On this episode of X-Ray Vision, Jason Concepcion and Rosie Knight look for some Avenger DNA! In the Airlock (1:00) Jason and Rosie dive deep (deeep) into episode 5 of Secret Invasion, recapping and discussing what they would have liked to have seen more of, Avenger DNA, and more. Then in Nerd Out (40:01) a thought on Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

 

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Send a short pitch and 2-3 minute voice memo recording to xray@crooked.com that answers the following questions: 1) How did you get into/discover your ‘Nerd Out?’ (2) Why should we get into it too? (3) What’s coming soon in this world that we can look forward to or where can we find it? If you’re sending a theory, feel free to send only a summary of your theory (no audio needed) for Jason and Rosie to react to on air.

 

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TRANSCRIPT

 

[AD]

 

Jason Concepcion Warning. This podcast contains spoilers for Secret Invasion Episode five.

 

Jason Concepcion Hello, my name is Jason Concepcion.

 

Rosie Knight And I’m Rosie Knight.

 

Jason Concepcion And welcome to X-ray Vision, the Crooked Media podcast, where we dive deep into your favorite shows, movies, comics and pop culture.

 

Rosie Knight In this episode, in the Airlock, we’re talking about Secret Invasion Episode five and In the Nerd Out, A Theory on Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. The best movie.

 

Jason Concepcion Coming up, Secret Invasion. We’re stepping out of the airlock and into the beautiful gray radioactive fields of news. Skrulls for Secret Invasion, episode five, Harvest. Directed by Ali Selim, written by Michael Bhim and Brian Tucker. We start right at the where we ended essentially in the previous episode, the attack on President Nixon’s convoy. Ritson now arrives at the hospital, just Nick Fury wheeling the President of the United States into the hospital alone. There’s like nobody else.

 

Rosie Knight Does he have a Secret Service?

 

Jason Concepcion Like he like he’s just a guy that got in a minor fender bender. Fury is, is right there and he’s whispering into into policies ear don’t trust Rhodey don’t trust him. Do not trust. You listening to me?

 

Rosie Knight He’s a Skrull.

 

Jason Concepcion Mr. President, listen to me. We go to New Skrullose. Gravik is returning with the warriors. The mood is gloomy because they didn’t manage to kill the president and they basically got beat by a washed Fury and Talos. R.I.P.

 

Rosie Knight Apparently actually dead.

 

Jason Concepcion We were wrong. We. It seems to be very, very dead.

 

Rosie Knight Dead. Maybe he’ll surprise us in the finale. But for now, R.I.P. to that Skrull.

 

Jason Concepcion R.I.P. to that Skrull. Gravik is then like, Hey guys, you all fucked up, This is on you. We were supposed to kill the president. We didn’t kill the president. And that’s your bad. That has nothing to do with me. That’s all you. And then his his warriors are like, Well, hold on a second. We killed Carlos. Is that not, like, something you celebrate? Like, you didn’t do that. You didn’t do that. You’ve been trying to do it for years. And he’s like, no, it was the mission was the president. The nuclear war starts when we kill the president, not Taylor. Yes, Talos. We got him. But like, that doesn’t start the war, which is the whole thing. And then and then his warriors are like, Well, maybe you should have stolen the mysterious stuff which turns out to be Avengers DNA. We later find out, where is that stuff? You been saying? You’re going to get it. And then we find out that actually Fury knows where it is. And maybe the reason that Fury keeps being still alive is because Gravik can’t fucking kill him. Because he knows he needs to find out where the Avengers DNA is, and maybe he even put Varra up to the task of assassinating Nick because he knew she wouldn’t do it. And Gravik is like, Yeah, well, I need that Avengers DNA and that’s it. I no one but Fury knows where it is, and that’s enough. And he walks away, but then one of his officers really starts getting into his ass about stuff. And so Gravik has to use his good arm, and then he kills the guy.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. R.I.P. to Pagan, actually a major player in the Marvel Universe vision of Secret Asia. He was the Skrull who impersonated Elektra. He was Frankie’s lover. But here he’s a nobody. And he died with Groot. R.I.P. to you, you got killed by a tree.

 

Jason Concepcion This is first of all, I’ll start with this. I do respect the body count, but it’s wild the way they just people die and it’s just like a throwaway death. Like you’re like, Well, it can’t be the legit death because we’re just, like, walking away from it. But that’s it. But, you know, Talos is dead and Pagan is dead and Maria Hill are dead. Gravik Then call screwed on the phone. And who is screwed? His real name is Rava, but I’m going to call him and continue to call him Scroaty. Yeah, to tell him that. To tell the president. He’s like, Hey, listen, I know you’re there with POTUS, who’s banged up and probably concussed and all that stuff. Tell him that, yes, the Russians did this, but also the Russians with the help of the Skrulls and then tell him about New Skrullose.

 

Rosie Knight Seems like a bad plan.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah. And then Rava is like, Wait, hold on a second. Don’t we all. We don’t really live there? Yeah. Like, what’s why, why would you do that? And he’s like, it’s leVarrage because you don’t understand. Fury will want to save the lives of innocent Skrulls You know, he’s got a soft spot for the Skrulls Look at his wife. Yeah, and he’s going to want to save their lives. And therefore he will tell me where the Avengers DNA is so that the President of the United States, who is alone in the hospital, won’t nuke Russia, a.k.a. New Skrullose. Okay.

