Skip to content

Top Navigation

EW.com EW.com
    • All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Winter TV
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
    • All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
    • All Music
    • Music Reviews
    • All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
    • All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
    • All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
    • All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
    • All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
    • All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe

Explore EW.com

EW.com EW.com
  • Explore

    Explore

    • The 10 best songs of 2022

      The 10 best songs of 2022

      From disco-trap to deconstructed techno to Dolly-style country, we rank our favorite tracks this year. Read More
    • The 10 best movies of 2022 (and 5 worst)

      The 10 best movies of 2022 (and 5 worst)

      Let there be Mavericks, Bollywood magic, and a Cate Blanchett maestro on the loose. Read More
    • The true story of the g-strings and murders behind Welcome to Chippendales

      The true story of the g-strings and murders behind Welcome to Chippendales

      A look back at the crazy true story of Chippendales founder Somen "Steve" Banerjee and the murder and murder-for-hire plots at the center of the Hulu series. Read More
  • TV

    TV

    See All TV
    • TV Reviews
    • TV Reunions
    • Recaps
    • What to Watch
    • Winter TV
    • Comedy
    • Crime
    • Drama
    • Family
    • Horror
    • Reality
    • Sci-fi
    • Thriller
  • Movies

    Movies

    See All Movies
    • Movie Reviews
    • Trailers
    • Film Festivals
    • Movie Reunions
    • Movie Previews
  • Music

    Music

    See All Music
    • Music Reviews
  • What to Watch

    What to Watch

    See All What to Watch
    • What to Watch Podcast Episodes
    • TV Reviews
    • Movie Reviews
  • BINGE

    BINGE

    See All BINGE
    • EW's Binge Podcast Episodes
    • Recaps
    • Survivor
    • This is Us
    • RuPaul's Drag Race
    • Stranger Things
    • The Boys
    • The Blacklist
    • The Walking Dead
    • Better Call Saul
  • The Awardist

    The Awardist

    See All The Awardist
    • The Awardist Podcast Episodes
    • Oscars
    • Emmys
    • Golden Globes
    • SAG Awards
    • Grammys
    • Tony Awards
  • Books

    Books

    See All Books
    • Book Reviews
    • Author Interviews
  • Theater

    Theater

    See All Theater
    • Theater Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • Gaming
  • Events

    Events

    See All Events
    • Comic-Con
  • Celebrity
  • Streaming

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Movies
  3. Captain Marvel trailer decoded: Brie Larson's superhero powers up

Captain Marvel trailer decoded: Brie Larson's superhero powers up

EW breaks down the trailer for Marvel's first female-led superhero movie — from aliens and pagers to Blockbuster Video
coggan
By Devan Coggan September 18, 2018 at 10:23 AM EDT
Skip gallery slides
FB

1 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Higher. Further. Faster.

cm8
Credit: Marvel Studios

There’s a powerful new addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Marvel dropped the first Captain Marvel trailer Tuesday, giving us our first look at Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers. It's an action-packed teaser, filled with all sorts of explosive scenes and intriguing reveals — Blockbuster Video! Young Phil Coulson! Carol punching an old lady! — but most of all, it's an introduction to Marvel's first solo female hero.

1 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm12
Credit: Marvel Studios

When we first meet Carol, she's crashing. Specifically, she's crashing into a Blockbuster Video, sometime around 1995. Captain Marvel is set in the mid-'90s, and when our heroine falls from space onto Earth, she lands smack in the middle of the once-ubiquitous video store.

2 of 20

3 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm13
Credit: Marvel Studios

The trailer introduces Carol not as a human but as a part-human, part-alien warrior who falls to Earth. She's a member of the elite Kree military team Starforce (as evidenced by her green uniform), and she's crash landed in Los Angeles. This is the first time she's been back on Earth in a very, very long time, and she's not sure what to make of it.

3 of 20

Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

4 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm15
Credit: Marvel Studios

Crash landing aside, she's still extraordinarly powerful, and we get our first glimpse of Carol using her abilities. Not only does she have super strength, but she also has the power to absorb and manipulate energy — making her someone you don't want to mess with.

4 of 20

Advertisement

5 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm16
Credit: Marvel Studios

Once she's landed on Earth, Carol quickly crosses paths with a familiar face: Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury. He's not yet the grizzled, eye-patch-wearing leader we've met in past Marvel movies. Here, he's just an everyday S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Carol is his first exposure to another world, and it seems like she's the career revitalization he's been looking for.

"Space invasion. Big car chase," he tells her. "Truth be told, I was ready to hang it up 'til I met you today."

