Captain Marvel: Brie Larson makes the perfect superhero in one of 2019's biggest films

Captain Marvel smashed it at the box office when it was released in cinemas earlier in 2019, and now it’s available for you to watch from the comfort of your own sofa.

Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, with Brie Larson and Samuel L. Jackson in the main roles, Captain Marvel is one of the biggest films of 2019 to date.

Marvel’s first ever female-led superhero movie stars Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel. She becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.

Here, we reveal the best bits about the movie, fascinating facts you didn’t know and Easter eggs you didn’t spot, who plays the characters, and more, as Captain Marvel is released in the BT TV Film Store.

Who’s in the Captain Marvel cast?

Brie Larson (Room, Short Term 12) plays the title role of Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, an ex-US Air Force fighter pilot and member of an elite Kree military unit called Starforce. Her DNA was altered during an accident, giving her superhuman strength, energy projection, and the power of flight.

Samuel L. Jackson is Nick Fury, the future director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who at this point is a low-level bureaucrat in the counter-terrorism agency. Avengers fans will spot that Fury doesn't wear his signature eye patch in the film, as the story is set in 1995 - before the character loses his eye.

The film also stars Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline) as Talos/Keller, Jude Law (Cold Mountain) as Yon-Rogg, Annette Bening (American Beauty) as Supreme Intelligence/Dr Wendy Lawson, Lashana Lynch (Brotherhood) as Maria Rambeau, and Gemma Chan (Humans) as Minn-Erva.

Crossing over from Guardians of the Galaxy during Carol Danvers’ origin story segment, Lee Pace stars as villain Ronan the Accuser, and Djimon Hounsou plays Korath the Pursuer.

Another Marvel crossover character is Phil Coulson (played by Clark Gregg), a rookie agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who works closely with Fury.

Jackson and Gregg were both digitally de-aged by 25 years to reflect their younger ages in S.H.I.E.L.D. - the first time Marvel has done this for an entire film.

3 reasons to watch Captain Marvel…

1. It’s Marvel’s first female superhero movie

In terms of Marvel female characters, we’ve had Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), and the Wasp (Evangeline Lilly) over the years.

But we’ve never had a female-centric superhero movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe - until now.

The story of Carol Danvers has been featured in Marvel Comics since the 1960s, so it’s been a long time coming.

It’s also the first Marvel film directed by a woman - namely Anna Boden, who co-directed alongside Ryan Fleck.

Hannah Wales from The World of Celebrity writes: “It was co-written and co-directed by a woman… and there are some small differences but they are subtle.

“There isn’t as much action throughout, more time is given to quieter, character moments and developing relationships, and Larson isn’t presented in a sexy way.”

She adds that Danvers was portrayed as a ‘vulnerable’ and ‘realistic’ woman.

2. Brie Larson is the perfect casting

The ‘Room’ actress was announced as Captain Marvel in July 2016, with Marvel waiting until their Comic-Con panel for the big reveal.

She became one of the front-runners for the role after her Oscar win for the aforementioned Oscar-winning movie, Room.

Kelly Sue Deconnick - the comic book writer who revamped Captain Marvel into her current comic's incarnation - supported Larson’s casting, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

“My dream casting - or the actor who is the voice in my head - is Kathleen Turner from about 1983. She could be both sexy and awkward and powerful.

“She could do all of those things at once. From what I can tell, Brie Larson can do those things too," Kelly Sue DeConnick said in an interview with Vanity Fair.

"She has a gravitas and she has a power to her. But you can see she also has a sense of humour and playfulness there. I’m psyched.”

After the movie was released, critics responded positively too, calling Larson an ‘inspiration’, and praising her ‘sass’ and ‘energy’.

3. It’s one of the highest-grossing films of 2019

According to Paste Magazine, Captain Marvel is the second highest-grossing film of 2019 to date, with US gross earnings of $426 million, and a box-office turnover of $1.13 billion internationally.

In less than a month following its March 2019 release, Captain Marvel smashed the $1 billion mark at the box office, Variety confirms, joining the Marvel billion-dollar club that includes Black Panther and Avengers Assemble.

In fact, it was the biggest box office hit of 2019 - until Avengers: Endgame, that is. Endgame broke all kinds of records in the first weekend of its release, including fastest film to earn $1billion worldwide and highest opening weekend gross for a film - ever.

Speaking of Endgame, Captain Marvel sets up the latest Avengers film, which was released a few months later.

Captain Marvel’s mid-credits scene directly ties into Endgame, while the post-credits scene is a little more jokey but still connects to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Vox reports.

Trivia and Easter eggs: Did you know...

1. [MARVEL SPOILER] In the comics, Danvers' fellow air force pilot Monica Rambeau becomes Captain Marvel herself, writes Screenrant.com. In the movie version, Maria Rambeau is Danvers’ colleague, and Monica is her daughter - who’s still years away from becoming her own form of superhero.

2. Recognise the term, Project Pegasus in the film? It stands for "Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States”, and it was previously mentioned in Avengers Assemble (2012), IMDB confirms.

3. When Carol arrives at Earth and crashes into a Blockbuster video store (remember those?), she pauses to look at a VHS tape (remember those too?) titled The Right Stuff, spots Screencrush.com. The 1983 movie is the true story of the group of Air Force pilots who became America’s original astronauts, a concept that mirrors Carol’s story of a US fighter pilot who eventually goes to outer space.

4. Captain Marvel's sidekick is her pet cat, Goose - but he was actually named Chewie in the comic books. The film's directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck confessed to Collider that the cat’s name was changed because so many fans will now recognise Chewie as Star Wars’ Chewbacca. They named him Goose as a fitting reference to Anthony Edwards' character in Top Gun - considering Carol's past as an Air Force pilot.

5. Keep watching right until the end: The name "Captain Marvel" is not used in the film until the closing credits.

What the fans are saying about Captain Marvel:

Fans called Captain Marvel the best solo film, and best origin story, of any Marvel character to date...