We’ve waited years for the Captain Marvel trailer, and it didn’t disappoint. Arriving on Tuesday morning, it introduces Brie Larson as the iconic Marvel superhero, with a voiceover from Samuel L. Jackson as a young(ish) Nick Fury.
It also offered a couple of surprises. The biggest is that Carol Danvers (aka Captain Marvel) returns to Earth without fully remembering that she’s from Earth. At the very least, her memories are seriously jumbled. This may explain why she spent so much time in space with Starforce, an alien military team led by her mentor Mar-Vell (Jude Law). The second surprise is a little more subtle: Captain Marvel looks much less comedic than your typical Marvel Studios movie. However, this could just mean the trailer has a serious tone, rather than the movie itself.
Along with these more wide-reaching revelations, the teaser was packed with detail. Here are some of the highlights.
Captain Marvel returns to Earth
Crash-landing in a Blockbuster video (an instant reminder that this film takes place in the nineties), Carol Danvers doesn’t seem to arrive on Earth on purpose. This adds an extra air of mystery to her story, because while we know she started out as an Air Force pilot, she must have been away a while. Remember, she’s been in space long enough to forge a new life as a member of Starforce. What happened in the intervening years?
Captain Marvel and the Kree/Skrull war
While Captain Marvel takes place partly (mostly?) on Earth, its main conflict involves an epic war between two alien races, the Kree and the Skrulls. For more detailed info, check out our Skrull explainer, but here’s the short version: the Skrulls are shapeshifters who infiltrated Earth by disguising themselves as humans, and the Kree are their mortal enemies. Carol Danvers is part Kree, and therefore has joint allegiances with Earth and her Kree teammates, Starforce and Mar-Vell.
When they’re not in disguise, the Skrulls look like humanoid, green-skinned reptiles. Meanwhile, the Kree (with a few exceptions like Mar-Vell) are blue. In the trailer, you’ll see Carol’s Starforce teammates Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan) and Att-Lass (Algenis Perez Soto).
This moment with Carol looking out the window may take place on the Kree homeworld, Hala.
Captain Marvel at S.H.I.E.L.D.
We already knew S.H.I.E.L.D. would play a role in the movie, with younger versions of Nick Fury and Agent Coulson in key roles. Both appear in the trailer, but one particular scene caught our eye: an alien autopsy. This blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment appears to show a dead Skrull being dissected while Nick Fury stands guard with an alien weapon. Given that this takes place in a storage room with only one other witness, this may be an unofficial operation.
Captain Marvel’s costume
For most of the teaser, we only see Carol wearing her Starforce uniform—a green catsuit with a star embossed on the chest, similar to the armor worn by her teammates. You can see the design similarities with Star-Lord’s helmet in Guardians of the Galaxy (which also introduced Kree characters like Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser), featuring the fauxhawk hairstyle fans will recognize from the Captain Marvel comics.
However, Carol’s most famous costume only arrives at the end. The red, blue and gold suit was a character-defining look for Carol Danvers in her 2012 reboot, and it’s the one we’ve all been waiting for. While we don’t see a full-length shot, the trailer ends with a powerful image of Captain Marvel sizzling with energy in her iconic uniform.
Oh, and there’s one final detail you might have missed. Not in the trailer, but in the poster. If you peer into the dark on the bottom left-hand side, you’ll notice a cat. Yep, it looks like Carol’s pet alien cat Chewie may be in the movie!
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