5 of 20

6 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm17
Credit: Marvel Studios

We soon see flashes of Carol's life in space: She's been living with the Kree as a member of Starforce, and here, we see what looks like a skyline on Hala, the Kree home planet. Audiences have met the Kree before in Guardians of the Galaxy — both Lee Pace's Ronan and Djimon Hounsou's Korath are Kree — but Captain Marvel is a deeper dive into their alien world.

6 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

7 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

marvel
Credit: Marvel Studios

On Hala, Carol is a soldier, serving alongside the Kree. On her right, that's Gemma Chan as the blue-skinned sniper Minn-Erva.

7 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement

8 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm21
Credit: Marvel Studios

Jude Law plays the leader of Starforce, and he has a mentor-mentee relationship with Carol. He views her and her powers as a key asset to the Kree cause.

8 of 20

Advertisement

9 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm19
Credit: Marvel Studios

But despite her life in the stars, Carol has a connection to Earth that she just can't shake. "I keep having these memories," she says. "I see flashes. I think I had a life here. But I can't tell if it's real." Among those flashes are shots of her life as an Air Force pilot, and here, we see her remembering her training.

9 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

10 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm18
Credit: Marvel Studios

There's also a shot of her in her Air Force days, flying alongside Lashana Lynch's Maria Rambeau. Maria and Carol came up in the Air Force together as two of the only female pilots, and they forged a deep friendship.

10 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

11 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm22
Credit: Marvel Studios

And then there are the Skrulls. The green aliens are the Kree's greatest nemesis, and Captain Marvel finds them setting their sights on Earth. They're led by Ben Mendelsohn's Talos, and they're made all the more dangerous by their ability to shape shift into any person or thing.

11 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement

12 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm14
Credit: Marvel Studios

At one point, we see a shot of what looks like a medical operating table. Nick Fury appears to be on the left, and the guy overseeing everything looks a lot like Ben Mendelsohn. Could that be Talos, disguising himself as a human?

12 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

13 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm6
Credit: Marvel Studios

See, the problem with fighting an army of shape-shifting aliens is that they could take the form of anyone. They might even be posing as an old lady on the bus, who Carol lays out with one punch. (Here's hoping that's actually a Skrull, and not just some nice grandmother who Carol just knocked out.)

13 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

14 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm20
Credit: Marvel Studios

From here, the trailer moves into a series of rapid images and shots — like this scene of Carol imprisoned in some sort of alien machine. Whatever's happening here, it doesn't look pleasant.

14 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement

15 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm9
Credit: Marvel Studios

Coulson lives! The trailer also gives us a brief shot of a de-aged Clark Gregg, making his big-screen return as S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Phil Coulson. At this point, he's still fairly new to S.H.I.E.L.D. and has a long way to go before meeting up with Captain America and Iron Man.

15 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

16 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm5
Credit: Marvel Studios

We also get a good luck at the return of Ronan. Lee Pace's blue-skinned baddie was the chief villain in Guardians of the Galaxy, where he met his untimely end, but here, he's still a respected member of Kree society. Here, we see him overlooking a planet from space. Is that Hala? Or does he have his eye on Earth?

16 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

17 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm10
Credit: Marvel Studios

There's even a shot of Fury using a very familiar-looking pager, although it hasn't yet been decked out with the advanced tech we saw at the end of Infinity War.

17 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement

18 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm3
Credit: Marvel Studios

Comics fans should also be excited to see the debut of Carol's helmet.

18 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Continued on next slide.
Advertisement

19 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm_2
Credit: Marvel Studios

Throughout the trailer, we see flashes of Carol's life as she tries to remember who she is and where she came from. There's a particularly powerful shot of her at different points throughout her life: as a little girl, as an Air Force recruit, and as an alien warrior. She always gets back up after being knocked down, and she's always ready for a fight.

19 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

20 of 20

FB
Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message

Captain Marvel trailer decoded

cm2
Credit: Marvel Studios

And we end with Carol fully embracing her powers. Marvel has said that she's the most powerful hero the franchise has ever introduced, and the trailer sure looks to be proof of that.

Captain Marvel will hit theaters March 8, 2019. Watch the full trailer here.

20 of 20

Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

  • By Devan Coggan @devancoggan

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 20 Higher. Further. Faster.
    2 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    3 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    4 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    5 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    6 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    7 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    8 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    9 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    10 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    11 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    12 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    13 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    14 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    15 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    16 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    17 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    18 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    19 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded
    20 of 20 Captain Marvel trailer decoded

    Share & More

    Tweet Pinterest Email Send Text Message
    EW.com

    Magazines & More

    Learn More

    • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
    • Advertise this link opens in a new tab
    • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Meredith© Copyright 2023 Meredith Corporation. Entertainment Weekly is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation All Rights Reserved. Entertainment Weekly may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright EW.com. All rights reserved. Printed from https://ew.com

    View image

    Captain Marvel trailer decoded: Brie Larson's superhero powers up
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.