 

Rosie Knight Why do they still listen to this man? Apart from the fact that he’s obviously incredibly handsome and has a very nice accent. Otherwise I’m like, his plans are terrible. He has never killed Nick Fury. Could have killed him many times. He never got the Avengers DNA. He is not a good leader. I’m sorry.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s a leadership vacuum. I think it’s one of those things where here’s listen here. I’m going to give the Skrulls some hard facts right now. Keep talking to this is tough talk. Okay? And I’m basing this on not just the events of the MCU, but the events of the comics. Hey, Skrulls. You’re just your leaders are always bad. Look at what’s going on. You guys are always getting beaten at shit. Kree-Skrull War. Secret Invasion. You. The whole thing with the super schools, when they first came out, the Illuminati going in there and just like six dudes just wiping out your whole thing, like. And then you go to the MCU and it’s like you lost the Kree War or whatever it was that drove you away in space and Refugee That was very, very tough. And you just don’t have effective leadership. It’s a leadership vacuum, and that’s why someone like Gravik can come up here. You need to start picking better people. Yeah, that’s it.

 

Rosie Knight Talos flopped it. Gravik flopping it. Like they, they need someone new. They need someone different. Maybe an empress. Perhaps. Maybe she will rise soon. That will be nice.

 

Jason Concepcion I would like to see that. I’ll say one more thing about Gravik. You know, putting the new king of new Skrulls in play. I also think he’s thinking, See these these fucking warriors? That they’re ungrateful. I put them in this position and let them consider him delicious. The delicious Skrull eggplants of their homeworld. And now they dare. They dare question me?

 

Rosie Knight How dare they?

 

Jason Concepcion So listen, if it doesn’t go the way we expect it to go with the leVarrage play and the president nukes New Skrullose. Fuck them. I don’t like those people anyway.

 

Rosie Knight Exactly. He’s just killing them, seeing as the whole plan is meant to be like, well, you know, we got to keep the Skrulls alive. We can’t let them get extinct. He kills an awful lot of Skrulls casually, so I don’t. I think you understand. I don’t think he really likes them.

 

Jason Concepcion So we’re back at the hospital where Skroaty is now getting off the phone with Gravik, and all of a sudden Fury just mugs, slowly grabs him and he comes out of nowhere and he pushes Rhodey up against the wall and he’s got a gun to his head. The president’s in the other room. There’s no Secret Service guy out there. Okay? There’s one Secret Service guy is like, What do I do? What do you do? You fucking shoot the guy that’s like assaulting one of the the national security advisor or whatever.

 

Rosie Knight Nick Fury would not have survived that. Isn’t he still a wanted man? He would have got sniped like 10 minutes ago. This is unrealistic. Unrealistic.

 

Jason Concepcion Nobody. Nobody knew what to do. And so, you know, Fury’s like, Hey, we got to put a stop to this. That’s it. I’m going to fuck. And you’re done. You’re done, pal.

 

Rosie Knight You’re a Skrull and I’m sick of you.

 

Jason Concepcion You’re a Skrull and I’m sick of this. And Skroaty’s like that. You won’t do it. You know why? Because in exactly 60 seconds, the footage of you gunning down Maria Hill is going to come out on Access Hollywood here. Let’s put on the TV in the in the hospital so you can watch it happen. And when that happens, you’re fucked, pal. You’re done in this town in every other towns across the world.

 

Rosie Knight Ready? One day I’ll be like a bombing in Russia is already a one terrorist.

 

Jason Concepcion So then Fury is like, okay, you got me this time, but watch what happens next time. I’m going to fucking take care of you. And he goes to walk away and then screwed. He’s like, And by the way, take a look at this. And all of a sudden, like two dozen Secret.

 

Rosie Knight Service agents decides who should have their hat off to the president.

 

Jason Concepcion And he’s like, Yeah, that’s right. They’re going to this is what’s waiting for you. Next time you try some shit.

 

Rosie Knight Some guys do. And then, you know.

 

Jason Concepcion And then you and Nick Fury is like, Yeah, well, we’ll see about that. Fury’s now an international wanted criminal, which he was previously, but now it’s real because everybody has seen the Access Hollywood TMZ tape and now it’s that’s it. And we all know that apparently Maria Hill is a beloved figure just in the world. So people like me really, really mad.

 

Rosie Knight Apparently, They love her.

 

Jason Concepcion News News coVarrage also strongly suggests with a shot of of Portillo’s in his death agony shifting from human to Skrull form heavily suggests that at least one alien posing as human was involved in the attack on Ritson. So this is already this news is out there. Sonya, now director of ISIS, goes to see the director of MI6, Weatherby and she shoots him in the leg. Yeah, give me a call.

 

Rosie Knight Brings back joy to see her. She doesn’t give a fuck. She just shot this guy in the leg and I.

 

Jason Concepcion Love it.

 

Rosie Knight Some more Secret Service people, this time from England. Now they don’t know what’s going on.

