Carol Corps assemble: The first full-motion look at your hero has arrived. Captain Marvel is the searingly anticipated next installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, set to premiere in March, and the debut trailer for this Brie Larson–led outing is high on thrills and throwbacks, albeit low on new information about the plot.
We see CapMarv — a.k.a. Carol Danvers, though she doesn’t get referred to by that name in the trailer — crash out of the sky and into a Blockbuster Video, thus reminding us that this is all set in the go-go 1990s. There are rapid-fire clips of a de-aged Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, a similarly youth-ified Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Jude Law as a mysterious outer-space soldier (widely believed to be Marvel Comics’ original Captain Marvel, a Kree warrior named Mar-Vell, but there’s no confirmation of that), and a bunch of sci-fi mishegoss. We also see the shape-shifting Skrulls, one of whom appears to be posing as a little old lady that CapMarv punches. Much of this seems to be taking place in Los Angeles. But none of that adds up to much.
The main takeaway from the trailer is that the plot will revolve around Carol’s amnesia. She presents as human and has flashes of memories about life on Earth — many of which we see, including a Little League game and some experience in the Air Force — but doesn’t know her own backstory with any kind of detail. One can assume that her quest to understand how she got from point A to point B will be a central factor in the film. That and righteous feminist rage. And hey, comics nerds, how great does the Jamie McKelvie–designed costume look at the end, right? Too bad mainstream comics people don’t own the rights to their own creations. Oh well, at least we have the Space Force to protect us.