Yesterday’s release of the second Captain Marvel trailer provided substantially more information about the upcoming release of Marvel’s first-ever female-led superhero flick. Carol Danvers earned the film on merit, though, not solely because Marvel needed a female lead. A run down of Danvers’ role in Marvel’s biggest events will illustrate just how prominent the character has been in comic book events like Civil War, Civil War II, Secret Empire, and others. We’re not just talking about a minor character winning the luck of the draw, we are talking about one of the biggest characters in Marvel’s history finally getting her due.
With the announcement and trailer came a little bit of extra news by way of a trailer reveal that Annette Bening would play a central leader for the Kree people. We can glean this from the trailer when Bening’s character tell’s Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers that they put her back together again after they found her nearly dead. While there are theories abound as to who Bening will be playing, the trailer tells us enough about her role that we know she’s someone of import. Whether she is Supremor or Hala the Accuser or someone else remains to be seen. What we do know about Annette Bening is that she’s been nominated for four different Oscars and she’s playing someone important enough that Marvel want to hold onto the reveal of the character until either much, much closer to the film’s release or the release of the film itself.
Given the likelihood that she could be playing the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree, which serves as the de facto leader of the group, this would be yet another woman in a position of leadership within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Pepper Potts was the first female leader within the MCU, albeit on a much smaller scale. She oversaw Stark Industries and laid the groundwork for strong females within the Marvel continuity. It’s no coincidence that the same movie, Iron Man 2, that saw Tony Stark acknowledge Potts’ strength, grace, and formally recognized her leadership also put forth Natasha Romanov as Nick Fury’s right-hand agent. We would soon see Maria Hill running S.H.I.E.L.D. and Glenn Close as Nova Prime in Guardians of the Galaxy. The list just seems to be growing and growing. As a film, Captain Marvel is living its message of female empowerment.
The trailer does a number of things really well. We finally get some backstory on our hero in the form of storytelling by Annette Bening. Our hero also fills us in while visual aids serve to illustrate that she may be part alien, but she comes from Earth and is very much human. It looks like her humanity will play a central role in the film and it will also serve to ground her in some reality after the events of the Kree-Skrull War.
We also finally get to see plenty of Carol Danvers flying around and doing what she does best in stopping baddies. The full power of her going binary — we think — is also shown in the preview, with Danvers looking remarkably similar to Super Saiyan Goku. There are plenty of images of Danvers shooting power from her hands, but there is no word just yet on whether she will be able to absorb energy and redistribute it, though one would expect that to be the case if she’s going to be the one to turn the tide in the War on Thanos. One thing we know for sure, she looks as awesome, maybe better, than Odin-Force Thor in Thor: Ragnarok. There is a reckoning coming in the Avengers: Infinity War sequel, her name is Carol Danvers.
Finally, there seems to be the slightest hint that she and Jude Law’s unnamed character will not always see eye to eye. Could this be hinting at a fracture and the creation of Yon-Rogg? Fans are certainly hoping that is the case. One thing that wasn’t shown in the trailer is a deeper look at Ronan the Accuser prior to his becoming the villain in Guardians of the Galaxy. I still contend that Ronan was less a villain and more a man consumed by the idea of vengeance for his family’s demise. It strikes more of Magneto in X-Men: First Class than it does Malekith in Thor: The Dark World. In all honesty, Killmonger got the treatment that Ronan had the potential to deliver had they given him more of a role. I’ll be curious to see how much Captain Marvel delivers on his story.
It’s truly wonderful to see Captain Marvel live its message, putting females in a position to succeed. This is only bolstered by the fact that Kevin Feige is determined to see more female involvement and has gone as far as to officially call her the strongest hero we have ever seen in the MCU. Captain Marvel seems poised to deliver on the promises that have been made to fans across the world will see more diversity in our heroes going forward. Brie Larson and Captain Marvel represent the future, and the future begins on March 8th.