 

Jason Concepcion They just. They just pick it up. They let it go. I just love the way that Skrull Weatherby is like, Sonya, have you seen this stuff about Skrulls?  Could this be? Could there be aliens among us, SOnya?

 

Rosie Knight And she’s like, What do you think, bitch? And just shoot him right in the leg. Also, can I just say, like, I feel I understand that this as has been promised for the last year or so since basically I understand that, like, it’s intimate, like this world. Okay, but. But wait a minute. Yeah. The Avengers went against the Chitauri without knowing that, like, Thanos was involved. That’s alien invasion. But like, this is coming out on TV and like, we’re not seeing the fallout. Like, nobody’s stressed about it is just like he’s an alien and tried to kill the president. Where’s the Avengers? Don’t worry about it. Nick Fury gives us the ultimate. Don’t worry about it. Oh, I feel like. I feel like this should be a bigger deal than you think.

 

Jason Concepcion You’d think at least old Captain America would be calling Nick on the phone like, Hey, what’s going on? Seems like is I’m going to give it for. Yeah, do I need to? I’m like 95 years old, but do I need to go soon?

 

Rosie Knight I like I need to get some more super soldier serum. I know you have some. Oh, when did they get the Avengers DNA?

 

Jason Concepcion Well, I actually like this part of it, and we’ll get to that. I can’t wait to talk about this because this is a wrinkle I actually thought was very Fury ish. This is something Fury would do.

 

Rosie Knight Yes.

 

Jason Concepcion But and honestly, a little bit wasted in in this particular project. X-ray Vision will be back.

 

Unidentified <AD>

 

Jason Concepcion And we’re back. We go back to New Skrullose. The cafeteria where everybody is is in repose, relaxing after a delicious meal of steamed Skrull eggplant, like when a Beatle comes in and he’s like, I need to have a word with you. Gravik and Graviks. Like what? All the other warriors are watching very closely. And Peter’s like, Well, I’d like to say. And then all of a sudden, something like meaning sorry, I got to take a call. Graviks getting a call from Socrates. So he as he can’t continue this conversation, can just call. He needs to talk. This is like, listen, my guy with the president is I got to can I just can you give me five? So while Graviks on the phone, the Warriors are like, fuck it, let’s do it. And they take the opportunity to Julius Caesar Gravik and they come up, they put a bag over his head. They’re beating the fuck out of him with, like, lunch trays. But unfortunately, we all know that Gravik. And apparently no one else except G’iah has taken the Super Skrull procedure and he’s just too strong and he fucking Groot arms everybody, and then executes better pedo as a as an example to the rest of everybody to just get.

 

Rosie Knight In like a major character. Apparently we thought he was. We’re getting a lot of charming acting going on. Thought this was leading somewhere. We had some fun theories. Could he be Nick Fury Junior? I would have liked to see it. Guess what? No, he’s dead.

 

Jason Concepcion Well, he could still be Nick Fury Junior. Although this heavily suggests that he is not.

 

Rosie Knight They could have Nick Fury Junior captured in a Skrull device and then Beto could come back because he was really Nick. Very. You know, I’m sure that he’s just got GRU armed all ready to beat. So sorry that happened to you.

 

Jason Concepcion All right, Peter, are they not.

 

Rosie Knight Sick of Gravik yet like these people? Do they not have their child?

 

Jason Concepcion They tried to kill him.

 

Rosie Knight I know they.

 

Jason Concepcion Tried to kill. Very sick of them.

 

Rosie Knight Because, like, he’s just killing their friends, their family members, like. And they’re just kind of like, Oh, I’m going to try and take him out once in a, you know, go down. G’iah gave herself the Super Skrull procedure by herself using a broom, walking the walk in, and you go, and then you can have a Groot arm or the powers of Corvus Glaive, all these like you will be. Okay.

 

Jason Concepcion G’iah has a meeting with Fury in the safe house in Brixton, where they were Fury originally welcomed the Skrulls to earth. She is, of course, distraught because her father died. You know, thousands, if not millions, of light years from home for absolutely no fucking reason. And she’s like, my dad was a loser. This sucks. And Nick is, she likes my dad sucks.

 

Rosie Knight He’s a funny a loser.

 

Jason Concepcion Nick is like Nick. Noone tries to get her ready for the big game. It’s like, Hey guys, fucking game seven. Okay, fucking Gravik is going to nuke New Skrullose. The president has just been attacked. There’s been an attack on Russia already. Like we got to. You got to get your head in the fucking game right now and get ready to take on Gravik and we can talk about what a loser Talus was later. Okay, well, we got to deal with what we have in front of us. What’s going on with the Super Skrull shit? And G’iah is like, Okay, here’s what it is. Here’s the DNA that’s in the Super Skrull procedure. But here’s the thing. Interesting note. Apparently this was this is just like the beta version of Super Skrull. Gravik wants stronger DNA that he calls the harvest and he apparently can’t get it. He’s been looking for it everywhere. So he has to use this backup like plan B DNA. Guys says what? And now that’s all the information I have. I need to go bury my dad, who’s a loser, according to the ancient Skrull burial rites. And I don’t know him, so I need some help with that. And so Fury’s like, go see Varra, go see my wife, because she knows all about that stuff. I’m going to Finland. Sonja then visits Skrull scientists posing as human scientists. They live somewhere out in the countryside. And because apparently a director of SIS goes on Dornoch missions, personally, she’s at the point she’s first in the door, not like the SWAT team. She will go in herself and she’s like, Hey, I know you guys are pretending to be humans. You’re working on some kind of super project that is mysterious for Gravik. Tell me what it is. Or I’ll have the guy sitting behind you blow your head off. And they try to like hem and haw and be like, Well, it’s a very complicated type of thing. And she’s like, Yeah, shut up, I’m going to kill you. And so they tell her, and then they’re so new to having her. People burn their house to the ground. But then the husband, Skrull, scientist, they may not be married. I don’t know what the relationship is, Andrea. They’re undercover or whatever it is.

