With its final sixth episode, Marvel’s Secret Invasion came to an end. Marvel fans were left baffled when they discovered that Rhodey or War Machine is a Skrull in episode 4, leaving them wondering what this will lead to in the future of Marvel movies, but with Nick Fury Getting rid of the Skrull who was posing as Rhodey and the real Rhodey being rescued by G’iah, the question arises that since when he has been a hostage? or since when Rhodey has been a Skrull? Find out all you need to know in this article!
Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion Episode 6 (Finale).
Secret Invasion: Rhodey Is a Skrull
The fourth episode of Secret Invasion gave us some pretty interesting cliffhangers — is Nick Fury’s wife still working with Gravik? Is Talos really dead? What other powers does Gravik have? But among all these cliffhangers, the thing that took every Marvel fan by surprise was our beloved Rhodey, the trigger-happy superhero, War Machine, being replaced by a Skrull.
In episode 4, we see Rhodey meeting up with Nick Fury’s wife, who is also a Skrull and is shown to be working with Gravik. Rhodey asks her to kill Nick Fury, giving away his true identity to the audience. In another scene, we see a female Skrull looking at herself in the mirror and then shapeshifting into Rhodey, hence, making it absolutely clear that Rhodey was (possibly) a Skrull all this time. Even before the official revelation, we did have our suspicions regarding his true identity. First of all, in episode three, Nick Fury says “Nobody calls me Nick” implying that everyone uses his last name, Fury, to address him.
In Episode 2, we see that as Rhodey fires Nick Fury from his post as Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he uses his first name “Nick” to address Fury. Other than that, Rhodey firing Nick in itself is something the James Rhodes we saw till now, would never willingly do.
By the end of episode 3, we see Varra, Fury’s wife, talking to someone on the phone, who leads her to a safe that has a gun in it. The voice on the phone was clearly of Rhodey, who was talking to Varra as a link to Gravik himself. Hence, putting forward the possibility of Rhodey being replaced by a Skrull.
How Long Rhodey Has Been a Skrull
In the Secret Invasion episode 6, we got to see that Nick Fury killed the Skrull imposter posing as Colonel James Rhodes while G’iah, now a Super Skrull, wields the powers of all the Avengers and every powered individual that fought in the Battle of Earth. She kills Gravik after an epic battle with commendable fight sequences. After the death of Gravik, she rescued everyone that had been captured by rogue Skrulls. We see that one of the rescued people is Rhodey.
If you observe, you’ll see that Rhodey is in a hospital gown, the same one he was wearing after his near-death experience during the events of Captain America: Civil War. This raises the possibility that Rhodey was captured by the Skrulls while he was under treatment after his injuries. This kinda explains Rhodey’s speedy recovery we witnessed earlier. So, if Rhodey was replaced by a Skrull during the events of the Civil War, that means the Rhodey we saw taking a stand against alien forces in Avengers: Infinity War as well as in Avengers: Endgame was a Skrull and not the real Rhodey.
This revelation also suggests that Rhodey is unaware of a huge chunk of events that have unfolded since he was replaced by a Skrull. The real Rhodey has missed the Snap, the Blip, Tony Stark’s death, the fall of Avengers, Steve Rogers giving up the mantle of Captain America, and the death of Black Widow. Needless to say, he has a lot to digest and he’s in for the shock of his life.
So that answers the question of how long Rhodey has been a Skrull.
The Return of Real Rhodey
Rhodey’s replacement by a Skrull would have had a serious impact on the future of MCU as speculated by Marvel fans. War Machine is expected to be seen in Armor Wars or even the Young Avengers down the line, but if Rhodey would have remained a Skrull, it would jeopardize this expectation of fans.
Well, Marvel couldn’t be that cruel to its fans, and the real Rhodey was rescued by G’iah by the end of Marvel’s Secret Invasion. Keeping the hopes of Marvel fans still high to see him again in future Marvel Projects, especially Avengers: Secret Wars and Avengers: Armour Wars.
