Warning: The article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion episode one (which you should have watched by now, come on!)

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You probably noticed them already; tons of Easter eggs in Secret Invasion episode one that might have brought some not-so-subtle references to your attention. But there’s one you might not have caught, and it could contain the biggest clue to a controversial twist that Marvel may have in store for us. 

Yes, the obvious references are laid out in the first ep — the callback to the Avengers, markers for how many years have passed since the events of Captain Marvel, etc. What I am pointing at, though, is destined either to set fans up for a shocking revelation or disappointment, depending on how you will perceive the said development. 

So, this clue happens halfway through the episode, after practically the whole cast of characters has said in boldface type that “Oh, Nick Fury is not like his old self,” thus broadcasting the possibility that the creator of the Avengers is not just traumatized, low on confidence, and out of his depth, but actually “different” in the literal sense of the word.

To top it off, series director Ali Selim teasing (via SFX magazine) there is a Fury twist ahead in the show, and uttering the words “It’s very much not Nick Fury” is what puts this possible Easter egg in the spotlight. 

Need more prompting? I am talking about the scene where Fury, after being reprimanded by Maria Hill for not having his head in the game, remembers getting Snapped and turning into dust. His forehead is twitching, and he is all sweaty during the scene. Why? The man has gone through a lot in his life, and seeing that none of the dusted characters are suffering anything similar, this feels really out of context given everything else that is weird in the episode. 

Well, it is very much possible that it is not Nick Fury at all, but a Skrull posing as him. We have already seen how the Skrulls are keeping their human counterparts alive even after copying their memories. As they are not necessarily hung up on preserving human lives, this feels like an oversight… unless their hosts have to be kept alive as the memory-downloading process is not permanent and they tend to become hazy after a while, pushing the Skrulls to re-copy them. 

Given the state of “Fury” in this scene, could it be that the Skrull posing as Fury is having trouble remembering the Snap correctly? After all, it has been some time since they got the memories from the real Fury. I know this much; if it is a Skrull, Marvel will have failed one of its bankable characters once again — even if it is Samuel Jackson playing the part throughout the show.

Along with that, here is another possibility to chew over — what if the Skrull pretending to be Fury is Talos’ “dead” wife, Soren? In case your faith is still shaky when it comes to believing this, you might want to check out the five more damning clues that will make it hard to not expect the above to be the jarring reality Secret Invasion is just waiting to unleash upon us. 

We are not expecting the show to spill its beans anytime soon, but the second episode of Secret Invasion drops tomorrow, and perhaps we will find more clues — either to further consolidate this theory, or chuck it out of the window for good.