Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
CAPTAIN MARVEL
Starring Brie Larson (Vers / Carol Danvers), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Ben Mendelsohn (Talos / Director Keller), Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau), Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Annette Bening (Mar-Vell / Doctor Wendy Lawson / The Supreme Intelligence), Jude Law (Yon-Rogg), Lee Pace (Ronan), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), and Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva) with a special appearance by Stan Lee and a post-credits scene featuring Chris Evans as Steve Rogers, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and Don Cheadle as James Rhodes
Directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden
Produced by Kevin Feige
Written by Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Music By Pinar Toprak
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours and 4 minutes
World Premier: March 4, 2019, the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California
Opening Weekend Box Office: $153 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $1.1 billion
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 79%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Memorable Captain Marvel Quotes
“… I [had been] very much living in a vacuum when it came to what these movies mean to people and the actual fandom that goes along with it. Doing that [Captain Marvel] announcement on the [San Diego] Comic Con stage I will never forget for the rest of my life.” – Brie Larson
“[Comic books] were always something interesting to me. But simultaneously, I was really interested in female depiction in comics, which is not always kind – or realistic – at all. You see a lot of those covers, and you can somehow see their boobs and their butt at the same time. So, I’ve always had this complicated relationship with comics, in that way of loving the inspiration that comes with them, but at times, feeling like that aspiration is something that’s totally out of reach.” – Brie Larsen
“This iteration of Captain Marvel is a unique one. Her history in the comics is complicated and has gone through many iterations. And I feel like we were really able to pick through and take the best of the best to create something unique and impactful.” – Mary Livanos
“… The opportunity to design a character from the ground up, that little girls can look up to and emulate, is a really cool opportunity.” – Mary Livanos
Kelly Sue [Deconnick] had a take on Carol [Danvers] that really became one of the things that got us super excited about the movie. So, it became really natural to talk to her about how she saw the character, or what her foundational principles were in writing. As that relationship developed, it became really natural for us to use her as a North Star and a sounding board.” – Jonathan Schwartz
“Knowing what it feels like when you’re like, pulling Gs and doing an actual maneuver – how hard it is to breathe, how it kind of pushes your body against the back of the seat – that was definitely super helpful.” – Anna Boden on the experience of going up in an actual F-16 Fighting Falcon jet courtesy of the United States Air Force and how that impacted Captain Marvel.
“I think the thing that was important to all of us was that this wasn’t a perfect superhero. That’s something that Marvel [Studios] does really well with all of their heroes. But being their first female-led superhero movie, it was important that she wasn’t just a perfect woman – that she had flaws. That she was scrappy. And that she was conflicted and complicated. That was something we tried to all hold onto in the process, through various conversations … And I think it came easily. I mean, our background as character-driven filmmakers is what draws us to any character. We’re not interested in telling stories about perfect people. We’re interested in messy, flawed human beings.” – Anna Boden
“[The Skrulls were] something we thought we’d have to calibrate even more for audiences, however, because of Ben Mendelsohn, and because he’s so endearing as Talos – he’s so humorous and so unexpected for what a big, green-faced alien would be – the audience latched onto him. When he reunited with his family, you could feel audiences emotionally connecting to these green aliens in a way that is always my favorite thing – when you get people to connect with a creature, or something that you wouldn’t typically think you could connect with.” – Kevin Feige on going against the stereotype of establishing the shapeshifting, somewhat monstrous extraterrestrial Skrulls as the villains of Captain Marvel
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Captain Marvel Facts
On October 28, 2014, Marvel Studios presented an impromptu Phase Three Slate reveal at the El Capitan Theater in Los Angeles, California, where Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced Captain Marvel as one of nine Marvel Studios films in active development. Captain Marvel was given a release date of July 6, 2018.
On February 9, 2015, Marvel Studios announced that a deal had been reached with Sony Pictures that would bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Spider-Man debuting in Captain America: Civil War before being featured in a solo Spider-Man film that would be produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Sony Pictures. The film that would be dubbed Spider-Man: Homecoming would take the July-2017 theatrical release slot that had been previously designated for Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok. This inspired several other release date shifts, with Captain Marvel moving to November 2, 2018, which had previously been assigned to Inhumans.
