Secret Invasion's Kingsley Ben-Adir: Gravik Wants To Inflict 'Pain And Suffering' — All As Fury And Talos Watch
As made brutally clear at the end of the Secret Invasion series premiere, Gravik the Skrull's beef is a very personal one, with both Nick Fury and Talos.
As Fury, Talos and Maria Hill (played by Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn and Cobie Smulders) scrambled, unsuccessfully, to thwart the rebel Skrull group's bombing of a well-attended Unity Day celebration in a Moscow square, not once but twice did Gravik stare down Fury — before triggering the first explosions, and then after shooting Maria dead, in cold blood, while shapeshifted into her old S.H.I.E.L.D. boss.
"He wants to inflict as much pain and misery and suffering on anyone and anything, as Nick Fury and Talos witness it," says Kingsley Ben-Adir (High Fidelity, The OA), making his MCU debut as Gravik. "That's what he's about, to sum him up in a nutshell. He trusts no one, hates everyone and everything."
At least, that is Gravik's present-day mentality, as formed and hardened over decades. But in Secret Invasion Episode 2 (streaming Wednesday, June 28), viewers will get flashbacks to the mid-1990s, to see why exactly Fury (played by a de-aged Jackson a la Captain Marvel) and Talos left Gravik feeling so betrayed.
Gravik is a full-on "sociopath" by the time we met him that first episode, says Ben-Adir. "And then we get to understand when and how he got there."
As evidenced in Episode 1 already, "This is a guy who not only wants to cause chaos, but he wants Nick and Talos to see it as it's happening," says the Skrull's portrayer. "He wants them to know that it's him who is doing it, and that to me was a huge part of the complexity" of the villainous character. "He's not just trying to blow stuff up; he wants to do it as they're seeing it. And he wants to see them see it."
"You suffer how I suffered" is Gravik's mantra of sorts, the British actor says.
And to hear Ben-Adir tell it, there is no line that Gravik won't cross in pursing his grand vendetta — such as letting Maria Hill die thinking that a longtime colleague had betrayed and killed her.
"He's so far gone...," Ben-Adir avows. "I don't know what'd you have to do to bring him back."
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