 

Rosie Knight Or is married.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, the dude Skrull is like, Well, fuck, I’m going to kill my partner Skrull because I can’t let her fall into your hands and she’s going to give up the whole plan and tell everything that’s going on about what the Super Skrull thing is here. So Son is like, Well, watch this. And she just, like, shoots him in the head. He has no reaction. He just gets shot in the head, watches her pull out the pistol and is like, Oh, is that a pistol? Are you going to shoot aiming at me? I guess you’re not going to aim it at. I have a really weird I guess it would be me. But all these thoughts are going through his head. Unfortunately, at the same time as a bullet and he is dead.

 

Rosie Knight So many dead skulls.

 

Jason Concepcion There’s a lot of them dying. G’iah goes to see Varra and they do the funeral. Right. And it’s actually a shame that this is actually good, pretty good and emotional. And I wish it was more like this. Rhodey shows Ritson evidence of New Skrullose and also Skrull participation in the attack of the convoy and the existence of this Skrull colony in Russia. And he’s like, You know what? Listen, crazy idea. Why don’t you? Newcomb Just you can just fucking bomb that shit. And he’s like, But it’s on Russia. It Russian soil. Wouldn’t that start World War for three? Or how many do we count? The Qatari invasion is like. It’s like about it. Yeah, Yeah. Don’t worry. You’re concussed. Just launch it. Duke, can I just say don’t worry.

 

Rosie Knight About President is like in hospital, in bed, looking mad, fucked up.

 

Jason Concepcion No one around him.

 

Rosie Knight No one around him, right? He. He knows not to trust Rhodey, or so he should know, because Fury told him that. But also, where’s Fury and where’s the Secret Service? And like, you literally could not even get into that hospital if the president was there.

 

Jason Concepcion He looks like a dad that got heat stroke. It it like a dead heat stroke at his kids soccer game would have more people around him than the president of the United States.

 

Rosie Knight Does he have a wife? I don’t know. A mistress, a daughter, a friend? What is going on? They tried to assinate him. Surely some of his cabinet is mean. I don’t know. They tried to assassinate the president, and he’s just chillin and we see a lot of deaths. But it’s like they could have at least given us a hint. Like if I saw some like dead bodies being dragged into a hospital room, like the Skrulls were killing people. But no, nobody cares. This is. This is proof like that. Overly concerned with the role of president, even though the president doesn’t really have an interior life or any kind of people around him. So there’s something. No one running to him.

 

Jason Concepcion No one running things.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah, it. Where is everybody?

 

Jason Concepcion Where is everybody? Gravik, who then has a great cell phone plan Because this guy’s making international calls like it’s nothing, calls Fury and says, Why don’t you come to New Skrullose. You got to take your iodine pills because it is on the site of a of a of a defunct nuclear reactor. But you should come out here and let’s talk about things and also bring the harvest, a.k.a. The Avengers DNA. Because unless you do, guess what? I have my guy at the president’s elbow and the president is pretty fucked up. And so he is in a state where he’s very suggestible and he just might nuke nuke Russia and nuke New Skrullose and anybody is going to die. So you better do something about this. Fury is like, Well, we’ll see. And then next thing you know, Fury is with Mason, Tasha’s fixer from Black Widow, the guy.

 

Rosie Knight Shocking MCU cameo.

 

Jason Concepcion And he’s like, Here, Fury, I got you some stuff and I got you a plane. And Fury is like, Great. And then Mason’s like not even Thank you. Like what?

 

Rosie Knight Mason’s the only person who is allowed to be sassy to Nick Fury. That’s what we learned here. Because he just your cranky old bitch. Go to sleep. I’m sick of you.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, because he just, like, got a G6 plane. Like on credit for Nick Fury. Nick Fury?

 

Rosie Knight No.

 

Jason Concepcion Nick Fury. Did the Venmo go through, like, is Nick Fury going to Zelle him the money for this? I like you can at least say thanks Anyway. Varra leads G’iah through the funeral rites. G’iah is, of course, very sad that it’s only the two of them. She’s like, My dad is a hero. Now all of a sudden he’s a hero.

 

Rosie Knight I thought he was a loser that nobody liked. Which one is it, babe?

 

Jason Concepcion My my dad was a hero of of the Skrull people. And there should be a fucking funeral parade for him. And now it’s just the two of us. And she’s very sad and then is actually very. That’s really evocative. G’iah asks why Varra didn’t kill Fury, and Varra takes a very long winded way to say, basically, if she was in love with Fury, even though it was like kind of weird.