At the end of 2015 and following Marvel Studios’ split from Marvel Entertainment on August 31, 2015, Marvel Studios shuffled their Phase Three Slate yet again, with the addition of Ant-Man and The Wasp which took Captain Marvel‘s initial July 6, 2018, release slot. Captain Marvel was therefore moved to March 8, 2019, and Inhumans was altogether scrapped, as this was never part of Kevin Feige’s vision for the MCU, but rather a film that was insisted upon by Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, who no longer had any say in Marvel Studios’ creative process.
On July 23, 2016, at San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige announced 26-year-old actress Brie Larsen as the MCU’s Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel.
Nearly 1-year later on July 22, 2016, Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic Con where Kevin Feige confirmed that Captain Marvel would take place during the 1990’s, would feature Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury and would feature the shape-shifting extraterrestrial race known as The Skrulls from Marvel Comics.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Captain Marvel was based largely on the 2012, 17-issue Captain Marvel series that was written by Kelly Sue Deconnick. This series (part of Marvel Entertainment’s Marvel Now initiative) re-imagined the Carol Danvers character with shorter hair and a military-looking costume that was far less revealing than her traditional superhero outfit. She also gave Danvers the moniker of “Captain Marvel”, which had originally been designated to a male Kree hero dubbed Mar-Vell in the Marvel comics. In the original comics, Danvers is an associate of Mar-Vell (who is operating on Earth under the alias of Doctor Walter Lawson) and receives physical enhancements from Mar-Vell during the explosion of a powerful device which transformed her into a Kree / human hybrid. Mar-Vell ends up saving her life after which she emerges as the superhero known as Ms. Marvel. Appropriately, Kelly Sue Deconnick has a cameo appearance in Captain Marvel.
Within the comic book industry, Carol Danvers / Ms. Marvel was seen as an icon of the feminist movement during the 1970’s. She went on to join The Avengers and has operated under the superhero titles of both Binary and Warbird. Carol was a featured part of Brian Michael Bendis’ Alias series that revolved around the Jessica Jones character, who was introduced into the MCU in 2015 as the titular character of Marvel Television’s Jessica Jones: Season One. Carol in fact (in the comics) worked to hook Jessica up with Scott Lang / Ant-Man! After being left on the Avengers sidelines in Bendis’ New Avengers series, Carol was first referred to as “Captain Marvel” in the Marvel Alternate Reality Event Series House of M where she was a superhero celebrity in the new world created by Wanda Maximoff / The Scarlet Witch. From there, Carol had a prominent role in Bendis’ Secret Invasion Event Series that revolved around The Skrulls’ infiltration of Earth. That Event Series saw S.H.I.E.L.D. fall and the villainous Norman Osborn established as the Director of H.A.M.M.E.R. Osborn created a team of Dark Avengers, with the character Moonstone becoming Osborn’s “Ms. Marvel.” Danvers meanwhile at this point hooked-up with The New Avengers. Danvers would eventually reclaim the mantle of “Ms. Marvel” from Moonstone and would close out the decade as one of Marvel Entertainment’s most influential female superheroes.
The Skrulls are traditionally a villainous race within the Marvel comics. They were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962 and were a featured part of the legendary Kree-Skrull War and the 2008 Marvel Event Series Secret Invasion (loosely adapted by Marvel Studios in the 2021 Disney+ series: Secret Invasion, which serves as a sort of sequel to Captain Marvel)). The Skrulls’ shape-shifting abilities make them especially dangerous, as they are able to covertly assume the identities of literally anyone by copying their physical looks and voices and even accessing a select portion of their memories.
In the Marvel comics, Carol Danvers’ cat (Flerken) is actually named “Chewie” in honor of the Chewbacca character from the Star Wars films. In Captain Marvel, the cat is named “Goose” in honor of a character in the motion picture Top Gun.
