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The new 'Captain Marvel' trailer shows how bold the MCU has become

As one Captain departs the big screen, another Captain, even more fierce than Steve Rodgers, is showing up to take the seat at the head of the table.
Marvel Entertainment

World-building. Large-scale action sequences. Female superheroes so powerful, they can slug an old lady in her jaw on the subway.

That's right. The first few seconds of the new trailer for Captain Marvel shows Brie Larson's Carol Danvers walking up to a normal looking elderly woman on a train, and tossing a right cross that Mike Tyson would envy. It's okay though, the woman turns out to be a member of an evil alien race called the Skrulls hiding under the disguise of a human.

Aliens, good and bad, mark the second official tease for Marvel's next release. While everyone waits around for the first look at Avengers 4, the MCU is pumping up this new Captain as a potential game-changer, and it's not lie: Thanos should fear a woman named Carol.

Of course, she can't become a real superhero before nearly dying, being reborn with some new skill, becoming bad to the bone, and then having to wonder about her past. It's Marvel 101, and by now, everyone should know their playbook.

Which is just fine because everything in Captain Marvel looks amazing, and I'm not just talking about Jude Law's jaw line. The world build by the Half Nelson writing/directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck is awe-inspiring and an early lock for the 2020 Oscars in technical achievements. Taking a page from Black Panther's Wakanda, there's large buildings, exotic skylines, and very well-fitting space suits for our heroes.

What's it all about? Danvers is an American pilot who crashes, gets scooped up by a mysterious colony/group that may or may not be aliens, and given what we would like to believe are superpowers. "Your life nearly merely began the day it ended," a luminous Annette Bening tells a bewildered Danvers in what looks to be a spaceship. Danvers was reborn to live "longer, stronger, and superior" by Bening and company, but of course this all comes with some sort of conflict.

You don't get superpowers without making someone mad or being asked to save a few worlds in between power naps. Enter the Skrulls, most notably Talos (Ben Mendolsohn under a heavy layer of latex and ugly) and Law's Captain Mar-Vell, a fellow superhero helping Danvers with some tough love pep talking.

Throughout it all, an eye patch-less Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, who seems to be getting the Michael Douglas ageless CGI treatment) is Danvers' partner in crime for the adventure-but could he be hiding something from her?

I personally love everything about this trailer, and the Larson-Jackson scenes should make some of the film's best. Getting Boden and Fleck to make this movie will ensure that there's a heartfelt touch amid all the high-flying action sequences and that occasionally, the film will slow down and do some story-building as well as dazzle the eyes.

Arriving in March, less than two months ahead of the final Avengers movie, Captain Marvel should kick off 2019 in luxurious fashion. Make no mistake, Marvel guru Kevin Feige is following the same playbook as he did this year: drop three movies before August, and own the year for good. After Avengers 4, Spider Man: Far From Home lands in July. Does that sound familiar? This year brought Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Ant-Man and The Wasp. All three were mega hits, with at least the former getting Academy Award attention.

Larson looks tremendous, and hopefully film critics and fans around the world are satisfied with her word count in this trailer. The first trailer couldn't drop without some people being mad that Jackson had more dialogue than Larson. Unless the acerbic Robert Downey Jr. is involved, Fury will always talk the most.

This trailer should be the final one and that's fine. Marvel doesn't go all Aquaman/seven trailer crazy on fans. They know all people need here is a little story, a lot of eye candy, and something to make us watch the trailer at least three times while hiding from our bosses at work.

It's another bold Marvel stroke of genius. Larson isn't a box office stalwart at all, but no one who has ever commandeered the lead in a Marvel film for the first time has ever been a box office wizard. Downey Jr wasn't, and neither was Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, or Chadwick Boseman. However, Danvers' affect on the entire universe is huge, so this is a power move. Everyone and their mother knows by now that Josh Brolin's Thanos will have his hands fulls with this woman.

March's origin tale takes place back in the 1990's as well, which should play into the reasoning behind Danvers' absence in the Marvel storyline up until now. Before she can help the Avengers take care of their big purple-headed alien foe, she has to take care of another bad alien race, which includes beating up an old lady on the subway.

As one Captain departs the big screen, another Captain, even more fierce than Steve Rodgers, is showing up to take the seat at the head of the table. Now that sounds inviting.

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