Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Secret Invasion episode 64 years after Avengers: Endgame changed the MCU forever, Marvel are still revealing details about the Russos’ Infinity Saga ending. After Secret Invasion revealed the Avengers DNA twist in episode 5, the finale of Nick Fury’s supposed “last stand” delivered a pay-off that had retrospective impact on Endgame itself. Even after 22 MCU releases after Endgame, the story continues to be Marvel’s centerpiece.
Secret Invasion episode 6 saw Emilia Clarke’s G’iah and Super-Skrull villain Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) face off in a sometimes comical final battle using the enhanced superpowers given to them by Fury’s Avengers DNA serum. A total of at least 22 new superpowers confirmed G’iah is the most powerful MCU hero of all, after Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury stole the DNA of 18 Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy and other super-powered individuals (including Thanos) in the wake of Earth’s final stand against Josh Brolin’s Mad Titan. And in amongst those heroes and villains, two names stand out as new additions to Endgame‘s final battle.
Ghost & Abomination Confirmed To Have Appeared At Endgame’s Battle of Earth
Despite neither character being one of the 36 characters present at Endgame’s final battle previously confirmed, both Hannah John-Kamen’s Ava Starr (AKA Ghost) and Tim Roth’s Abomination (otherwise known as Emil Blonksy) were present at the Battle of Earth. As Nick Fury explained the Avengers DNA was harvested after the final fight with Thanos thanks to the heroes and villains spilling blood, both have been retroactively confirmed as being among Earth’s defenders.
Ghost is the easiest of the two to explain, as Ant-Man & The Wasp leaves her aligned with Scott Lang after Janet Van Dyne helps heal her. She presumably turned up when Earth’s heroes called for help alongside Hope Van Dyne’s Wasp. Unfortunately for her, Secret Invasion also suggests that the phasing powers that she seemed to have been “healed” of at the end of Ant-Man & The Wasp actually permanently altered her at a genetic level. G’iah uses Ghost’s powers to dodge a car thrown at her by Gravik.
Abomination is a little more confusing, but it seems his one-time invitation to join the Avengers (which appeared in Phil Coulson’s Marvel One Shot The Consultant) was actually paid off as he turned up to fight Thanos’ army. That makes his redemptive arc set up in She-Hulk a lot more logical, and perhaps explains why Wong was so convinced that there was some good in him. Abomination gifts one of the many super strength/durability powers to the Super-Skrull/Super-Avengers serum, and Gravik can be seen transforming into Blonsky’s Abomination form during his fight with G’iah.
Secret Invasion’s Harvest Posed Several Questions
Nick Fury’s initial reveal of the Avengers DNA Harvest was shocking, but it wasn’t until Secret Invasion‘s final episode that the full scope of what Fury had done was unveiled. In weaponizing the collected DNA of so many hugely powerful heroes and villains, Fury basically created the formula for Earth’s mightiest defender, and largely dispensed with the need for the Avengers. Given Fury’s fears over Earth’s protection, his extreme measures did somewhat make sense, but the pay-off of the Avengers DNA actually inspires more questions than it answered:
- How did Thanos’ DNA remain after he was dusted?
- Why does Fury call it “Avengers DNA” when it has villains and Guardians and other superpowered individuals unaffiliated with the hero group?
- Where were Ghost and Abomination hiding during the battle? Why didn’t Hulk react to Blonsky’s presence?
- When did all of the heroes actually bleed during the battle?
- If Rhodey became a Skrull in Civil War, why didn’t his Skrull DNA show up on Fury’s radar during the Harvest?
- Why are both Ghost and Winter Soldier called by their insulting nicknames? Why not Ava Starr and Bucky Barnes?
- Why is Bucky’s DNA even there, when Captain America’s is already included?
- Where are Black Panther, Nebula, and Scarlet Witch’s DNA samples? They are genetically altered heroes too.
- Who told Nick Fury the names of Corvus Glaive, Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight?
It’s all very confusing, and putting Endgame aside, there’s also the small matter of how Marvel deals with the presence of a hero at G’iah’s power level when the studio’s releases have so far struggled with balancing hugely powerful characters. That’s one conundrum that probably isn’t going to be solved any time soon.