Secret Invasion director addresses bad reviews: “I feel great about the response”

Secret Invasion’s director has revealed he doesn’t “feel bad” about the show’s negative reviews and isn’t convinced it’s his job to fulfill fans’ expectations.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has expanded again with its ninth TV series, Secret Invasion. Based on the 2008 Marvel comic of the same name, the show sees Nick Fury uncover a faction of shapeshifting Skrulls attempting to take over Earth.

However, the show has largely been slammed online for its deviations from the comic and missed opportunities. It currently holds a 56 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the lowest rated of all Marvel’s TV shows (followed by She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, which has an approval rating of 77 percent).

Nonetheless, director Ali Selim has told Variety that he doesn’t “feel bad” about the negative responses, feeling he has delivered his “half of the dialogue”.

“I don’t read reviews. With all due respect. For me, I view all the storytelling work I do as a dialogue with an audience,” Selim explained. “When the show is finished and put up on the screen, that’s my half of the dialogue. And the audience then starts their half of the response to it.”

Calling Marvel’s fanbase “very devoted” and “even rabid”, Selim said they “have expectations and when their expectations aren’t fulfilled, they move in the other direction; they give it a thumbs down.”

“I don’t know – is it our job to fulfill their expectations? Or to tell the story that we’re telling?” Selim questioned. “So, it’s a tricky thing. I would love it if everybody loved it, but I also don’t have that expectation myself, so I feel great about the response to it.”

The problem with "Secret Invasion" isn't necessarily that it's bad, though it's not good. It's how … pointless and dull it feels. Really captures the vibes of a late-90s Marvel comics maxi-series that got hugely hyped by Wizard only to be forgotten weeks after it ended.

— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) July 7, 2023

Not all were disappointed by Salim’s approach to Secret Invasion, with one critic writing, “Secret Invasion is another series that stands out from the environment that contains it, trailing its own path throughout its six chapters without betraying its sources.”

It seems Selim has certainly created dialogue and doesn’t intend to change his approach to directing any time soon — certainly not because of any bad reviews.

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