, it was clear that G’iah was one of the most important characters, and her work as a double agent would be of great value. Of course, that kind of espionage is filled with perils and dangers, with one’s life always hanging in the balance. And even though G’iah seemingly died in the previous episode when Gravik shot her for being the mole, episode four, titled ‘Beloved,’ revealed that Talos’s daughter survived. So, let’s see how G’iah survived and explain how the Extremis works.

After helping Talos and Fury obtain Commodor Firbanks’s launch codes, G’iah had to flee to safety from Gravik and his men. Unfortunately, Gravik intercepted her escape and shot her, leaving her to die. Episode four of the show revealed that before G’iah escaped from Gravik’s compound, she used the machine that creates Super-Skrulls, and used the Extremis on herself. The substance allowed her to heal from the gunshot, which is how she survived.

Killing G’iah so early in the show did not seem right, and many fans believed she was not dead. Luckily, that proved true, and as the plot thickens, G’iah importance will only grow. MCU introduced the Extremis ten years ago, and it seems it is still an important part of the franchise. That being said, let’s see in more detail how G’iah survived and explain Extremis’s properties.

G’iah learned how to transform herself into a Super-Skrull

The rebel Skrulls, led by Gravik, are led by the idea that Earth is theirs for the taking and that humans are destined to destroy themselves with their disputes and wars. Gravik planned to use human’s tendency to wage war among themselves; all they needed was a little push.

So, the rebel Skrull’s leader decided to launch nuclear missiles from the ‘Neptune’ submarine and attack a UN delegation. An act like that would start WW3 for sure, and that was exactly what Gravik wanted.

However, there was no way Talos and Fury would let that happen, and with G’iah’s help, they gained access to launch codes and stopped the attack before it even happened. Of course, G’iah betrayed Gravik with this act, and the only way to save her life was to flee as far away from the rebel Skrulls as possible.

She took the motorcycle and almost got away. However, Gravik found her and, with not much talk, shot her. He then left, and G’iah was lying on the ground, severely wounded and presumably dead.

However, in the show’s fourth episode, we witness G’iah’s wound healing, and her body recuperates. That, of course, could not be possible if she hadn’t enhanced herself with Gravik’s machine that creates Super-Skrulls. Talos’s daughter knew the dangers she was in by playing a double agent and did a smart thing by using the machine on herself.

To remind ourselves, Gravik wanted to create Super-Skrulls to have an advantage in the upcoming war. For that, the rebel Skrulls have harvested the DNA of several mighty species and creatures and also obtained the Extremis sample, a substance used for rapid healing and regeneration, among other things.

Those samples were used in a large machine Dr. Rosa Dalton and her husband developed. Whoever enters the machine can choose which harvested samples they wish to implement inside themselves.

Before G’iah tried to escape Gravik, she went through Dr. Dalton’s memories, stored them in fraction pods, and learned how to operate the machine. Once she mastered that, she decided to use the Extremis sample on herself, knowing that the chances for her to come alive without it were slim.

Extremis’s main properties are providing its host with rapid regenerative abilities

Extremis has been a part of MCU for a decade now. It was first introduced in ‘Iron Man 3’. Maya Hansen developed it, and its initial usage was supposed to be for clean energy and regeneration. However, the substance was initially unstable, so Tony Stark did not want anything to do with it.

Years later, Maya and Aldrich Killian improved the Extremis and created a revolutionary treatment that rewrites the human genetic code and allows for enhanced physical abilities and rapid healing.

Of course, that was too good to be true because a power like that can easily be weaponized. Killian knew that and created an army of super soldiers using the Extremis, and he also brought his body to a superhuman level thanks to it.

Extremis, if used correctly, is a great substance. It provides the host with regenerative abilities and enhances his physiology. And, as seen in ‘Secret Invasion,’ Extremis primarily allows the rebel Skrulls to regenerate their bodies at extreme speed.

We first saw Gravik use it on himself, so his hand healed almost immediately when Talos stabbed him. Later, Fury shoots Gravik in the face several times, but Extremis does its job, and it is like nothing has happened.

Luckily, G’iah also used it on herself. So, when Gravik shot her, she shifted from her human form into a Skrull form due to her injury. But, soon enough, the Extremis in her body started working, and her body glowed red, indicating that the wound was regenerating. After some time, she was completely healed.

Even though Extremis was earlier presented as a dangerous and unstable substance, Skrulls have found its use to be more than effective. For Gravik and his followers, this is a huge advantage on the battlefield because they are very hard to kill, and it will be interesting to see what sort of a solution Fury and his team (if there already is one) will come up with.

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