Marvel's 'Secret Invasion' finally puts Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Nick Fury has been Marvel’s badass superhero whisperer since his debut in “Iron Man” in 2008. But Samuel L. Jackson’s Agent of SHIELD has been off-world since “Avengers: Endgame” four years ago. Well, he’s back and, for the first time, in the spotlight in “Secret Invasion,” a suspenseful new series teeming with potential that premieres Wednesday, June 21 on Disney+.

• Subscribe to Disney+ and watch Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” starting June 21

The show serves as a sequel/spinoff to 2019′s “Captain Marvel,” so some homework is required. Set in 1995, that movie ended with Fury and Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, mentioned but not seen in the first two episodes made available to critics in advance, promising to find Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) and his people of shapeshifting aliens known as the Skrulls a new home planet.

Picking up nearly 30 years later, the amicable and pragmatic Talos, along with CIA agent Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) and SHIELD’s Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), uncover a clandestine plot by a group of Skrull insurgents. Led by the ruthless Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and aided by G’iah (Emilia Clarke), Talos’ disillusioned daughter, the extremists mean to draw the United States and Russia into World War III, creating a diversion for the deceptive, body-borrowing Skrulls to take over Earth. The only person who can solve this mess is the one who created it: Fury.

“Secret Invasion” is the eighth MCU live-action series created for Disney+. The previous seven have intentionally spanned a variety of genres as the studio looked to extend its reach and lay the groundwork for its future. There’s been a psychological thriller (“Moon Knight”), a trippy multiverse adventure (“Loki”), a coming-of-age teen superhero origin story (“Ms. Marvel”), a legal dramedy with a feminist sensibility (“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”), etc.,

Think of “Secret Invasion” as Marvel’s answer to Star Wars’ “Andor.” The series is gritty, more grounded and populated with complex characters. Jackson’s Fury is front and center, though, he’s returned to Earth a shadow of his former straight-talking, eyepatch-wearing self. Here, he’s dealing with feelings of inadequacy and malaise after not being able to stop Thanos and subsequently losing five years of his life during The Blip. On top of that, he wrestles with the guilt of exploiting and betraying the Skrulls. The one thing keeping him going is -- spoiler alert -- the love of his wife. Yes, friends, Nick Fury has a personal life and I’m here for it!

As for Talos, he’s torn. Trust his longtime friend Fury or fight for his people? G’iah is conflicted, too, caught in the middle between loyalty to her father and her own ambition. You can even find shades of gray in Gravik, at least until the full extent of his sinister plan is revealed.

Throw them all in a powder keg of a situation where spies aren’t just everywhere, they can look like anybody (a stranger, a friend, a world leader or two), season it a timely and nuanced (clumsy?) allegory about the politics of refugee resettlement, and you’ve got the makings of a twisty, old-school conspiracy thriller but with green-skinned reptilian humanoids.

Equally promising, the series caters not to the young MCU fans who became hooked to the franchise 15 years ago, but to the adults they’ve become. So, don’t expect the Avengers to swoop in and save the day or the camera to cut away when a cheeky MI6 agent played by Olivia Colman (a delight as usual) brutally tortures a prisoner. The show is more methodical in its approach, and its heroes don’t wear capes. The vibe is more tension and realism, less action and fantasy.

The result is an alluring premise with high stakes. Superheroing can be a messy business, and its ramifications are often more complicated than a two-hour movie can explore. Still, it remains to be seen whether or not showrunner Kyle Bradstreet (“Mr. Robot”) can keep things exciting and viewers invested over the course of the six-episode run, or if the series proves to be nothing more than setup for some cog down the line in the big Marvel machine. (I’m looking at you, “Hawkeye.”) This much is certain: intriguing performances anchored by the perpetually cool Jackson, the always interesting Mendelsohn and Clarke, captivating as ever, instantly make “Secret Invasion” worth watching.

But consider yourself warned. The ending of the first episode just might wreck you.

Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” premieres exclusively on Disney+ on June 21 with new episodes released every Wednesday through July 26.