Secret Invasion may have concluded on a less-than-stellar note but it did have a lot of fun surprises along the way. For instance, people couldn't get enough when it was confirmed that James "Rhodey" Rhodes had been a Skrull all along. To add spice to the discovery, it was revealed that he was being impersonated by a female Skrull named Raava. But was it a conscious decision to have War Machine replaced by the female of the species? Director Ali Selim explained how it reflected an important point for the Skrulls.
In Secret Invasion Episode 4, Nick Fury's wife Varra finally meets with one of Gravik's associates and it turns out to be Rhodey, or a Skrull impersonating the U.S. Air Force officer. Later in the episode, it was further confirmed that the Skrull who replaced Rhodey is actually a woman (the reveal is done in an unexpected shower scene). From there, people were impressed considering that the Skrull Rhodey was subtly different from the original Rhodey.
But why was a female Skrull chosen to replace Rhodey in the first place? Ali Selim explained to Variety that it was all about finding the perfect hiding place for a Skrull.
"The Raava thing was just simply, there was a point in the beginning where we were designing the Skrulls and we made the comment 'Would a Skrull pick a human that had its facial features?' If I looked a little bit like this as a Skrull, why would I go into hiding and find a human like that looked kind of like me?" he said.
"So, we deviated from that and said, what we have to do is really show that, in a lot of instances, these people are hiding out in a human shell, and they’re going to pick a completely different race, a different age, and why not a different gender?" Selim continued. "Why couldn’t a female Skrull become a male [human]? And that’s where that came from — let’s just be smart about how they’re going into hiding."
He then went on to credit Don Cheadle for making a distinction between the original Rhodey and the Skrull who replaced him. "From there, it was Don Cheadle [filling in] the details of what that would mean to him. He’s brilliant," Selim said.
How Long Has Rhodey Been A Skrull?
The revelation about Rhodey immediately spawned several theories about when he was taken and replaced by the Skrulls. One popular theory purports that he was abducted soon after the events in Captain America: Civil War because of the hospital gown he is wearing in the Secret Invasion finale. However, many argued that the abduction happened sometime after the Battle of Earth since Rhodey still wears leg braces in both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
The most feasible idea right now is that Rhodey was captured by the Skrulls soon after he made an appearance at Captain America's memorial in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. However, Selim himself indicated that the truth will finally be revealed in Cheadle's upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe project Armor Wars.
All six episodes of Secret Invasion are now streaming on Disney+.