 

Rosie Knight Like she she loved him. She was fond of him. Like she didn’t want to kill him.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah. So she didn’t want to do it. And she was for Gravik trying to force her into doing it, but she didn’t want to do it. And now that she’s refused that particular job, she’s ready. When Gravik’s people show up to kill her, she’s ready and she can’t wait. And guess what? They’re here. Oh, that’s good. Great timing because they’re cheering everywhere and shots. They are bad shots. And so Varra and G’iah put on backpacks. Why do they put on backpacks?

 

Rosie Knight I don’t know. Backpacks and bulletproof vests.

 

Jason Concepcion I guess because they have like.

 

Rosie Knight Their stuff.

 

Jason Concepcion Oh I see. Because it has like like ammo mags.

 

Rosie Knight From the I don’t know, that was.

 

Jason Concepcion It was just like.

 

Rosie Knight Oh, it was a weird sequence.

 

Jason Concepcion It was a weird it was definitely a weird like a backpack product placement. Anyway, they go like Jane Wick on these Skrull hit squads and it’s actually pretty cool.

 

Rosie Knight Cool over Very quickly.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s over very quickly. Absolutely. Take them out. No problem. Sonya goes and meets Fury when he lands in Finland and we learn Fury’s wearing the the the widow’s veil digital mask from the end of Captain America, the Winter Soldier. And ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. Foreshadowing alert.

 

Rosie Knight Also, ding, ding, ding. You were right. You said this mask was going to show up.

 

Jason Concepcion Yes. I knew that this was going to show up. So Sonya says, Hey, the widow’s veil. I like. Don’t you? Don’t they do don’t they change the whole body now? So it just changes your face and like the rest of your body remains you? And, and Nick Fury says, those are the those are the newer versions. This is the, you know, 1.0 version. The 2.0 versions do the whole body. Yeah. And absolutely we are going to see that version of the product.

 

Rosie Knight Also. Can I just say, Nick, you had this the whole time. Why when you came from off, didn’t you just put this on? But you didn’t need to be Nick Fury coming down from us. Everyone could have just thought Nick Fury was in space. I’m like, None of this would have happened.

 

Jason Concepcion I bet you it’s like a battery issue. Like, it’s really hard to charge. I mean, I.

 

Rosie Knight Only last for, like, long enough to get through customs.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah. Yeah. So they head out to go get the thingy. Sonya tells Nick that she told Rhodey about New Skrullose and Fury’s like, Man, that guy’s a Skrull. What are you doing?

 

Rosie Knight Why didn’t you text her? Can I just say that? Why didn’t he like next time that I know you got to keep her in the loop.

 

Jason Concepcion You got to be like, Hey, what’s up, Sonya? Just wanted to let you know Rhodey is Skrull. Okay, Talk later.

 

Rosie Knight Rhodey, green heart emoji.

 

Jason Concepcion So you fucked up Sonya. That’s the Skrull. And now he has vital intel, and she’s like, Oh, well. He also tells her that Gravik is threatening to nuke Russia and then tells her what the new harvest is. Now, here’s what it is. Fury wanted the DNA left behind by The Avengers after that big fight against Thanos’  people actually like a thing Fury probably never thought of in the comics.

 

Rosie Knight I will say I think this is where the show and Our Discord has had some really cool chats about this. I think this is where the show needed to go more and to commit more to which is the realities of the kind of person you have to be to rise to the top of yes shield. We need to see more of Nick’s complexity, how he was complicit with the system, how he did fucked up shit, like taking the fucking DNA of his friends and sending a Skrull to do that when that immediately put them in danger. Like, I think that there is something really interesting and far more compelling about that espionage element of like the realities of what you have to do to be in S.H.I.E.L.D., to ignore the terrible things they do, the terrible things you have to do. The fact that he has essentially been using the Skrulls and how interesting it would be to see maybe a recognition that he never really had that much urgency to get them home.

 

Jason Concepcion Well, that would be cool.

 

Rosie Knight I think that I agree. It would be an interesting angle. And I think you’re right. I think this does feel like something Fury would do when you think about him contextually. I just wish they’d leaned into it more in the show.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah. I was like, Man, that’s a cool detail. It’s a shame that the rest of it is not as cool as that. It reminded me of the thing from Civil War in the comics when all Thor is off world at this particular time in Marvel continuity, at least as it pertains. You know, he’s in his own book, of course, but as it pertains to the larger ongoing events of The Avengers and 616 and so Thor was just like not around and all of a sudden he shows up for one of the big fights. There’s Thor and he looks like the younger version of Thor. And they’re like, What the fuck? And then it turned out that Tony Stark, the very, very first meeting of The Avengers when they were figuring out what to do with Loki, Tony Stark combed his couch and got one strand of hair from Thor and then put it away and then later on, cloned and combined the cloning with like, with like a cybernetic like skeleton to create basically a robot slash clone Thor called Clor, by the fans, not officially, but the fans call it Clor. And I thought, man, that is so devious and such a such an. Immoral move by Tony Stark, but also something he would do. And that’s what this Nick Fury thing reminds of. Like, that’s kind of something Nick would do.

