This is it! The final chapter before the big finale that is Avengers Endgame! Right before Nick Fury got dusted he reached for a mysterious pager us viewers have never seen before and called someone. Who’d he call? Oh… nobody important. Only backup for when even the Avengers can’t get the job done! This is the origin of Captain Marvel.
Plot
The year is 1995. Vers (Captain Marvel) is a soldier for the Kree Starforce. After a mission goes wrong she is kidnapped by the Kree’s mortal enemy: a shape shifting race of aliens known as the Skrull. The Skrull try to extract a memory from her mind, a memory that she herself doesn’t even remember. She manages to escape though, becoming stranded on Earth. It’s here she meets SHIELD agent Nick Fury. Together they try to contact Vers’ team, defeat the Skrull, and recover Vers’ memory. Little does Carol know though that there is far more to this Kree-Skrull war than she knows.
Villain
In a not so shocking turn of events, the Kree end up being the true villains of Captain Marvel. Why’s it not so shocking? Well if you saw Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of SHIELD, you’ve known for years that the Kree are not nice! The primary Kree villains in Captain Marvel though are her old Starforce friends led by the tool pictured above: Yon-Rogg. Yon-Rogg taught Captain Marvel everything she knows and everything about her powers. Yon-Rogg is not only an intelligent leader though, he’s also extremely dedicated to the Kree cause like most Kree meaning he’ll do anything to ensure Kree victory. Even if it means driving a race like the Skrull to extinction. This all being said, Yon-Rogg isn’t exactly a top tier MCU villain. Yes, he killed the original Mar-vell but besides that he doesn’t really do anything that impressive in the film. He never really proves to be a threat to Captain Marvel. She kicks his ass in the opening moments of the film and he never really gets the upper hand after that.
Best Scene
This is a no brainer. At the end of the film Captain Marvel helps the Skrull leader Talos find his Skrull family and friends that were hiding in a ship just outside of Earth’s atmosphere. Yon-Rogg and the rest of Starforce aren’t far behind though and capture Captain Marvel, her friend Maria, Talos, Fury, and Goose the “cat.” Captain Marvel has a one on one conversation with the Kree leader, an AI known as The Supreme Intelligence. As the Supreme Intelligence attempts to incapacitate Captain Marvel she realizes that the Kree have been holding her back and she hasn’t even tapped the surface of what she can do. Captain Marvel then unleashes her true power and takes out all of Starforce. It’s definitely one of the more exciting action sequences in the MCU and truly showcases just how insanely power she is (and how screwed Thanos will be). Elsewhere, Fury and the others escape with the help of Goose the “cat” who reveals her true form when she devours Kree in a single bite. The Skrull are terrified of Goose the entire film and refer to her as a Flerken. Though everyone believed Flerken was just Skrull’s name for cats, they realize that Flerken are extremely dangerous aliens that can eat almost anything. It’s a hilarious reveal in the midst of all the Captain Marvel action.
Stan Lee Cameo
This cameo is super meta. Early in the film while Captain Marvel is on a train looking for a Skrull in hiding. She comes across someone rehearsing their lines for a film Mallrats. The person is repeating the line “Trust me True Believer!” Captain Marvel pushes the book down revealing the man to be none other than Stan Lee. They then share a smile and Captain Marvel goes back on her search. Stan Lee cameos in Captain Marvel… by practicing his cameo for a film he did in the 90s!
BONUS CAMEO
As anyone reading this knows, Stan Lee passed away before this film was released. Captain Marvel has a truly heatfelt tribute at the beginning of the film. Typically whenever the Marvel logo is on the screen it shows clips of past MCU films. This time those clips were replaced with Stan Lee’s cameos in the MCU followed by “Thank You Stan.” Cue the waterworks.
Post Credits Scenes
We’re back in present time, post Thanos snap. The Avengers have somehow found Fury’s pager that Captain Marvel gave him “in case of emergencies.” The Avengers are clueless about the symbol on the pager and who it’s calling out to. Suddenly though the signal stops. Captain America insists on sending out the signal again, Black Widow agrees because if it was important to Fury then it was obviously calling someone important. Black Widow turns around and immediately behind them is Captain Marvel with only one question: “Where’s Fury?” Thanos is in for it now!!!!!!
The second scene is hilarious! At the end of Captain Marvel it’s revealed that the Kree have been searching for the Tesseract so they can travel to other galaxies to eradicate the Skrull once and for all. Talos’ family had been hiding outside of Earth with it for ages and when the Kree show up to take it Goose swallows it whole for safe keeping. After the Kree are stopped, Fury takes Goose with him back to Earth waiting for Goose to digest the Tesseract. The final scene shows Goose jumping on Fury’s desk and coughing up the Tesseract like a hairball.
Final Thoughts
I’m going to be honest. I think this movie is a TAD over hyped. Don’t get me wrong it’s thoroughly enjoyable, but I don’t think it’s the masterpiece many are making it out to be. Brie Larson is excellent as Captain Marvel but if I’m being honest she wasn’t my favorite part of the film. Nick Fury and Goose the Cat are the most memorable parts of the film and constantly steal the show. The villain is pretty lackluster and there are times I think the movie is trying way too hard to be nostalgic. I often found myself thinking “We get it, this takes place in the 90s.” That all being said, the film’s main purpose I think is to get fans hyped for Captain Marvel’s appearance in Endgame which the film accomplishes with flying colors. I can’t wait to see her match up with Thanos.
This is it. We’re in the Endgame now. Eleven years and 21 films later we are reaching the ultimate climax of the MCU. Though Marvel has recently confirmed that Spider-Man Far From Home will technically close out Phase Three, Avengers: Endgame is the going to be the true conclusion that fans have been waiting for ever since Thanos appeared in the original Avengers. How will the Avengers defeat Thanos and bring everyone back? WILL they bring everyone back? There are so many questions, so many theories, it’s the only thing that has been on my mind for the last year I simply cannot wait to see what the MCU has in store for us. I know it’ll be nothing short of phenomenal.
Thanos Meme!
I’ve recently become obsessed with Brooklyn Nine Nine so I thought this was fitting.
The Magical World of Dids 