How Secret Invasion Episode 4 Shot That Insane Action Scene With Practical Effects

Spoiler warning: The following article contains full spoilers for Marvel’s Secret Invasion.

Editor’s note: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike, which was called on July 13.

Marvel’s Secret Invasion upped the ante this week as they blew up the President.

A thrilling action sequence in Secret Invasion Episode 4 saw President Ritson under attack from Gravik and his fellow Skrull rebels – trying to kill the President while disguised as Russian soldiers.

During an interview with IGN, actor Dermot Mulroney, who played President Ritson, revealed that Marvel used practical effects to blow him up.

“There’s one sequence where I’m in the car after the attack, and I’m hanging there, but there’s also a moment where I’m actually spinning around. That was its own device – it’s called a gimbal, they build it to car size, and then they just push a button, and round we go.”

Mulroney himself shot the scene, which saw Ritson’s armored SUV hit by a missile.

“We had the President and about three or four cameras,” he said. “So, I don’t know how much of that they used, but I know that’s in that edit – after the missile strikes that missile-proof SUV that I’m traveling in.”

“I would say, to the credit of the stunt crew, it was all extremely safe,” he added. “They had organized it so many times and tested it.”

The brutal attack sees President Ritson knocked unconscious – hanging upside down in his SUV while Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) attempt a daring rescue.

It’s a hugely impressive action sequence – even more so knowing that it was accomplished using practical effects.

“The attack has a much more grounded feel in that it’s actual helicopters,” he explained. “Nobody’s flying or punching through buildings with their fist. It’s all practical stuff that could really happen. So, it frames this Marvel entity as slightly different from other things. It’s a great feeling.”

However, I asked Mulroney if he was disappointed to have been unconscious for most of it:

“There was nothing disappointing about my involvement in this shot,” he laughed. “It was maybe the first day that I worked with Samuel L. Jackson. It was the dream come true right there. Even if I am hanging upside-down in an exploded SUV in a mud puddle, I was there with Samuel, so it was well worth it and it was a small part of what turns out to be a massive sequence.”

“It might be the biggest action sequence any Marvel series has seen yet,” he added. “It certainly will stand the test of time – the amazing attack on the President’s motorcade.”

IGN’s Secret Invasion debut review gave it 7/10 and said: “Secret Invasion is a welcome and solid return for the MCU’s lesser-used gritty espionage template, even if its first two episodes lack the sense of fear that it really needs.”

Want to read more about Secret Invasion? Check out why Secret Invasion fans are freaking out about a big reveal as well as why Emilia Clarke insists that green screen acting is still acting.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.