Actress Brie Larsen trained for 4-hours a day over the course of 9-months to get herself into superhero shape. She learned judo, boxing, and wrestling, and also visited Nellis Air Force Base where she met with active-duty airmen. The United States Department of Defense worked closely with Marvel Studios on the development of the film, even inviting Brie Larsen and Anna Boden for the opportunity to go up in an F-16 Fighting Falcon jet. Members of the Captain Marvel cast and crew were also able to meet Major General Jeannie M. Leavitt, who in 1993, became the first ever female fighter pilot in the United States Air Force; a real-life person whose attributes and accomplishments were incorporated into the Carol Danvers character.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Captain Marvel was first referenced during the post-credits scene of Avengers; Infinity War, which saw Nick Fury activate a pager in an attempt to contact Carol Danvers while he was in the process of being dusted. It was revealed in Captain Marvel that Danvers left this pager with Fury in the emergency event that he should ever need her, prior to leaving Earth in 1995 and venturing off to Space to take the fight to The Kree Empire and The Supreme Intelligence.
Captain Marvel commenced filming on March 19, 2018. Filming wrapped on July 6, 2018.
Captain Marvel was the first Marvel Studios feature length film to be headlined exclusively by a woman. Prior to the release of Captain Marvel, the closest an MCU theatrical release had gotten to being headlined by a female was 2018’s Ant-Man and The Wasp, with The Wasp being a woman, portrayed by Evangeline Lilly.
Captain Marvel was the first Marvel Studios film to be (co)-directed by a woman (Anna Boden).
Filming Captain Marvel was a complicated process for the Marvel Studios team, as it coincided with the filming of Avengers: Infinity War / Avengers: Endgame. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden had to frequently consult with Directors Joe Russo and Anthony Russo on how Brie Larsen’s Carol Danvers would be utilized in Endgame. Larsen in fact filmed scenes for Endgame before she ever started filming her own movie, which presented a challenge for The Russo’s in terms of executing the debuting character in a way that would not contradict anything that Fleck and Boden were doing with her. Brie Larsen’s first costume fitting as Carol Danvers in fact took place on the set of Infinity War.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
In Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers is revealed as the first superhero that the future Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury ever worked with, and the inspiration behind his “Avenger Initiative.” In 2008’s Iron Man, when Samuel L. Jackson’s Fury delivers the line “You think you’re the only superhero in the world?” to Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark during their iconic post-credits scene, the “other” superhero that Fury is referring to is Brie Larsen’s Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel.
In Captain Marvel, the Mar-Vell character that is traditionally a male in the Marvel comics was re-imagined to be a female; one of several recent gender swaps by Marvel Studios that included The Ancient One (in Doctor Strange) and The Ghost (in Ant-Man and The Wasp).
Captain Marvel marked Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson’s official return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe after being killed-off in 2012’s The Avengers. Captain Marvel marked Gregg’s 7th MCU appearance following appearances in 2008’s Iron Man, 2010’s Iron Man 2, 2011’s Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant, 2011’s Marvel One-Shot: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer, 2011’s Thor, and 2012’s The Avengers.
Stan Lee makes his 21st MCU cameo appearance for Marvel Studios in Captain Marvel. He filmed his scene before his death on November 12, 2018, at the age of 95. Stan can be seen on a bus reading the script for Kevin Smith’s 1995 film Mallrats and reciting / practicing his lines. Lee actually did have a cameo in Smith’s Mallrats, sharing a memorable scene with actor Jason Lee in which he discussed select Marvel Heroes.
In Captain Marvel, we see S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Project PEGASUS in its early stages of development. 2012’s The Avengers features Project PEGASUS as S.H.I.E.L.D. continues its study of the Cosmic Cube known as the Tesseract. We furthermore learn in Captain Marvel that the history of the Cosmic Cube known as Tesseract (one of the six Infinity Stones) was a bit more complicated than previously revealed. After being fished out of the Arctic by Howard Stark in 1945, Captain Marvel reveals that the Cube was later closely studied by Doctor Wendy Lawson (who was covertly a member of the Kree species) as part of Project PEGASUS.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Prior to Captain Marvel, Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury has always sported an eye patch within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from his debut in the post-credits scene of 2008’s Iron Man through his dusting during the credits of 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. In 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Fury utters the line, “Last time I trusted someone, I lost an eye.” That someone is revealed in Captain Marvel to be none other than Goose the Cat (a Flerken) who scratches Fury’s eye, permanently damaging the retina of the future Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The name “Captain Marvel” is never audibly spoken in Captain Marvel. Tom Holland’s Peter Parker would however refer to Carol Danvers as “Captain Marvel” in Marvel Studios’ and Sony Pictures’ 2019 film Spider-Man: Far From Home.
