The Marvel Cinematic Universe is holding out for a hero right now – Thanos’ reality-shaking attack against the Avengers at the end of Infinity War isn’t going to fix itself. What the MCU really needs is a cosmically-enhanced warrior to come and help sort everything out – and thankfully, one is on the way. The Captain Marvel movie is set to introduce Carol Danvers, a shining new hope set to take the franchise forward in Avengers: Endgame and beyond. Here’s what we know so far about Captain Marvel’s movie debut.
Read our in-depth guide to Captain Marvel’s comic book history here.
Empire's Captain Marvel issue is on sale now, going on set of the film in LA and talking to its star cast members. Order the issue online here{
Who Is Captain Marvel, And What Are Her Powers?
The comics history of Captain Marvel is even more convoluted than most – and you can read more in-depth about the whole shebang here. But in the interest of simplicity and brevity, the two you need to know about here are Carol Danvers and Mar-Vell. The latter was an alien of the Kree race and the first Captain Marvel (going under the human alter-ego/disguise of scientist Walter Lawson). The former was a US Air Force pilot who was Mar-Vell's sidekick for a while, but gained Mar-Vell's alien abilities when their DNA was fused because of, well... comic book reasons. The newly-powered Danvers had superhuman strength, could fly, and could absorb and re-channel energy. She was Ms. Marvel for a long time, going about her superheroics in a black swimsuit. But she got promoted to Captain in 2012.
Who Plays Captain Marvel?
Brie Larson signed up to play Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel in July 2016. The announcement was made at Comic-Con, where the official reason she was on-hand was to promote Kong: Skull Island. She said carrying a superhero franchise was never part of her game-plan, but she "couldn't deny the fact that this movie is everything I care about, everything that's progressive and important and meaningful, and a symbol I wished I could've had growing up."
What’s The Plot Of Captain Marvel?
Major plot points are under wraps for now, but there will be an origin story in there somewhere, going over the business already mentioned in which US Air Force Pilot Carol Danvers gains her superpowers from the alien Mar-Vell. However, we do know that this isn't a straight origin movie, and the the film will plunder elements from the comics' Kree-Skrull War plotline, with Earth caught in the middle of a conflict between the two alien races.
Feige has said that the '90s setting will allow a certain amount of homage to the '90s action movie genre, which isn't a stylistic place the MCU has visited before (he's specifically mentioned Terminator 2 as an influence and promised "cool street level fights, street level car chases, and fun stuff like that".) But there'll also be intergalactic sci-fi shenanigans. And the film will explain where Captain Marvel has been while the rest of the MCU has been happening, as well as setting her up as part of the final fight against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
What Is The Kree-Skrull War?
In real-world terms it's an epic Avengers storyline written by Roy Thomas in the 1970s. In story terms, in a nutshell far too small for the job, it involves the militaristic Kree (via Ronan's "Plan Atavus") trying to return the Planet Earth to a prehistoric state and use it as a base to fight their mortal enemies, the shapeshifting Skrulls.
The Skrulls, meanwhile, are already here in secret. One is disguised as a Senator pursuing the "Alien Activities Commission": a thinly veiled allusion to the McCarthy hearings. It's one of those Invasion Of The Bodysnatchers deals where you don't know who's real and who's been replaced (see also "Are they a Host?" in Westworld, and "Are they a Cylon?" in Battlestar: Galactica). That's likely, incidentally, to be a thread that continues past Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame and on into the fourth phase of the MCU.
Elsewhere in the comic version, Mar-Vell has a child with a Skrull princess, and this series is also where the romance between Scarlet Witch and Vision originally began.
Who Else Is In The Captain Marvel Cast?
Samuel L. Jackson plays Nick Fury
With Captain Marvel taking place in the 1990s, Samuel L. Jackson will be digitally de-aged for his entire performance in the film. He'll also have both of his eyes: the events of Captain Marvel are pre-eyepatch. He's working at S.H.I.E.L.D., but for now is effectly a desk grunt – read more about his role here.
