Secret Invasion’s G’iah: MCU’s Most Powerful Character – Implications and Future

Effects of The Harvest may only last for a while.

The six part spy thriller miniseries (Secret Invasion) that counts as the latest endeavour by the MCU in what has since become a useful medium for the gargantuan comic book franchise to exploit in order to extend itself has finally come to an end. With the finale boasting a showdown unlike anything ever seen in the MCU thus far.

In particular, the showdown between G’iah and Gravik — both of whom were imbued with an array of superpowers from a variety of entities within the far-reaching cinematic universe.

While it is mostly bewildering to behold, the visual spectacle of the sequence holds up to the standards expected of it. A major gripe many seem to have with The Harvest is the fact that its existence alone, negates Fury’s moral growth throughout the franchise.

In that, the creation of The Harvest harkens back to Fury’s overenthusiatic creation of Project: Insight from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Hence, if the creation of The Harvest is anything like Project: Insight, then it could mean that the MCU has backed themselves into a [hypothetical] corner of story inconsistencies.

But perhaps, if the creation of The Harvest was another situation entirely, only time will tell.

The Harvest being a cocktail of superpowers from various MCU entities, both heroic and villainous means that the wielder of such in their system is automatically the most powerful entity within the MCU. And such honour now currently resides with G’iah. With this, it obviously feels like Marvel Studios holds actress, Emilia Clarke in high esteem and as such her character could definitely be a major player in the franchise — moving forward.

But it’s hard to think that one person, be they an ally, should possess the powers of the entire MCU and that this wouldn’t create ripple effects. Which is why if Fury has indeed learned anything from his wealth of experience. It’s that it’s not ideal for any one person/entity to wield so much power.

Therefore it is assumed the superspy has a failsafe for The Harvest should anything go wrong. A failsafe that comes to mind is the possibility that the superpowered effects of The Harvest are not permanent.

While it is somewhat confirmed even after the showdown between G’iah and Gravik — of which the former emerges triumphant, that she (G’iah) still possesses the abilities The Harvest granted her. This shouldn’t be taken at face value that G’iah will forever remain the most powerful character in the MCU.

As this particular plot point still has a lot of explaining to do to justify its existence. Since Secret Invasion clearly didn’t want such burden.

Hence, a smart move would be to ensure that the effects of The Harvest aren’t long lasting. Whether it be a consolation if such power were to get into the wrong hands or the original wielder becomes power hungry. Any of such scenerios can then be mitigated. As opposed to having no failsafe whatsoever.

Beyond this though, granting permanence to the abilities of The Harvest is not realistic — at least from a financial perspective. Because it could be considered that Secret Invasion ended up amassing the figure it did for its confirmed budget — amongst other things, due to the superpowered sequence. Which is courtesy of The Harvest.

If Marvel Studios were to make The Harvest’s effects permanent or even long lasting. And Emilia Clarke’s G’iah was then slated for major appearances across various projects. Meaning that her superpowers would potentially come into play in those projects. This could then see the budget for those projects double just because a character possesses one too many superpowers.

And with Studios across Hollywood (including Disney) constantly looking to cut costs [of production] for projects under their banner — giving permanence to such a pricy situation may not be sustainable.

Then there’s the fact that the series as a whole greatly underperformed with critics as well as suffered from low viewership status. It’s then quite safe to say that if the series had been a theatrical affair. It probably would have also underperformed at the box office [judging by all the negativity currently surrounding it]. And hence wouldn’t have given the Studio returns on their investment.

To put it simply, G’iah’s status as MCU’s most powerful character feels like a timed affair. Because as the saying goes, “absolute power corrupts”

But while it remains to be seen, one can only hope the MCU delivers up a good enough reason for taking such direction in the first place. However, with all the uncertainty surrounding the topic, one thing seems certain and that is, Emilia’s tenure in the MCU is far from over.

As to where her character might pop up next, the speculation is the upcoming Thunderbolts movie. But as always, we’ll just have to wait and see.

All Episodes of Secret Invasion have been released and are available for download or streaming.

Thunderbolts is set for release in Cinemas December 20, 2024.