 

Rosie Knight It does. And it establishes something that’s really important. So we’ve talked quite a fair bit about how the original super Skrull, KLRT is, how you pronounce it spelt like KLRT. He had the fantastic force powers Right. That was the thing. But later on, the Super Skrulls, as they grew, could have the powers of many different heroes, right? So this is essentially establishing that law and they’re going for that core Avengers team because a, this is a great narrative way for them to have gotten that. Fury did that early on before he really had relationships with them. He wanted to get that DNA he sent, grab it to get it. That’s like a fucked up thing to do. So it’s interesting. And then in the future, you get out of this situation where you’ve essentially had to make this better version of a Super Skrull who has powers that are not necessarily the powers anyone would pick from the A-list heroes. So I think this is very interesting and it really leans into that comic book thing. So while I don’t necessarily think we’re going to see any cool super Skrulls with like lightning powers or shapeshifting powers, it’s also very interesting as well, because if you think about The Avengers, who among them really had like DNA that had power?

 

Jason Concepcion It was not like, cool.

 

Rosie Knight I think the only one that you could really Super Skrull easily would be Hulk, right? If is based on DNA. So I think we could definitely see a Hulk’s grow, that kind of thing. But are we going to see it in the finale? I feel like the odds are low, but I feel like it sets up the future of what the Super Skrulls could be on the super squirrel threat.

 

Jason Concepcion Agreed. X-ray vision will be back.

 

Unidentified <AD>.

 

Jason Concepcion And we’re back. So Fury wanted this DNA left behind after the big, big fight against Thanos as people upstate at Stark’s Avengers facility up there. And so Fury put Gravik in charge of the project, collecting DNA evidence as just a normal person able to shapeshift and get in there and just, like, fill up test tubes with various goop. Now Fury has to give him the DNA or else. So this is all Fury’s fault. And that’s why and Fury is like, that’s why I came back from space. Otherwise, I was just I know I’m married and all that stuff. I wasn’t going to come back.

 

Rosie Knight He’s like, Fuck that shit. I’m staying in space.

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, space is chill. They. They then go to a small mausoleum in a cemetery, out in the woods out here in Finland. And this is one of Fury’s secret caches of equipment and stuff, which is another thing from the comics. Nick Fury is constantly getting thrown out of shield, fired by Shields, wanted.

 

Rosie Knight Disavowed, thrown.

 

Jason Concepcion Out of the country, fakes his death, whatever. But he’s always got stuff because I they actually put a number on it, didn’t they? And they’re like 47.

 

Rosie Knight Oh, yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion Fury bases out the most.

 

Rosie Knight Hilarious.

 

Jason Concepcion In one of the stories in the last ten years. They actually put a number on how many Nick Fury secret bases there since the very very very Nick Fury thing and he picked Finland because apparently he and Varra had honeymooned here. The Skrulls like the cold, he says. And he also hid the Dane, the DNA there, the DNA. He opens up at the top of a fucking tombstone and there is a vial of clear ish liquid. Who knows what that could be and is?

 

Rosie Knight And also, like.

 

Jason Concepcion Who’s?

 

Rosie Knight Who’s DNA? Also. Okay, so if it’s the end game fight rather than the Battle of New York, which is what I misunderstood.

 

Jason Concepcion Maybe it’s cause you think it’s Carol.

 

Rosie Knight I’m like, Is it Carol? Is it like Thanos? Like, who is it? There’s so many days that would have been at that fight that’s basically opens up the world to any. Any hero or many alien villains who were there.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s literally every single, every single MCU powered person.

 

Rosie Knight And just in that, that vial. Every single one.

 

Jason Concepcion And then he goes over to the other little part of the mosoleum where he has his regular stuff and he gets his battle eyepatch and he gets a good trench coat.

 

Rosie Knight Why does he wear it all of the time? I thought it was important. But it was not important.

 

Jason Concepcion And now washed Fury is ready and he goes and he takes out his phone calls somebody and he says it’s time. Let’s finish his Who is he calling.

 

Rosie Knight Gravik? I guess like Rhodey. Skrull. Rhodey. The president. Maybe.

 

Jason Concepcion Talos?

 

Rosie Knight Talos.

 

Jason Concepcion Hill.

 

Rosie Knight Hill. She’s been alive the whole team.

 

Jason Concepcion Let me tell you something. Hey, I mean, why? Yeah, but that’s like one of those. Why would it be that one?

 

Rosie Knight She was too busy to film more than five episodes.

 

Jason Concepcion Do you think they got somebody, like, did they get, like, Sam Wilson or something for one episode? Do they get. An actual hero for one episode to come in and be like, Hey, I need your help for one episode to help defeat the Skrull invasion. Million Skrull Invasion of of Earth.

 

Rosie Knight So because Nick has like a very funny monologue in this episode where he’s just monologuing to Sonya about how the only person who can beat the Skrulls is him. Because he’s got a brain that was trained by his single mom and only he knows. Yeah, the Skrulls and like The Avengers don’t know. And I’m like, I feel like Captain America would be, like, useful. Yeah, you could just. I know the way that soldier. Let’s see if his metal arm has something to say about those Skrulls. You know, maybe you call the Guardians of the Galaxy, seeing as they have group powers. Yeah, I like Nick is overestimating his own nick importance.