Clark Gregg plays Phil Coulson
Clark Gregg, like Jackson, will be digitally youthened to play an Agent Coulson who's only just joined SHIELD. Gregg has suggested that this story might be the "first rodeo" that he referred to way back in Iron Man in 2008.
Ban Mendelsohn plays Talos
Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn is playing the green-skinned leader of the alien Skrulls. See him above in full make-up, and from promo images we know we'll see him in 'disguise' as regular Ben Mendelsohn too.
Lee Pace plays Ronan The Accuser
Reprising his role from Guardians of the Galaxy, Lee Pace is the Kree fanatic who, on that occasion, was freelancing for Thanos. Captain Marvel is set much earlier than that though, so we don't yet know what he's up to this time (although keep reading for possibilities).
Djimon Hounsou plays Korath
Like Pace, Djimon Hounsou is returning to play an earlier version of his Guardians character. He's another Kree mercenary, and Ronan's henchman. Hounsou is also in the DC movie Shazam! as The Wizard, meaning that he's in two different movies based on two different Captain Marvels. Are you following this?
Jude Law plays... unknown
Jude Law's role in the film is the subject of much debate – most rumour pins him down as Mar-Vell, but that's far from confirmed. All that Law himself has said is that he's the 'Leader of Starforce', the intergalactic team that Danvers first joins.
Gemma Chan plays Minn-Erva
Gemma Chan is another Kree: in this case a dodgy geneticist. In the comics, she once abducted the Hulk's sidekick Rick Jones to force him into human-Kree cross-breeding experiments. We're guessing this won't be a Captain Marvel plot point. She has also, however, had dealings in the comics with Ronan the Accuser, so that's probably a likely onscreen thing.
Annette Bening plays an undisclosed role
We don't yet know who Annette Bening plays, but she was officially cast in May 2018. Some reports suggest she's yet another scientist, but that's unconfirmed as of right now. Other announced cast members in undisclosed roles are Lashana Lynch, Algenis Perez Soto, Rune Temte, Mckenna Grace, Robert Kazinsky, Vik Sahay, DeWanda Wise and Colin Ford.
Goose the Cat
Yes, you're going to fall in love with this cat over the course of Captain Marvel. Here she's called 'Goose' – surely a Top Gun reference – though in the comics she's a) called Chewie, and b) not actually a cat but an alien known as a 'Flerken'. Carol Danvers' furry friend is ready to pounce and steal the entire show.
Where Can I Watch The Captain Marvel Trailer?
Watch the latest one right here:
Who Has Directed Captain Marvel?
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck landed the job of directing Captain Marvel in April 2017. The duo previously made Mississippi Grind and Half Nelson, and the TV series Billions. They feel like a good fit: another example of Marvel and Kevin Feige bringing indie sensibilities into their massive machine. See also Jon Favreau, James Gunn, Joe and Anthony Russo, and Jon Watts.
Who Has Written Captain Marvel?
Guardians of the Galaxy's Nicole Perlman and Inside Out's Meg LeFauve took the first cracks at the screenplay. They were then followed by Tomb Raider's Geneva Robertson-Dworet. GLOW's Carly Mensch and Liz Flahive have also been involved, as well as Boden and Fleck themselves.
Why Wasn't Captain Marvel In Avengers: Infinity War?
Marvel and Feige have been musing where to slot Danvers into the MCU for some time; she actually appeared in an early script draft of Age Of Ultron before the decision was made that the timing wasn't right. Feige says that Carol Danvers is the MCU's "most powerful hero by far... If you had the collector cards of the Marvel characters and you could see the power levels, she would be off the charts compared to anyone that we’ve previously introduced in a film." So it seems narratively logical that she was saved up for the endgame.
Danvers hasn’t even been glimpsed in the MCU so far, but her arrival was heralded in Avengers: Infinity War’s post-credit sequence. The scene saw Nick Fury send an emergency message to Danvers just before... that thing happened.
What Is Captain Marvel's Release Date?
Captain Marvel is due for release both in the UK and the US on 8 March 2019. Avengers: Endgame follows two months later on 3 May.
Read all about Captain Marvel in the latest issue of Empire, on sale now and available online here{