their leader, Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) who "spearheads a Skrull invasion of Earth" as he disguises himself as a S.H.I.E.L.D ally.
However, the introduction of the Skrulls to the MCU means so much more than being the primary villains of Captain Marvel. Comic book readers know the threat they pose in the franchise, considering their ability to change their appearance and blend in without any known ways of being detected. In print, their existence led to the Secret Invasion storyline - something that many fans believe will be carried over to the big screen in the future.
Related: Captain Marvel: Carol Danvers Is Presumed Dead After Her Origin
Speaking with a group of press people including Screen Rant during the Captain Marvel set visit, Schwartz was asked about the possibility of Secret Invasion in the MCU with the impending introduction of the Skrulls in the franchise. But while he's affirmative with regard to the idea, itting that the movie could lay the groundwork for the arc to come to fruition on the big screen, he added that they could be tweaking how it's handled, particularly with how the Skrull invasion caused political paranoia in print.
“Yes, we talked about Secret Invasion. I wouldn’t go into this movie saying, ‘Which one of these superheroes is a Skrull?’ Because Carol is more or less the first superhero to show up on Earth. But are we planting seeds for future movies? Always.”
“If you’re talking about kind of the [H. Warren] Craddick Anti-Superhero Act stuff from the comics, not really. There is a paranoia element that’s a little bit different from what’s in that specific storyline, but it’s not kind of related to the Anti-Superhero who could be a Skrull comic stuff. What I’d say about the Kree-Skrull War overall is it’s much more of a kind of backdrop and mythological underpinning for the movie than it is a direct lift of that plot like Civil War was.”
It's probably for the best to use the Secret Invasion storyline as an over-arching narrative instead of directly adapting it into a single movie. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo, alongside writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, were surprisingly able to find a way to condense the Civil War arc in one film without losing its core value, despite snipping a lot of its edges. But, tackling the Secret Invasion wouldn't only shake-up the current status quo, it would also cast doubt on everything that happened in the MCU since Skrulls arrived on Earth.
However, before everyone gets really excited for the possibility of Secret Invasion coming to the MCU, it's safe to say that Captain Marvel won't include any explicit alluding to it, so as not to take away the focus from the film's core story - Carol Danvers' origin. Further, it's also too early to begin a brand new conflict when the debacle with Thanos isn't even resolved yet. If anything, Marvel Studios has always been good with subtle referencing, so that's most likely what they're going to do with regard to the Skrulls' future in the franchise.