 

Jason Concepcion Nick, let’s take a look at it. Okay. In the multiple alien invasions that have taken place in the MCU, right. Battle of Battle of New York. The Avengers took care of the territory. You were up there on the fucking Helicarrier, which crashed, and then you lost control of one of your nukes. So how does that look? And then endgame. Where the. Where were you?

 

Rosie Knight Just chillin.

 

Jason Concepcion Infinity War. Would you. Would. You got blipped and then you weren’t around. And then Endgame. You weren’t like. I didn’t see.

 

Rosie Knight I don’t understand why the man who literally put together the Avengers initiative because of an alien invasion is now like, Oh, there’s an alien invasion, but I don’t need The Avengers. This is why you brought them together, you know? Come on, it. It’s like there is a million Skrulls And like, I guess what I would say is, like, I feel like maybe they could have been, like, a bit more narratively cool. Like, maybe he’s, like, ashamed. But the Avengers DNA is that would be cool. And so, like.

 

Jason Concepcion That would have been cool. I understand. I don’t like them too. I don’t want them to know about this. Yeah, I don’t want that. That would have been cool.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah. I feel like they didn’t go clear enough on that. So do I think. And I think maybe. I think he was probably on the phone to like, Gravik being like, we’re going to be done. This is done. We’re going to finish it. But like, do I think maybe someone could show up at the end and be like, Why didn’t you call us? This is so dumb and like, punch Squirrel’s head off? Like, probably.

 

Jason Concepcion It’s really weird.

 

Rosie Knight I don’t think Gravik is probably going to survive the finale. I think. I don’t think he’s alone.

 

Jason Concepcion And he will die.

 

Rosie Knight He’s I think he’s so he will become villain. I also just I’m very interested, I guess Carol, is the obvious option, especially with the Marvel’s coming next. Now, obviously, they did mention her director Ali Salim has been quite clear, saying he didn’t think about continuity, he didn’t think about the marvels. Okay, so maybe that was a red herring. I feel like Carol kind of makes sense, but we know that at the moment she’s Quantum Leap entangled with Kamala and Monica. So I don’t know, it feels like somebody should show up. But the biggest question I kind of have is like. In the most kind of chill way possible. Like what? What? I want to know what happens in the finale that changes the outcome of the MCU. Because currently what is going to have happened is the Skrulls came. They didn’t have a home and we started Secret Invasion. And the end of this is going to be the Skrulls came. They didn’t have a home and they still don’t have a home. I need to know what the game changing thing is. So I think the president’s going to die. I think that will set up President Thunderbolt. Ross or the President will be a Skrull, potentially. I thought maybe Talus would become the president. So it was kind of like a a puppet scrawl president who was human friendly or something. And I would love to see Dummett Mulrooney come back, but I think it’s more likely that he’s going to die. And that power vacuum that is in the Skrulls will be reflected in a power vacuum in America. And then we’ll kind of lead to thunderbolts. That’s my guess. But I don’t know, like, who would if you were going to pick like three characters who are most likely to show up in the finale, who would you pick? Obviously, apart from Mason, because he’s already in there. So don’t don’t feel larger.

 

Jason Concepcion Gosh, from the larger MCU, I would say. Sam Wilson.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah.

 

Jason Concepcion I would say. Oh. Well, you know what? If I’m sorry, I’m blanking on Florence Pugh.

 

Rosie Knight You know, I was going to say, I think she’s also.

 

Jason Concepcion Yelling every.

 

Rosie Knight Time that because she’s actually.

 

Jason Concepcion An Irish. Yeah. I think Yelena could be there. But then my reality brain kicks in and says there’s no way they landed Florence Pugh for.

 

Rosie Knight For this show.

 

Jason Concepcion One, for this one episode. But that would make sense. Taskmaster.

 

Rosie Knight Maybe. I know. That’s why I’m like, Is it? So are we missing out? We’re going to get, you know, who actually would make the most sense, I guess is like and she we know she loves doing TV. She’s a TV legend. Maybe you get the contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Maybe that’s because. Because also was Mason working for her? He was black widow’s fake saw. It’s unclear if he was kind of involved in the early Thunderbolts stuff because, like, little Yelena was there, so maybe her. But I think it’s more likely. I think part of the reason that there’s such a high kill count in this show is because they’re killing off characters instead of continuing them onto the MCU, like the wider MCU. So I will be interested to see what occurs. And.

 

Jason Concepcion Colsen.

 

Rosie Knight Oh my God, Could you imagine that would actually be safe? That would be so good.

 

Jason Concepcion Really, really cool.

 

Rosie Knight That would be really actually like and that’s like Coulson’s there. That’s who he was on the phone too. And he’s just like, That would be really, really great if that that would be great. I would be a huge fan of that. And I think it I wonder if maybe all of this leads to the creation of the Skrull with a certain set of Avengers powers or one of the Avengers powers or something, and that becomes our actual like or actual like singular first story Squirrel. Yeah, I can’t quite like, you know, it’s yeah, I wonder if that’s going to be the one thing that might carry over going forward because this, I feel like it hasn’t necessarily added a lot of the more or kind of. Substance to the wider MCU, which I do feel like most of these shows, no matter whether I’ve been a big fan of them or haven’t been a huge fan of them, most of them, I feel like, have been additive. And this is the first one. I’m sort of like, not sure what the addictive nature of it is going to be, so maybe it is going to be like a proper singular super squirrel, or maybe it’ll just be like a funny, completely interior. Nothing really changes. And if people haven’t watched that, it won’t affect them going forward.

