Rumors about Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. characters properly joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe have circulated since the landmark Marvel TV show ended five years ago. Chloe Bennet’s Daisy Johnson / Quake has frequently been named in those rumors, but none have been anything other than gossip. With Bennet scheduled to appear at New York Comic Con for an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reunion panel in October, speculation about a potential return for Daisy has ramped up.
Over the weekend, Bennet was at Dragon Con 2025, where she participated in a panel with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. costar Jeff Ward. During the event, she was asked about a return to Marvel and Secret Invasion, a Disney Plus streaming show she was heavily rumored to be in. Bennet’s Quake wasn’t in the six-episode Marvel miniseries from 2023, but the Chicago native mentioned her desire to have been part of it, even admitting it “probably would’ve been better” if she were in it.
Chloe is so done with the secret invasion questions 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/NFbPJvAxQs
— stephanie (@davinaclaires) August 31, 2025
Seeing Daisy back and as part of the MCU’s take on Secret Invasion could have been exciting. It would have been rewarding for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans to see her make her official MCU debut. Her appearance alone could have made the show more enjoyable for those who just wish to see her again. But even Quake and her impressive Inhuman powers wouldn’t have made the Disney+ streaming series into an effective story.
Daisy Johnson’s role in Marvel Comics’s Secret Invasion
The rumors about Daisy being in Secret Invasion were more than wanting the character to be in more Marvel projects. Although they were just rumors, they weren’t completely dismissed by fans because Daisy is part of the Marvel Comics Secret Invasion event. In the comics, Daisy is a pupil of Nick Fury, and he recruits her to fight and help stop the Skrull invasion. Given how the MCU centered Secret Invasion around Samuel L. Jackson’s Fury, including Daisy in the show wouldn’t have been absurd.
The issue, however, would have been making her inclusion in the mini-series relevant, because Daisy’s comics origin and narratives are different from how she was adapted for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. In the MCU, Maria Hill fills the protégé, right-hand woman role for Nick Fury, and she was featured in Marvel Studios’s take on Secret Invasion — albeit not for long. But the void Maria left could have been a good opportunity for Daisy to step in and work on defeating the Skrulls.
How Daisy Johnson could have been used in the MCU’s Secret Invasion
Daisy was last seen in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. finale on a space mission with her man-out-of-time boyfriend, Daniel Sousa, and her sister, Kora. Considering how Fury was in charge of the S.A.B.E.R. space station, having him cross paths with Daisy and her Astro Ambassadors team somewhere along the line would have been simple. Fury could have developed a proper professional relationship with them all — or, at the least, Daisy. Because, even though Fury had a few cameos on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., he never interacted with Daisy. Fury, however, trusts Phil Coulson, and Coulson would have a plethora of great things to say about Daisy, who was like a daughter to him.
From there, Fury could have sought Daisy’s help with the Skrull invasion, and he would have good reason to. The Skrull takeover wouldn’t have been the first time Daisy would have dealt with impostors.
In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 4, Coulson’s S.H.I.E.L.D. team deals with Life-Model Decoys who take over the agents’ lives. Melinda May is the first S.H.I.E.L.D. agent replaced with an LMD, and it goes unnoticed for a few episodes. As the season progresses, other agents on Coulson’s team are switched out with LMDs. Daisy is never successfully replaced with an LMD, but she fights to end a further LMD takeover. Her battle with LMDs in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode 4x15: “Self Control” is a standout for Quake fights across the entire series. Fighting prowess aside, Daisy’s skills as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and hacker would also make her more of an asset.
Knowing that, Daisy had the potential to be a worthwhile addition to the show. But including her could have made Secret Invasion better only if the direction of miniseries was improved. Otherwise, Daisy would have just been in a show that fell short of what it needed to be.
The MCU’s Secret Invasion never lived up to its potential
For a show about an alien invasion, Secret Invasion failed to capture the panic, paranoia, and impact of such an event. Killing off Maria Hill and fridging her so soon kick-started the series with sheer shock and undeniable drama, but the show never truly capitalized on the bar her death set. Maria’s death sets the tone for how serious the Skrull invasion is, because a Fury impersonator is the one who kills her. The story, however, comes off as too centralized and generic for what’s supposed to be an attempted worldwide takeover by the Skrulls. The show tries to capture the essence of what an invasion would be and the chaos it would cause, but it comes off as surface-level storytelling.
Having world leaders and government figures replaced by Skrulls made sense, but these switches didn’t feel like a legitimate threat to the MCU that has been built up since 2008. How did replacing James Rhodes and Everett Ross affect the larger MCU? Rhodes, in particular, was an Avenger, so it’s tough to believe he wouldn’t have used his influence with any heroes to promote the Skrull invasion. Meanwhile, Ross has a good relationship with the Wakandans, but his Skrull impostor never tries to use that to their advantage.
Using established characters was a smart move because the familiarity should heighten the tension of Secret Invasion. The issue, however, is that new characters were used more to drive the story. But, in the end, those characters and their plotlines didn’t amount to much regardless of the roles they played in stopping the invasion.
Beyond that, Fury’s lack of skepticism in Secret Invasion is confusing. He sees firsthand that a Skrull impersonating him fools Maria, leading to her death. But, after that, he never really questions the people he’s dealing with. In Captain Marvel, Fury has an entire conversation with Carol Danvers about how to prove yourself against Skrulls. It’s how he knew, later on, to question his boss, who was actually the Skrull Talos. And yet Fury doesn’t do the same throughout Secret Invasion.
The LMD takeover in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. versus the Skrull takeover in Secret Invasion
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans have referred to the LMD storyline in season 4 as an example of how to do an effective invasion storyline in the MCU. The LMD takeover is a much smaller scale than the Skrull invasion. However, what sets the LMD takeover apart are the emotional stakes and impact it has in universe.
Over the course of season 4, Coulson, May, Jeffrey Mace, Leo Fitz and Alphonso Mackenzie are all replaced by LMDs. Daisy and Jemma Simmons are the two primary agents who aren’t switched out, and their fright and concern about the situation sets the baseline for the terror the storyline presents. They have to question themselves and each other. They have to take out the LMDs impersonating their teammates. They have to figure out who else at the Playground has been replaced and who they can still trust. They have to work together to save the teammates who were switched out.
The scene when Daisy and Simmons confront each other, questioning if either is an LMD, captures the emotional intensity of the takeover. The fear and paranoia are so high they’re both on edge. The relief upon learning that both of them are still their human selves is intense and makes them cry. Those emotional stakes are what make the LMD/Framework storyline in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so well-done. The emotional investment is undeniable and makes the LMDs feel like a massive threat.
The LMD takeover leads to the Framework arc, which is a key component that makes the LMD storyline so effective. It shows how the LMD takeover will drastically affect the world, even though only S.H.I.E.L.D. agents have been replaced. Secret Invasion never teases how bad a Skrull takeover would be, because the show doesn’t address it in an in-depth manner. As such, the Skrull invasion doesn’t feel as detrimental, and the show doesn’t live up to what it could have been.