The first trailer for Captain Marvel was released on September 18, 2018.
Following his passing at the age of 95 on November 12, 2018, the memory of the legendary Stan Lee was honored at the beginning of Captain Marvel with the traditional Marvel Studios logo montage being replaced with Lee’s various MCU cameos.
A second trailer for Captain Marvel debuted on December 3, 2018, during halftime of ESPN’s NFL Monday Night Football. The trailer gave MCU fans their first glimpse of Captain Marvel’s helmet and of Goose the Cat.
Captain Marvel’s release date of March 8, 2019, was appropriately the date that International Women’s Day is celebrated worldwide.
Captain Marvel was Marvel Studios’ seventh film to cross the $1-billion mark at the worldwide box office and was the fifth highest-grossing film of 2019; one of three Marvel Studios productions to rank within the Top-5 along with Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Captain Marvel neglected streaming on the Netflix streaming service, as the film instead was first made available for streaming on the upstart Disney+ streaming service.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Captain Marvel Review
Captain Marvel was Marvel Studios’ twenty-first film but chronologically speaking in terms of the MCU, it was their second film (taking place primarily in the year 1995), and second period piece following 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger. I have great affection for the 1990’s, as I grew up during this period and I loved how Carol Danvers dressed like I did back in the day; complete with Nine Inch Nails t-shirt and tied flannel around her waist! This film featured outdated things that were part of my everyday life once upon a time: pagers, pay phones, dial up internet, and of course, Blockbuster Video movie rentals and the soundtrack featured some of my favorite bands from the era from Nirvana to Garbage, to No Doubt! All of the throwbacks enhanced my viewing experience and were things that I thoroughly enjoyed, and this 1990’s setting made Captain Marvel feel different to other Marvel Studios films. Of course, being set in the 1990’s also meant we got to see younger versions of Marvel Cinematic Universe characters we’ve grown to love over the previous 10-years, from Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury to Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson, to Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser. We also got to see S.H.I.E.L.D. investigate their very first invasion from an alien race!
Through Captain Marvel, I developed a whole new appreciation for the Nick Fury character. It was really neat to see Fury as a young Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. dealing with something beyond his understanding for the first time. Samuel L. Jackson and Brie Larsen had tremendous chemistry and it was fun seeing Clark Gregg as a S.H.I.E.L.D. rookie also. All of these things combined to create a perfect sort of prequel to Iron Man, and we learned many things about the MCU and its cast of characters in this film.
For one, though Steve Rogers / Captain America is the first superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel is the first superhero Nick Fury has involvement with. It was she that opened his eyes and mind to possibilities that he’d never dreamed of as an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. before meeting her. He saw in her the true potential of the human race, and she literally inspired the idea for the “Avenger Initiative!” Carol Danvers’ nickname in the Air Force was “Avenger” and Fury took that name to replace his initial idea of “The Protector Initiative!” Beyond that, we learned how Fury “lost an eye,” and as many speculated, it was indeed at the hands (or paws) of that little Flerken: Goose. Fury donned his familiar eye patch at the end of the film and set out on his path to becoming the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and launching the “Avenger Initiative”; a search for other humans with extraordinary abilities that could together, protect the Earth!
As great as Fury and Coulson and the Universe building this film did were, the true standout of the film above all else was Brie Larson as Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel! I would seriously put Brie Larson’s performance as Carol Danvers up there with any of my favorite debut performances from MCU films! She was every bit as good as Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Tom Hiddleston, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Chadwick Boseman, and Tom Holland. She was fierce, she was inspiring, she was funny and sarcastic, and her performance was grounded in passion and emotion that was powerful enough to make any comic book reader proud!
