Marvel Studios’ ‘Captain Marvel’ | Official Trailer

This Captain Marvel keeps clinching her fists. Maybe it’s just nervous energy. Captain Marvel who is played by Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson is said to be the most powerful superhero in the MCU. Coming off the events of how “Infinity Wars” ended, she would have to be if she is going to be pivotal in fixing that whole thing up. That being said, it will be interesting to see how the filmmakers choose to fame her powers.

The trailer starts with Captain Marvel, whose alter ego is Carol Danvers, rising like the phoenix from the ashes of a Blockbuster lobby and quickly establishes an environment for our hero where memories she continues to have makes it (earth) seem familiar to her. The rest of the trailer sets up a story that will blend the past, present, and future as Danvers sets out on an investigative journey to find answers and understand her memories.

A de-aged Samuel L. Jackson’s character Nick Fury states he was about to ‘Hang them up’ but that was before the alien invasion and the appearance of a renegade soldier (Captain Marvel) ‘from above’. It can be assumed that Fury and Danvers’ relationship will be built partly on Fury’s ability to assist her in her investigation, and Danvers’ ability to assists him in defending against an alien invasion.

An investigative approach would be smart if not obvious for “Captain Marvel,” even more so than was the case with “Winter Soldier,” because of the overall place of this character in the MCU and where the MCU is as a franchise. What this approach can do is allow both Danvers and the audience to discover and have important information revealed to them at the same time – in essence, ‘real-time’.

The alien invasion is perpetrated by Skrulls, a green-skin extraterrestrial race of shape-shifters that have waged war across the cosmos in Marvel comics for some time. Now, they are here. I did notice that this Captain Marvel keeps clinching her fists. Maybe it’s just nervous energy, but these Skrull might want to secure their perimeter. Just a thought.

The prominent imagery of the Blockbuster video rental store at the outset of the trailer establishes that the events of this movie take place well before “Infinity War” – in the 90’s to be more specific. The question that quickly comes to mind is “Where the devil was Captain Marvel while Thanos was setting the world on fire?”

I had a similar issue with the treatment of the Hulk in “Infinity War.” All the marbles are on the line and the Incredible Hulk won’t come out to play? That just didn’t work for me. But I get it … the need to move the story along.

Now, if you are versed in the comics you probably already know how much of this plays out. However, we are about a decade into the MCU, and well over a dozen movies later there still seems to be something that is uninformed.

Don’t get me wrong, the idea that there is still story left to tell is probably important to why these movies have been so successful, and in some cases like “Winter Soldier,” “Black Panther” and “Infinity War,” been so good.

Even so, it is difficult to see what would be an acceptable, if not convincing, reason why the most powerful hero in the MCU would be absent while Thanos was carrying on. All the more reason to show up to a cineplex near you. Right? However, after this long dress rehearsal, many like myself will need a little more – maybe a lot more – than ‘plot device’.

“Captain Marvel” is scheduled to hits theaters in a little more than six months in March of 2019 which has recently become the new unofficial start to the summer blockbuster season. Though I feel the first trailer is somewhat middling, I also think Marvel is holding back a lot at this stage. It feels like this kind of trailer would generally be released with more than six months to go before a movie of this magnitude would hit theaters. Kind of a prelude to the buildup.

But, when you consider the decade long investment Marvel has made, along with their track record of success and the fact that this phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is nearing conclusion; even if it doesn’t win the box office, I think “Captain Marvel” is well-positioned to be the moviegoing event of 2019 – and a Crisply de-aged Samuel L. Jackson.

MV Staff

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