Ben Mendelsohn may be joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the Big Bad in Captain Marvel. Marvel Studios is finally gearing up to start production on its first female-led superhero movie. Oscar-winner Brie Larson is set to headline the film, which finally found directors earlier this year in Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, making Boden the first woman to get directing credit on a MCU film.
Details on Carol Danvers' solo mission have been scant for quite some time, but that all changed at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. There Marvel revealed Nick Fury's presence in the film, a 1990s setting, and that it would center on the Kree/Skrull war.
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One of those warring sides may have found its leader with Variety reporting Ben Mendelsohn is being eyed by Disney and Marvel Studios to play the leader of the Skrulls. Mendelsohn is fresh off his villain role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (also for Disney) for which the Emmy-winning actor earned even more acclaim, making the studio's interest in working with him again a welcome but unsurprising turn of events.
Mendelsohn's deal has not yet been closed, so it is still possible he won't be in the role. At this point, though, with Mendelsohn's relationship with Disney as well as Boden and Fleck (he starred in their 2015 gambling drama Mississippi Grind). That being said, casting Mendelsohn will be the latest example of Marvel pulling in top talent for a villain role. Cate Blanchett will soon be seen in Thor: Ragnarok, and Michael Keaton's Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming was a standout.
The specific identity of Mendelsohn's potential alien role is the next question to be answered, and Marvel could dive into obscurity to find one that he can make his own. This shapeshifting alien race is co-owned by Marvel Studios and Fox, so Marvel only has access to some specific types of Skrulls. The Skrulls in the comics date all the way back to 1962 and have had multiple leaders since, making it that much more difficult to pinpoint his character's identity. And depending on how this war ends -- possibly leading into a theorized Secret Invasion-like plot in The Avengers 4 -- it may not be out of the question to think Mendelsohn will appear in future MCU films.
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Source: Variety
