Captain Marvel Is More Than Just Another Marvel Blockbuster

The first trailer for Captain Marvel has been released and, like its female-fronted peers Black Panther and Wonder Woman before it, is a film that is more than just another superhero blockbuster. Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers isn’t just the ace in Nick Fury’s hole against Thanos and his universe-shattering cull; she represents a new kind of hero to many.

Marvel Studios has kept a lot of details about the upcoming Brie Larson-starring Captain Marvel under wraps, but we know that it will be a prequel set in the 1990s and center on human Carol Danvers’ transformation into the titular hero. She’ll be mentored by the alien Mar-Vell (believed to be the role Jude Law is playing) and Nick Fury will appear, but much of the movie will revolve around the Skrulls—a race of powerful, shape-shifting creatures with green skin, wrinkly chins, pointed ears and an interstellar empire.

Setting Captain Marvel in the midst of this larger cosmic conflict avoids some glaring plot holes her sudden presence could have created into the established Marvel Cinematic Universe. If she’d arrived during the Chitauri invasion in The Avengers or fought alongside Kree zealot Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) in Guardians of the Galaxy, it would be difficult to reconcile those conflicts with her quest for the Infinity Stones.

Plus, she wouldn’t have known that a battle that will decide the fate of half the universe was about to commence on Earth. Space is big; she can’t be everywhere, even if she has a powerful cosmic psi-ray and the ability to defy gravity.