MCU fatigue is hitting people hard and you know what, I get it, and that's really saying something. As someone with the Infinity Stones tattooed on their calf, if my interest in what Marvel continues to throw out is waning, then it's probably safe to assume casual fans have all but given up on keeping track of the comings and goings in the MCU.
I blame a combination of things for that. The Infinity Saga culminated in one of the greatest double features in cinema history. The Infinity War and Endgame one-two punch isn't just hard to follow, it's downright impossible. In a weird twist of fate, the pandemic actually helped the MCU in that regard for a little while. With everyone at home, desperate for things to do to pass the time, shows like WandaVision and Loki were watched by more people than likely would have tuned in had we not all been housebound. Don’t get me wrong, they were both great shows, but the captive audience they had kept that wave of Marvel momentum going for a little while longer.
The trade-off may not have been worth it, though. Not only because it couldn't release any of its movies in cinemas, but because a backlog of projects hitting big and small screens in quick succession has been the biggest contributor to that aforementioned Marvel fatigue. That's why interest in MCU shows has been slowly dwindling. I first started to notice it with Ms. Marvel, it got worse during She-Hulk, and now here we are at Secret Invasion, barely a mention of the show on social media when each new episode drops, and Elon Musk’s Twitter is only partly to blame.
Like many of you, I was reluctant to even bother with Secret Invasion, and its debut episode didn't help. I'm a sucker for giving TV shows too many chances though, with The Walking Dead and Westworld being two examples of that coming back to bite me in the ass. With Secret Invasion, my baseless hope a show will improve, or in this case be better than I expected, has been rewarded.
Episode two didn't blow me away, but it was enough to convince me to stick around. It was at some point during episode three that the switch finally clicked. A realization began to dawn that Secret Invasion is a better MCU project than anyone is giving it credit for. Then came episode four, the most recent episode at the time of typing this, and yeah, I'm all in. No spoilers here as this is effectively a very unsubtle ploy to try and get you on the Secret Invasion bandwagon along with me, but it's good stuff.
As the credits rolled on episode four, it hit me. No one else is watching this. Okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration. It's an MCU show on Disney Plus, after all. Far fewer people are watching Secret Invasion than Disney would like, and that's not good. Largely because this is a different MCU show from most of the others which have come before it. It's darker, grittier, and far more geared toward adults. Before you make the comparison, no, this isn't the MCU's Andor. Yes, Secret Invasion is good, but it's no Andor.
Secret Invasion also doesn't demand a wider knowledge of the MCU in order to enjoy it. Yes, of course you're going to know more and spot things new and casual viewers wouldn't see if you've watched the first four phases ten times over, but it isn't necessary viewing. Key points from MCU history that inform Secret Invasion's story are revisited and fleshed out. Above all else, it's a story about an alien invasion where the aliens are disguised as humans walking among us. Yes, Nick Fury is the main character and they might keep referencing the Avengers, but you don't need to know every little thing about them to enjoy this show.
My fear is that Disney will look at the viewing figures for Secret Invasion and assume this sort of thing isn't what Marvel fans and Plus subscribers want. I think this is exactly what people want, but everyone is so Marvelled out that they won't even bother checking in. If you've been on the fence, or even if you've flat-out decided you don't want to watch it, do me a favor and check it out, at least up to episode four. The runtime for the last two episodes clocks in at under an hour each, which is always nice, and I'm convinced most of you will be all in, ready for the final two episodes by the time you've seen the first four.