Captain Marvel will introduce Carol Danvers to the Marvel Cinematic Universe on March
8th.
Early screenings have received fairly positive responses, and opening weekend projections
are anywhere from as low as $80 million to the $150 to $180 million dollar range - and
who are we kidding you know why.
Let's set all the other stuff aside and just look at the character itself and what Captain
Marvel brings to the MCU.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that Captain Marvel
is the most powerful hero the MCU has ever seen.
Considering the abilities we've seen from some of the Avengers already, that's saying
quite a bit.
With cosmic-level powers including super strength, flight, and the capacity to survive the vacuum
of space, Captain Marvel's skill set is closer to that of DC's Superman than anyone in the
MCU.
Additionally, Captain Marvel can absorb any kind of energy and release that energy as
concentrated blasts, usually from her hands.
Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame are the final films of Marvel's Phase 3, an era that
will have spanned ten films since 2016.
Spider-Man: Far From Home will officially kick off Phase 4 and a new direction for Marvel
Studios.
Marvel is known for unveiling their release plans well in advance, but with Phase 4, they've
been slow to confirm production of upcoming films.
One reason for that may be the events of these two movies and their world-shaking consequences
for the MCU.
How does the world's most profitable film franchise get bigger?
Speaking at an event for Ant-Man and the Wasp, Kevin Feige clued us in on the direction the
MCU's Phase 4 will be taking.
He said:
"I love [cosmic stories] and that's why we didn't wait very long to get that, I'd say.
Thor was the beginning of that, Tesseract in Cap as well […] I love it because I love
space stuff and I love the kind of stories you can tell."
Sounds like Captain Marvel will likely be the beginning of a major narrative shift to
the universal and the infinite.
In Marvel Comics, the Eternals are an extraordinarily powerful, near-immortal race of cosmic beings
who have existed for millions of years.
Thanos is an Eternal.
With Marvel's Phase 4 potentially shifting to a future in the outer reaches of space,
beginning in earnest with Captain Marvel, it's quite possible audiences will get some
Eternals in this movie.
Marvel Studios has already confirmed that an Eternals movie is in the works for Phase
4.
Created by comic book legend Jack Kirby, the Eternals and their enemies, the Deviants,
are two ancient alien races genetically engineered by beings known as the Celestials.
In the MCU, Kurt Russell's Ego the Living Planet of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 was
a Celestial.
“We are forever.”
“Doesn't eternity get boring?”
“Not if you have a purpose, Peter.”
Eternals have special powers, well beyond those of mortal men.
It's implied that the Eternals, with names closely resembling mythological gods, were
the true inspiration for those myths in ancient times.
If the mind of your inner nerd isn't completely blown by just how cosmic the MCU is about
to get, starting with Captain Marvel then you have a Celestial-level tolerance for awesomeness.
At San Diego Comic Con in 2017, diehard Marvel fans were treated to some sweet fan service
when Marvel announced that Captain Marvel would be the first MCU appearance of the Skrulls.
The Skrulls are a race of shape-shifting aliens that have been around in the comics since
the early days.
The ante was upped even more with the news that the film would include a narrative thread
of the Kree-Skrull War, a bitter intergalactic feud between the two races first introduced
to comics in 1971.
The Kree-Skrull conflict promises to be an important aspect of world building for the
ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in a new featurette, Co-director Anna Boden said:
"Carol [Danvers] knows the Skrulls have infiltrated Earth, and it kind of creates this sense of
paranoia.
The Skrulls are after something, and part of the mystery of the movie is Carol trying
to figure out what they're after, and getting it before they do."
In the Endgame trailer, we see Tony Stark trapped in a spacecraft that's out of fuel
and low on oxygen.
Theories abound about who will be the one to save Stark.
One theory that has gained steam is the idea of Captain Marvel coming to Iron Man's rescue.
Some look to the post-credits scene in Infinity War, in which Nick Fury pages Carol Danvers
just before getting dusted, as evidence of the possibility of a Captain Marvel/Iron Man
team-up on deck for Endgame.
One intriguing fan theory has outlined an interesting role Nick Fury could play in Captain
Marvel.
An astute Redditor made waves by predicting that '90s Nick Fury "will be shown or made
aware of the future," and be persuaded to arrange the events that we've witnessed on
screen so far.
In other words, everything that has happened in the MCU had to happen just the way it did
for the good guys to have any chance at ultimately defeating Thanos.
With that kind of foresight, Fury never needed both eyes after all.
"If you want to stay ahead of me, Mr. Secretary, you need to keep both eyes open."
The Supreme Intelligence is a little-known but classic cosmic entity created by Stan
Lee and Jack Kirby.
The character first appeared in a 1967 issue of Fantastic Four.
This artificial intelligence was created by the Kree to help create a Cosmic Cube, as
their enemies the Skrulls had done.
In the MCU, the Cosmic Cube is also known as the Tesseract, or more recently, the Space
Stone on Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet.
After much speculation, Annette Bening recently revealed her role in Captain Marvel to be
none other than the Supreme Intelligence, who promises to be unlike any other character
we've met in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far.
During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Bening described her character
as "a god-like entity."
"The artificial intelligence which consists of the greatest intellects of the Kree people
for the last million years."
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige discussed the
prominent role female characters are going to play in Phase 4 and beyond.
Discussing the notion of making more movies with female leads, Feige said:
"We feel like it'll be the first of many.
There were a lot of men in that initial run of Avengers."
Indeed, the next female-driven MCU project is reportedly already in the works.
Black Widow, starring Scarlett Johansson, is rumored to begin filming in 2019.
The movie will reportedly be released in late 2020 or early 2021, with additional details
likely becoming available once Phase 4 begins with Spider-Man: Far From Home.
Captain Marvel wants to tell an origin story, but in a completely different way.
Speaking to Mashable, producer Jonathan Schwartz said:
"In many ways, it's a classic Marvel origin story but told in reverse, structurally.
You meet her as an awesome badass superpowered space hero, and then learn who the human is
behind that aspect of herself."
The story begins on the planet Hala, where she is deeply involved in the Kree-Skrull
War, battling on the side of the Kree people, and in full control of her potent superpowers.
The audience is then taken back to Carol Danvers' home planet of Earth, where the origin story
proper begins.
Once there, Carol discovers her past may hold the key to her struggles in the present.
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