Commentary: ‘Star Trek’ Did ‘Secret Invasion’ Before Marvel
by Frank Martin
Brian Michael Bendis‘s time as a Marvel architect was marked by a series of very poignant and popular crossovers. These include Civil War, House of M, and Siege. Another important event storyline during this time was years in the making. It involved carefully placing the shapeshifting alien race known as Skrulls as prominent characters in the superhero community. Eventually, their plan was found out and Secret Invasion was the result. Although different, the basic premise behind this concept was adapted into the Marvel Studios series also titled Secret Invasion and starring Samuel L. Jackson. But fans of Star Trek will note that they had their own “secret invasion” decades earlier.
One prominent character on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is Odo (Rene Auberjonois). He’s a shapeshifting alien made entirely of liquid goo from a race called the Changelings. They are from an entirely different sector of the galaxy and are the leaders of a sort of anti-Federation called the Dominion. They are so powerful that other Dominion members call them Founders and consider them gods. When Starfleet began to clash with the Dominion, the Changelings began to infiltrate the various species in and near Federation space to incite war amongst those who would face them.
The basic idea behind this Deep Space Nine plot line and Secret Invasion is the same. A shapeshifting alien force orchestrates goals years in the making in order to replace powerful beings with their own agents. Although the Marvel storyline and the Star Trek one differ in terms of the details specific to their respect to universes, it’s quite clear that the premise is nearly identical — but that’s okay. The idea of sleeper agents infiltrating government organizations has a long history and includes stories such as The Manchurian Candidate and the Showtime series Homeland. Just because Star Trek did it before Marvel doesn’t make it better, but it does acknowledge that Star Trek is usually one step ahead of its sci-fi competition.
Secret Invasion is now streaming on Disney+.
