The MCU Just Revealed An Avenger Is A Skrull Imposter

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Secret Invasion episode 4

After teasing for three episodes, Secret Invasion has revealed Don Cheadle's Rhodey is a Skrull, delivering on Marvel Comics' impostor Avengers idea with huge ramifications. In all honesty, the Skrull War Machine twist wasn't a huge shock: Secret Invasion has dropped multiple hints that Rhodey is a Skrull in Phase 5, but seeing the Phase 2 Avenger transform into female Skrull Raava after telling Priscilla Fury to kill Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury was still a huge moment.

The reveal that Rhodey is a Skrull inevitably sparks some significant questions, even with Secret Invasion episode 4 throwing in 2 other major twists. Not only did Emilia Clarke's G'iah survive being seemingly killed by Gravik thanks to turning herself into a Super-Skrull, but Ben Mendelsohn's Talos was killed off by the new MCU supervillain. Fury now faces the daunting task of taking down Gravik without his most powerful ally, having already lost Maria Hill in Secret Invasion episode 1, and robbed of his military thanks to Rhodey's Skrull reveal. Here's what it all means...

Marvel Confirms Rhodey Is A Skrull

After setting up Rhodey as a Skrull for the first three episodes of Secret Invasion, episode 4 pulled the trigger, revealing him to be Priscilla's boss. Working under Gravik, the Skrull Rhodey had infiltrated the US government, getting close to President Ritson to take him out as part of Gravik's explosive false flag operation. The Skrull Rhodey demands Priscilla kill her husband, with Fury hot on Gravik's tail (despite repeated insults suggesting he's not the man he once was), while helping to orchestrate the assassination attempt on Ritson. That operation is staged as a Russian mission in revenge for the terrorist attack on Moscow that killed thousands (including Cobie Smulder's Maria Hill).

Who Is Raava? Rhodey's Skull Replacement Explained

Rhodey's Skrull impostor is also revealed to be female, an alien called Raava and played by Nisha Aaliya, a British actress who has so far appeared in small roles in Ghosts, UK soap Emmerdale, and the 2021 remake of The Girl On The Train. Raava's name may be familiar to Marvel Comics fans as the Skrull prisoner from Black Bolt #1 (2017), Raava The Unskrulled, who aids in Black Bolt's escape from a deep-space torture prison. Interestingly, Raava was a rogue Skrull who betrayed the Skrull Empire after the murder of her children, but Secret Invasion changes her origin entirely to make her a loyal follower of Gravik.

How Long Rhodey Has Been A Skrull In the MCU

As with the reveal of Martin Freeman's Agent Ross as a Skrull in Secret Invasion episode 1, the biggest question about Rhodey Skrull is how long ago the impostor took over. There's also other factors at play: where is the real Rhodey? Was he still the real Rhodey during the events of Avengers: Endgame? The real Rhodey will presumably be captured in New Skrullos in one of the Skrull pods, though he cannot be stashed with the other high profile targets, because G'iah would have warned Talos and Nick Fury that Rhodey was a Skrull before the truth was revealed. With that in mind, he must be hidden somewhere else.

The question of how long ago Rhodey was replaced by a Skrull is a more complex one, which Kevin Feige has already weighed in on, hinting that Rhodey became a Skrull before Secret Invasion, saying the reveal has to wait, as viewers come to “understand exactly how long he’s been a Skrull... We like the idea of fans going back and watching some of the other appearances of Rhodey and realizing that that wasn't him.”

That complicated matters even further. Looking back to Avengers: Endgame, Rhodey seems to be himself. He is loyal to the Avengers, playing a key role in the defeat of Thanos and the Black Order, and there is no hint of sabotage from within. There is, of course, the possibility that Rhodey's Skrull replacement wasn't yet an extremist under Gravik's leadership and was simply a strategic target by the benevolent Skrull council. That wouldn't fit with Nick Fury's relationship with Talos, neither of whom would have endorsed replacing an Avenger, logically speaking.

Then there's Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which Don Cheadle appeared in very briefly (but gained an Emmy nomination, all the same). In his scenes, he talked to Sam Wilson about not giving up Captain America's shield, at one point saying the world is messed up: "allies are enemies, alliances are all torn apart: the world's broken, everybody's just looking for someone to fix it", which could have been an overt hint at his Skrull secret. Then again, what benefit would Rhodey see in making sure Wilson continued as an Avenger? Even more complexly, if Rhodey was a Skrull in F&TWS, the two scenes in the MCU where Rhodey connected to fellow black characters about shared experience would be undermined by those lived experiences being false, stolen memories. That's not a road anyone should consciously go down.

Even with Feige's tease, it still seems more likely that War Machine was replaced after Endgame, sometime following Iron Man's death. That would also help explain the events of Armor Wars, which sees Rhodey cleaning up the mess of Stark's technology falling into the wrong hands. If he was replaced after Stark's death, and Skrull Rhodey focused instead on his political career to get close to the president, Stark tech being stolen would fly under the radar. That would also explain why Rhodey's rise in the US government was so at odds with his insubordination to General Ross in Endgame.

Why Marvel Chose Rhodey As The Skrull Avenger

Rhodey with Nick Fury in Secret Invasion

Nick Fury already revealed that he would not call in The Avengers when Rhodey suggested it after the attack in Moscow, fearing Gravik's warriors would beat them and take their powers to create even stronger Super-Skrulls. That makes sense when you're faced with the likes of Captain Marvel, Bruce Banner's Hulk, Thor or any of the other genetically powered heroes - even Doctor Strange is a powerful target because his magic is learned and Skrulls can steal minds - the supposedly second-string Avengers, therefore, were always the most likely to be replaced. After all, Secret Invasion needed to avoid over-powering the Super-Skrulls and making them impossible to take down.

Unfortunately for Rhodey, he's arguably the weakest Avenger with the highest value, because of his military rank and path to get close to President Ritson. He has no genetic powers, so Marvel Studios could stop the Super-Skrulls getting too powerful without breaking their rule of keeping the superhero team away. Politically speaking, Rhodey is the best candidate to infiltrate the US government and help Gravik's false flag operation to kick off a global war, so it's not all just about Rhodey being weak enough to be a loophole. Secret Invasion actually revealed War Machine's real value, even as the Avengers have failed to really deliver on his potential, setting up an intriguing future story when the real Rhodey returns and has to clean up Nick Fury's mess once more.

New episodes of Secret Invasion air every Wednesday on Disney+.