‘Secret Invasion’: Who Was Colonel Nicholas J. Fury & Who’s Grave Was It?

The penultimate episode of ‘Secret Invasion‘ provided more information about what Gravik and his followers truly want. It also demonstrated Fury’s resourcefulness and willingness to do all necessary to prevent WW3 and save innocent lives in New Skrullos. That’s why he traveled to Finland to obtain the DNA samples of the Avengers, as that is what Gravik was after. The vial was stored in the tombstone of Colonel Nicholas J. Fury. So, let’s see who that was.

Before becoming Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury was in the Army, where he rose to the rank of Colonel. He was one of the many people that vanished in the ‘Blip’ when Thanos snapped his fingers, and after that, he got a tomb in Finland to honor his memory. Led by the belief that he can only trust himself, Fury used the tombstone to safely keep the vial containing Avengers’ DNA samples.

Even though it was a bit unexpected, it makes sense that Fury would choose his own tomb to save such important and valuable objects. His methods as a spy and an agent were sometimes unusual but effective. And this instance was no different. Let’s see in more detail what that was all about.

Gravik started to lose the respect of his followers, so he decided to take his plans one step further

When Gravik’s mission to assassinate President Ritson failed, he blamed his followers, most notably Pagon. Since Gravik’s plan to take over Earth and create Super-Skrulls started, Pagon was tasked to find the Harvest.

However, no matter how much he tried and searched on all the places Gravik sent him, the Harvest was not there. That made Pagon realize that Gravik does not know everything, even though he pretends he has everything under control. It is revealed that the Harvest is a collection of the Avenger’s DNA samples.

The situation culminated when Gravik accused Pagon that it was his fault that President Ritson was not dead. Gravik would use the DNA samples to further improve his powers if he obtained the Harvest on time and could easily defeat all the opponents. Pagon confronted him and said he was not sure Gravik was ready to do what was necessary, especially kill Fury. The former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director never trusted Gravik completely, so he never told him where the Harvest is stored.

After Gravik killed Pagon, the other rebel Skrulls attacked Gravik. It was obvious that Gravik was losing the respect of his people, so the only way for him to succeed in his plans was to obtain the Harvest as soon as possible. To do that, he planned to persuade President Ritson to attack New Skrullos. That would likely start WW3, and many innocent lives would be lost. In this way, Gravik had leverage over Fury, and if Nick wanted to prevent the new war from emerging, he had to give the Harvest to Gravik.

When Fury realized what Gravik wanted, he immediately flew to Finland, where he stored the vial containing the DNA samples of the Avengers. Sonya Falsworth joined him in Finland, and the two arrived at a graveyard to a tombstone that had written ‘Colonel Nicholas J. Fury’ on it. But whose grave was that?

According to Fury and Sonya Falsworth, only dead men keep secrets

Under the name ‘Colonel Nicholas J. Fury’ there was a quote from the Bible: ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ When Sonya read the sign, it was apparent that it was Fury’s grave, probably made somewhere after the Blip. The word ‘friends’ reminded her of the Avengers, and she wondered why Fury didn’t call them to help in all this chaos.

Fury considered that this threat was too personal for him, and the skills necessary to resolve this invasion were those he had. The reason why Fury had a grave in Finland were various. The first one was that that was the place where he and Priscilla spent their beautiful moments, so the place was special for both of them.

This also shows how Fury trusts no one but himself at this point in his life. He hid the vial with the Avengers’ DNA samples inside the tombstone, which could only be opened by Fury’s breath. And this was not the only grave he had. It was a perfect cover for everything that he wanted to hide from the world.

Fury used the cemetery as his storage facility. He was aware that if the day when Avengers’ DNA samples became endangered, the world would then need him more than ever. That’s why he also stored his famous leather coat, an eyepatch, and a gun inside the chapel near the grave.

This is not the first time we’ve seen Fury having secret facilities that almost nobody knows about but him. In ‘Captain America: Winter Soldier,’ he was shot and presumed dead. Then he was taken to a secret safe house called ‘The Guest House,’ one of the well-kept secrets of S.H.I.E.L.D., a secure location for high-profile agents to lay low or undergo medical treatment without attracting attention.

However, the graveyard scene is even more interesting as it shows how Fury believes he’s the only one he can rely on with the most secretive things because, as he said, ‘only dead men keep secrets.’

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