 

Jason Concepcion I was hoping it was going to be like this was going to set up. The kind of underground Nick Fury that we saw like in the mid-aughts when he was running around with Kid Aries and Daisy Johnson and stuff, going from like hide out to hide out, maybe now with with Kurt or some other Skrulls. And that’s his like.

 

Rosie Knight Mm hmm.

 

Jason Concepcion You know, like counterintelligence agency that only works for the heroes. I thought that maybe that’s where we were going to go. But I also still feel pretty strongly like men. It feels like Fury could die.

 

Rosie Knight Yeah, it does like it does. It would be. I would be sad to see it happen because I feel like, yeah, Sam is such a core part of like, the success of the MCU. And but yeah, it does definitely feel like that. And as we know, you can always bring somebody back. In those spaces like it. It’s not for a death is not  forever, especially in the MCU.

 

Jason Concepcion Well, the final episode of Secret Invasion is next week, and we will be here for that. Up next, Nerd Out.

 

Rosie Knight In today’s Nerd Out where you tell us what you love and why or a theory you’re excited to share. Or a quick question that we can answer. Rob shares some thoughts on Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade. Hi, Rosy and Jason. Love the Indiana Jones episode recently. Thank you. Wanted to share some fun theories from The Last Crusade. Okay, First theory. The guy who originally gives young Indy the hat was apparently intended to be Abner Ravenwood, Marion’s father. But any details hinting at that was scrubbed? That’s cool. I read in school and I agree. Yeah, I agree, Rob. They should have left that one in second. And the main reason I decided to write it involves the ending with the selection of the Grail. Last Crusade was probably my favorite movie for a time as a kid, and I’ve seen it countless times over my life. But it wasn’t until I showed it to my significant other for the first time recently that she brought this to my attention. In the Grail room, Elsa volunteers to choose the cup for Donovan, which of course, kills him. My significant other matter of factly states, Wow, she gives him the wrong one on purpose. This completely blew my mind, and it’s actually quite obvious in retrospect all those years watching it and never once occurred to me. I think that her horrified reaction is that she didn’t really know how gruesome it would be when he drank it rather than actual surprise. Now, I will say I actually never considered that she gave it to him on purpose.

 

Jason Concepcion I never I never considered this. And I’m considering it right now. And honestly, it makes a lot of sense.

 

Rosie Knight Rob, your significant other has just blown up last crusade for us. Yeah, I never considered that, but that actually makes so much sense. Why wouldn’t she do that?

 

Jason Concepcion Yeah, she’s got she. She got what she wanted, and now she can potentially leave without the entanglements of having to. Yeah. Having to work for this crazy guy and she could go back to Nazi Germany and maybe, you know, exult in the in the victory of the thousand year reicht.

 

Rosie Knight Well, and guess what? Sorry. She’s going to die in a fog instead. And it’s what.

 

Jason Concepcion She has unfortunately.

 

Rosie Knight Chance of.

 

Jason Concepcion You know. God, yeah. That makes a lot of sense, actually, that. Wow, I want to rewatch that. I know.

 

Rosie Knight I’m going to have to rewatch it. That was really good. Thanks, Rob. If you have theories, passions, or quick questions you want to share, hit us up at Xray@crooked.com. Instructions, as always, are in the show notes.

 

Jason Concepcion That’s it for us, Rosie, any plugs?

 

Rosie Knight I’m going to San Diego Comic-Con very early tomorrow morning, which means by the time you listen to this, I will be there. You can check. My Instagram to see where I will be, and I’ll just be wandering around too, so if you don’t make it. Tammy of panels feel free to say hello. If you see me, I’ll be there. Masked up. I’m probably wearing very flowy clothes to hide from the 90 degree heat that I’m sure will be boiling us all alive.

 

Jason Concepcion Catch the next episode of X-ray Vision Wednesday, July 26th, when we will be joined by David Goyer. Chris S. Goyer.

 

Rosie Knight You can watch full episodes of the podcast on YouTube. You can also check out on Twitter at @XRVPod and on Discord to hang out with lots of cool fans.

 

Jason Concepcion Five star ratings, five star reviews. We need them. We got to have them. You got to give them to us. Here’s one from SideKen get my geek on. I’ve been a fan of Jason’s from The Ringer days and was happy to follow him over to Crooked. He has introduced so much great stuff and also bought Rosie and Zig. So life is better because of X-ray Vision. Thank you SideKen. X-ray Vision is a Crooked Media production. The show is produced by Chris Lord and Saul Rubin and executive produced by me, Jason Concepcion. Our editing and sound design is by Vasilis Fotopoulos. Video production by Delon Villanueva and Rachel Gaewski. Social Media by Ewa Okulate and Caroline Dunphy. Thank you to Brian Vasquez for a theme music. See you next time.

 

Rosie Knight Bye

 

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