The following post contains SPOILERS for the first episode of Secret Invasion.
There are casualties in every war, and you had to expect that at least a few were going to come into Marvel’s Secret Assault series. But the new Marvel Cinematic Universe show didn’t waste much time wowing audiences; the season premiere ended with the unexpected death of Agent Maria Hill, a Marvel staple from the first Avengers movie more than ten years ago, played by Cobie Smulders.
It’s not guaranteed that death will remain permanent in comics, or in comic book movies, but at least for now, it looks like we won’t see Maria Hill on screen again. Smulders gave him an interview The Hollywood Reporter about her farewell to the MCU, and said she was surprised that it had been a secret until the show’s premiere, especially since Hill’s death was filmed on location in front of many things that more.
“There were a lot of people around,” Smulders said, “so, again, I’m surprised there wasn’t an image that went out. I guess that’s the respect that Marvel has earned over the last ten years, which is like, ‘Don’t spoil it for people.’ And nobody did, thankfully.”
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The character of Maria Hill was introduced to Marvel Comics in the mid-2000s. Created by Brian Michael Bendis and David Finch in the pages of The new Avengers, she was a new high-level SHIELD agent at a time when Nick Fury was removed from power in the agency. She remains a major supporting character in the comic books, and was added to the MCU in a similar role The Avengers. Smulders went on to play Hill in Agents of SHIELD, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Infinity Warand Endgameas well as in Spider-Man: Far From Home (although technically in that movie she was playing a Skrull pretending to be Maria Hill).
Smulders said after finishing her scenes for Secret Assault, she received gifts and champagne from Marvel. As for whether this is truly the end of her relationship with the MCU, she said, or if she could return in some way down the line, Smulders said “I’ll always answer the call, but I don’t know I have what they have planned. future productions. But I believe that anything is possible in diversity.”
new sections of Secret Assault premiere on Wednesday on Disney +.
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