PUBLISHED ONJuly 04, 2023 11:01 AMByDrima ChakrabortyMarvel Comics may have been founded 84 years ago, but they are still going strong and rolling out new stories and characters.
In the new Disney+ series Secret Invasion, we meet Gravik, a Skrull rebel who wants to infiltrate the Earth with his army, and faces off against Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Skrull leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn).
Gravik is an original character and a new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and so is Kingsley Ben-Adir, the British actor who plays him.
The 37-year-old told AsiaOne in a recent interview how it felt to be creating a character without decades of history behind them: "It was great because there was so much creative freedom. We got to build a guy who was our own making and there was kinda no pressure.
"We got to build him in a way that matched the tone and style of the show, which is to try and make him as grounded and real and dangerous a killer as we could."
When it came to Gravik, Kingsley said it was important to portray "something darker going on underneath" the surface.
"What he's saying to his 'people' or Skrulls was something different to what's actually operating underneath," he added.
At least in the first episode, it appears that Gravik is "saying one thing and doing something else," Kingsley said, but we'd "have to see more as it goes on".
Samuel L. Jackson: Nick Fury is 'a little tired, a little vulnerable'
While Kingsley is a newcomer to the MCU, Samuel L. Jackson is making a return as Nick Fury, the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
He has been working with the Skrulls in space for years and finds himself unsure of his own place on Earth after the events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame.
"This is [Nick Fury's] second appearance post-snap (Thanos activating the Infinity Gauntlet), and he's been kinda gone for a while," the 74-year-old said in a June 14 press conference.
"He's a little tired, a little vulnerable, but coming back to Earth because he's been summoned — and we'll see what happens.
"Got a bad knee now, not so happy."
Another returning MCU alumnus is Don Cheadle who plays James 'Rhodey' Rhodes.
"I think we're just kind of finding out what's happening with Rhodey as this series goes on, he's in a different role. We see him as more a political animal than we have in the past," Don, 58, said.
"He's been more of a military man, but now he's, in some ways, a right hand man of the President and this special envoy, in that regard."
Don said he was looking forward to getting "under the hood" of who Rhodey is and how his relationships with Fury and the other characters evolve in Secret Invasion.
"No spoilers, but it's gonna be some fun," he added.
For the full interview including Kingsley's thoughts on acting with MCU veterans and newcomers like Emilia Clarke, who plays Talos' daughter G'iah, watch our latest episode of E-Junkies.
Secret Invasion streams on Disney+.
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