DC may have beaten Marvel out of the gate with Wonder Woman, but Marvel is finally on track to release its first female-led movie: Captain Marvel. Starring Brie Larson as the Air Force pilot Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel is part of a new generation of heroes after the original Avengers team.
The second trailer arrived on Dec. 3, and it really packs a punch. Along with a cute cameo from Carol Danvers’ cat (renamed from Chewie to Goose, after the Top Gun character), it gives more details on how Captain Marvel went from being an Air Force pilot to an amnesiac alien hero. Oh, and it confirms that the old lady she beat up in the first trailer is definitely an alien in disguise. What a relief, right?
The Captain Marvel press campaign is in full swing now, with several TV spots and teasers now online. The latest arrived during the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, namechecking Carol Danvers’ unofficial motto: “Higher, further, faster.”
Here’s everything else we know about the Captain Marvel movie,so far.
Captain Marvel cast
Cast in 2016, Room actress Brie Larson spent months mulling the decision to become Marvel’s first female headliner. She eventually decided to accept the role because “it was a chance to tell a story on the largest scale possible.”
Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One, Ready Player One) is playing the Skrull leader Talos, a green-skinned alien who shapeshifts into a human appearance while on Earth. Jude Law plays Carol’s mentor and the leader of the Starforce team, which includes Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians) as Minn-Erva and Djimon Hounsou as Korath (previously seen in Guardians of the Galaxy).
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Returning characters include Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser (a high-ranking Kree warrior), Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. Since Captain Marvel takes place in the 1990s, Clark Gregg and Samuel L. Jackson will both be aged down using CGI – with Nick Fury losing his distinctive eyepatch.
English actress Lashana Lynch, who starred in the ABC show Still Star-Crossed, replaced DeWanda Wise in the role of Maria Rambeau. Previously assumed to be Monica Rambeau (aka the superhero known variously as Captain Marvel, Pulsar, and Photon), Maria may actually be Monica’s mother, setting the scene for Monica to arrive in a later movie. EW described Maria Rambeau as an Air Force pilot, single mom, and friend to Carol Danvers.
Annette Bening also joined the cast in an undisclosed role, thought to be some kind of scientist.
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Captain Marvel plot
Taking inspiration from the comics, Captain Marvel will take its hero into space. We know that she’ll begin the movie as Jude Law’s protege in the alien super-team Starforce (think Seal Team Six, but in space), but she’ll eventually return to Earth to confront the Skrull invasion. This involves the Skrull Talos infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. in disguise.
The 1990s timeline raises some questions about where Captain Marvel was during the “later” Marvel movies—but producer Kevin Feige has already hinted at the answer.
“The key is… ‘out there,’” he told io9, indicating that Carol Danvers may be in space during the 2010s era of the Avengers. Does that mean she’ll be middle-aged by the time she meets the other Marvel characters? We’re guessing no. Expect some kind of timewarp shenanigans, explaining why Carol Danvers is still young from the 1990s to the present day.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, longtime Marvel star Clark Gregg said that Captain Marvel will also be an origin story of sorts for Agent Coulson. “He’s a bit of a new guy in S.H.I.E.L.D. He’s a lot younger. It’s the earliest we will have seen him, so when he says, ‘Mr. Stark, this isn’t my first rodeo’ in Iron Man, this is maybe the rodeo he’s talking about.” He also hinted that the movie will feature a soundtrack to fit its 1990s timeframe, following in the footsteps of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Captain Marvel news
In the comics, Carol Danvers gets her superpowers when a Kree device malfunctions and explodes. The Kree were introduced in Guardians of the Galaxy, so it may help that Captain Marvel’s original screenplay was co-written by Guardians scribe Nicole Perlman, working with Meg LeFauve of Pixar’s Inside Out. They were replaced in August 2017 by Geneva Robertson-Dworet, who wrote the new Tomb Raider reboot.
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, known for directing Ryan Gosling to stardom on Half-Nelson, were announced as the directors for the film. They are known for making smaller movies with a more intimate, human touch. That coupled with Larson’s genuine, heartfelt sensibilities will likely bring a unique combination of raw, human intimacy to the Captain Marvel movie.
Star Brie Larson confirmed on Twitter that Captain Marvel wrapped principal photography on July 6.
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In preparation for the role, Brie Larson visited an Air Force base where she met up with some pilots. In late January she posted a photo of herself wearing a flight suit, captioned “Learning how to fly.”
Taking inspiration from the iconic costume designed by Jamie McKelvie, we got our first official look at the character from Entertainment Weekly on Sept. 5, 2018.
Speaking to EW, Larson described Carol Danvers an aggressive, “in your face” character with a bit of a temper. “She’s also quick to jump to things, which makes her amazing in battle because she’s the first one out there and doesn’t always wait for orders.”
EW also revealed that the movie skips Captain Marvel’s origin story, beginning with Carol as an established member of Starforce, an alien military squad led by Jude Law. This sets up an intergalactic war between the Kree (the aliens from Carol’s Starforce team) and their enemies the Skrulls, who plan to attack Earth.
Captain Marvel music
Captain Marvel’s music will be scored by composer Pinar Toprak, who revealed the news on her Instagram. “It’s an incredible honor to be a part of the Marvel Universe,” Toprak wrote. “So many thoughts racing through my head. And the main one is gratitude.”
This is another step forward in the film’s drive for gender representation because composing is one of the most male-dominated professions in Hollywood. Between 2014 and 2016, just 1-2% of composers working on the top 250 movies were female. If you’re not a voracious cinema-goer, there’s a decent chance you’ve never heard an original score written by a woman.
For a sample of Pinar Toprak’s work, we recommend checking out her 2017 piece “Echoes of Battle,” which is exactly the kind of heart-pumping music you’d hope to hear in the background of a superhero action scene.
Captain Marvel movie trailer
Here’s the first trailer, posted in September 2018:
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Captain Marvel movie release date
Captain Marvel was originally slated for July 6, 2018, until it was pushed back to March 8, 2019. It marks the first time Marvel has released a superhero movie in March, fitting for Marvel’s “biggest female hero.”
Editor’s note: This article is regularly updated for relevance.
