New Captain Marvel Trailer Teases Alien Invasion
Okay, technically this is being called a “special look,” but considering it boasts a good amount of new footage and even a bit more plot information, this new video released by Marvel functions as a trailer just as well. The first half of the video concerns Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) explaining to Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) that Earth is in the midst of an alien invasion by a nasty race of shapeshifters called Skrulls. We see one Skrull on the beach merely look at a young female surfer and begin to transform into her, showing off just how potent their abilities are. We also cut to the now famous scene of Captain Marvel on the train punching an old woman in the face and slamming her head against a metal bar (yup, she’s a Skrull). When Fury asks her to prove that she’s not one of these shape-shifting invaders, Danvers pulls out her big guns—her hand. She shoots a photon blast out of her right fist and eviscerates a jukebox, assuring Fury that this is one skill Skrulls don’t have. (You can almost see the wheels immediately spinning in Fury’s head—he’s found a superhero protegé that could be a major asset to S.H.I.E.L.D.).
The second half of the 90-second video focuses on Captain Marvel’s training under the stern guidance of Mar-Vell (Jude Law), who is not only whipping her into proper Kree shape but giving her a bit of history and context for her abilities. When he tells her to let get of her past (while slamming her to the ground during some hand-t0-hand combat training), she reminds him she can’t remember it. While Law’s Mar-Vell character is one of Captain Marvel‘s many mysteries (lots of folks are certain he’s a villain), what we see here is very much in the vein of the mentor/mentee relationship, with Mar-Vell urging her to control the vast, possibly infinite power she contains.
One thought that might spring to mind watching the new footage is that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck‘s film seems to show us a woman being pulled in multiple directions at once, with powerful entities on various sides vying either for her attention and help (Fury), her commitment to a cause (Mar-Vell), or her death (the Skrulls, led by Talos). We know that Captain Marvel is going to function as both an origin story of Marvel’s most powerful superhero and an introduction of the character into the larger MCU, but it also might play as a story about a singular woman navigating a world in which it seems everyone wants something from her. Add to this fact that she’s struggling to remember exactly how she came to be the person we meet at the beginning of the film, and you’ve got the potential for a rich opening chapter in what will likely be a much longer story about this iconic superhero.
Captain Marvel opens March 8. Check out the new “special look” (trailer!) below:
Featured image: Captain Marvel (Brie Larson). Photo: Film Frame. ©Marvel Studios 2019