I think Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau deserves a mention here as well as she helped make several scenes work as strongly as they did. Marvel Studios made you believe in Carol and Maria’s friendship and kudos to Marvel Studios by the way for making that friendship the only love story this film boasts! I thought it was wonderful to do away with the traditional love story for a change! There was no boyfriend or fiancé and no relationship drama to get in the way and that allowed the story of Captain Marvel to simply be Carol’s search for herself and the love that she had for the friends that she made along the way!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Surprisingly, some of those friends were The Skrulls! This was a swerve I did not see coming at the time, but kudos to Marvel Studios for pulling this off in a very powerful way! After spending the first act tapping into our fears and dislike for ugly shape-shifting monstrosities; complete with an alien autopsy scene that I much appreciated, the Marvel Studios team spent the next two acts making us feel like judgmental jerks as we fell in love with The Skrulls and felt sorry for them and wanted to see them beat the hell out of The Kree, who we were initially led to believe were the heroes. The audience audibly gasped in my theater when Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos was shot by Yon-Rogg, and I thought that was amazing! This was a testament to the writing and the excellent performance Ben Mendelsohn gave, as he too was a highlight of this film, especially once he was able to get Carol alone and explain himself.
Mendelsohn’s Talos was used in the place of Rocket Raccoon in the Captain Marvel comics to warn everyone else about Goose being a Flerken and for him to pull that off the way he did was considerably excellent, given my love for Rocket and my desire to see him and Goose on-screen together after reading the comics. Ben Mendelsohn was great!
Speaking of Goose, I have to give some love to that little Flerken! The would-be cat added to several scenes and provided many laugh-out-loud moments for the audience. Samuel L. Jackson had a really neat chemistry with Goose and what an amazing moment it was when Goose unleashed his inner monster on The Kree and ate the Tesseract!
Of course, Captain Marvel was sadly, the first Marvel Studios film to be released after the death of the great Stan Lee. Lee’s cameo in the film comes during the train sequence, which was my favorite sequence of the movie from the look and smile Carol gave Stan Lee and on to her entertaining fight with the old lady Skrull!
Another standout sequence was the montage of Carol falling down and getting back up over the course of her life. That was really powerful and very well executed. I also loved the end battle pitting Carol against Yon-Rogg and how beautifully anticlimactic it was, as Carol decided that she had nothing to prove to her mentor.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
In the end, the thing that most defined Captain Marvel was Girl Power! I detest the political controversy that surrounded the film and the character during the weeks leading up to its release as naysayers labeled the movie as preaching feminism and social justice. Yes, Captain Marvel is very much fueled by Girl Power, and yes, Captain Marvel was a very big deal in that it was the first Marvel Studios film to feature a female as the sole headlining character and the first Marvel Studios film to be co-directed by a female, but damn, these were awesome, wonderful things!
I love superhero characters and some of my favorites are women. I’m a lifelong fan of DC’s Wonder Woman and I love Captain Marvel (especially after her update), The Scarlet Witch is my second-favorite comic book character, and I adore several female Marvel characters from various Cinematic Universes: Black Widow, Peggy Carter, Hela, Sif, Gamora, Nebula, Gwen Stacy, “MJ”, She-Hulk, Susan Storm, Jessica Jones, Rogue, Mystique, X-23, The Wasp, Daisy Johnson, and lots more, and you know, I have a daughter, and I LOVED taking her to see Captain Marvel and celebrating the film with my little girl! For me, it was long overdue! Carol Danvers is an awesome superhero, Captain Marvel was an awesome movie, and Brie Larson was incredible in the role of Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel! Brie brings a very sincere passion and enthusiasm to the role that allows the smallest glances and the shortest sentences to standout. She gets it and it shows.
Last but not least, what an incredible post-credits scene that Captain Marvel boasted! It gave me chills and further fanned the flames that were my desire to see Avengers: Endgame! It was amazing to see Brie’s Carol share the screen with Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, and after seeing Captain Marvel go higher, further, and faster throughout this film, I had to believe that Thanos was royally screwed!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Captain Marvel:
Brie Larson is Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Ben Mendelsohn as Talos
Goose
Chemistry between Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson
Chemistry between Brie Larson and Lashana Lynch
Chemistry between Samuel L. Jackson and Goose
Girl Power!
The Skrulls
Execution of the Kree Supreme Intelligence
Emotion and Inspiration
The Protector Initiative becomes The Avenger Initiative
Goose Eats and then coughs up The Tesseract
Music
1990’s Setting
Haunting Mid-Credits Scene That Hypes Captain Marvel’s role in Avengers: Endgame
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel. Goose the Cat / Flerken. Maria Rambeau and her daughter Monica. The Skrulls. The Kree Supreme Intelligence. Doctor Wendy Lawson / Mar-Vell.
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