The original Ms. Marvel, now Captain Marvel, is finally getting her own movie... eventually. After years of namedrops from executives at Marvel expressing interest in bringing superhero Carol Danvers into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige made the official announcement a year ago at an event in LA where they unveiled their entire Phase 3 release slate, dating up to and including 2019.

Since then, this slate has continually adjusted, first to include Spider-Man, and now again with the announcement of four new films today. Unfortunately for the Danvers faithful, this means yet another delay for Captain Marvel.

Originally scheduled for July 2018, Captain Marvel was first pushed back to November 2018 as Spidey was slotted in for 2017. Today, Captain Marvel was pushed back to the following year and is now scheduled for theatrical release on March 8, 2019, much closer to Avengers: Infinity War - Part 2 which opens that May.

MCU Wasp Costume From Ant-Man Movie

The bigger news there however is that taking its original July 2018 date will be the just-announced Ant-Man sequel titled Ant-Man and the Wasp. That means Carol Danvers will no longer be the first Marvel Studios headlining female hero. More diversity in its lead characters and more female Avengers the better, even if it's somewhat bittersweet that Captain Marvel keeps getting pushed back. Wasp was one of the original Avengers however, so her superhero debut coming first is something we can get behind.

Evangeline Lilly already revealed that she's been fitted for her costume and Feige confirmed that Wasp will be a part of Phase 3. Now we know exactly when and where. But back to Captain Marvel...

Captain Marvel in Avengers 2

I listed Danvers as a character who could (should?) be introduced in Captain America: Civil War, given her background as a human military officer and airfield security guard. Marvel could establish her long before Danvers acquires alien superpowers in her own film. Civil War is heavily political and likely involves the U.S. military, or at least, General “Thunderbolt” Ross (William Hurt), so there's an easy path to do this. And as it turns out, we almost met Danvers this year in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Joss Whedon wanted to have Captain Marvel and Spider-Man also appear in the very last scene of Avengers 2, but at the time they had yet to confirm a Captain Marvel movie was happening, nor had Marvel worked out a deal with Sony Pictures to get Spider-Man into the MCU. Feige confirmed that an earlier draft of Whedon's Age of Ultron script did include Carol Danvers but it was strange and seemed an unfitting way to introduce the character.

"It was in the script at one point, it might have been one draft. Was it… It might have just been Captain Marvel. And we shot a plate and thought we may add her in there but the truth is it just didn’t seem appropriate to have this new person in a new costume come out of nowhere at the end of this story. It would have been a disservice to, what by the time the movie was coming out, a character people already knew was coming anyway. And also what does Captain America say? ‘They’re not the 27 Yankees’. Well if Captain Marvel is there, what are we saying about her? The notion that they need to be, certainly Wanda and Vision, and to a lesser extent Falcon and Rhodey, need to learn what it means to be a team, even if the most dysfunctional team in the history of teams."

For any cameo to happen, we first need someone to play Danvers! And that would need to be done in the next few months to still make the cut for Civil War.

Next Page: When Will Carol Danvers Casting Begin?

Carol Danvers Becomes Captain Marvel

When Will Carol Danvers Casting Begin?

At an event in LA two weeks ago to celebrate the in-home release of Avengers: Age of Ultron and the film's newest poster art by Tyler Stout, Kevin Feige said that despite the rumors, the studio has yet to cast Carol Danvers and likely won't have news on that front until next year.

“There won’t be any announcements about that this year. I think right now we’re scripting the film, figuring out who we want Carol Danvers to be, and really what the structure of the movie will be and what her part will be in some of our other Phase 3 films. And it would be next year that we start to really think about casting.”

So, those Rebecca Ferguson rumors? Maybe not true. Maybe eventually true. Producer Jeremy Latcham chimed in and said how they cast the character will really come down to how Danvers is written in the in-development Captain Marvel screenplay.

“We have really amazing writers on the movie. Meg [LeFauve] and Nicole [Perlman] are great, and I think getting the character right first is going to lead the charge. We want to make sure we know who it is before we can start figuring out who should play it.”

Latcham and Feige added however, that they're loving the burst of fan campaigns and fan art for casting suggestions hitting social media in recent months - and when they see them, they do take a serious look at what fans are thinking.

Captain Marvel (Yvonne Strahovski) Art by Amy
Captain Marvel (Yvonne Strahovski) Fan Art by Amy

Keep on sharing your Captain Marvel and other casting ideas because they are being looked at! As for Captain Marvel, it seems like her epic debut will be in early to mid-2019 with back-to-back appearances in her solo movie and Avengers 4 where we suspect she'll take on a leadership role for the New Avengers going into Phase 4 of the MCU.

Next: Other Characters Marvel Should Introduce in Captain America: Civil War

Captain America: Civil War will release on May 6, 2016, followed by Doctor Strange - November 4, 2016; Guardians of the Galaxy 2 - May 5, 2017; Spider-Man - July 28, 2017; Thor: Ragnarok - November 3, 2017; Black Panther - February 16, 2018; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 - May 4, 2018; Ant-Man and the Wasp - July 6, 2018; Captain Marvel - March 8, 2019; The Avengers: Infinity War Part 2 – May 3, 2019; Inhumans – July 12, 2019; and as-yet untitled Marvel movies on May 1, July 10 and November 6, 2020.

Sources: Marvel, MTV/Film

Header edited from art by Minatchy Sébastien a.k.a. Arkenstellar