Captain Marvel Set Visit Report: Bring on The Starforce!

For two days in late May 2018 we visited the Los Angeles production of Captain Marvel to chat with cast and crew and visit some of the spectacularly cosmic set designs. The upcoming Marvel Studios feature is the first headlined solely by a female lead, and unlike the dozens of heroes that audiences know and love from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel is the most powerful.

What also makes Captain Marvel unique is how it's set in the 1990s, exploring a time period barely seen in the MCU, while also further bridge the gap between Earth and the cosmic side of the franchise. It's all very appropriate given that Danvers is half Kree and half human.

We'll delve into that, from the Kree and Skrull Empire to the Starforce team and Guardians of the Galaxy connections, throughout the day and week as we share our interviews with directors Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden, producer Jonathan Schwartz, and stars Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Djimon Hounsou, Gemma Chan, and Lashana Lynch. Our Brie Larson interview went live early in December so check that out here.

For the Captain Marvel set visit we sent local reporter Joseph Deckelmeier, who you'll know from our many amazing junket TV interviews and on day one he and a group of journalists travelled to Sony Studios. The day began inside the production offices where a sizzle reel was played to set the mood, something that's likely going to be included with the Captain Marvel Blu-ray release.

It had Kevin Feige, Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans in it and presented them on what seemed to be an airship. Brie's Danvers was was wearing her current comic costume with her mohawk helmet, as seen in the new Captain Marvel posters. Chris Evans was clean shaven and wearing the same outfit from the Avengers: Endgame trailer, and Tony Stark was wearing a regular suit. Interview snippets from the video went something like this:

Brie Larson: I feel kind of in awe of how special it is that we're kind of all her together making this. It's amazing to introduce Captain Marvel to so many people because she is the most powerful character in the Marvel universe. It's such an honor to be apart of this legacy of characters and storytelling that is so meaningful to people. I don't think I understood the scope of it until I started talking about this character and I've just been reading every Marvel comic and everything with Carol in it [Laughs].

Kevin Fiege: Brie Larson, wish fulfillment of becoming superhero. Now Captain Marvel is about to take the lead and be the forefront of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Throughout the room Captain Marvel conceptual art was displayed all over the walls. There were plenty of shots of Starforce in costume, as a team and with their ship (more on that later!) and imagery of other Kree people and of course, the Skrulls, the Kree's sworn enemies who can shapeshift to mask their green-skinned, big eared appearance. All of the art here however, only featured Danvers in her green Kree outfit. There were alien planets, interiors of starships and multiple starship designs, and the Air Force base where Danvers was a pilot.

Captain Marvel Set Photo Brie Larson Jet

It's only day 49 of 75 of production at this point in time in late May, and the next sizzle reel that played was essentially the blueprint for the first Captain Marvel trailer. After this we conducted the first interviews (we'll update with links as they go live):

Producer Jonathan Schwartz Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview
Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau) Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview
Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview
Ben Mendelsohn (Talos) Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview

The group then toured the largest set piece, a Kree ship used by Starforce. The last day of shooting on it was the day before and the crew had just started disassembling it. It was massive, full of hallways and corridors.

Everyone received adorable buttons that Brie Larson made for the crew. They were of Captain Marvel, "I heart Skrulls," and Sam Jackson.

Captain Marvel Set Photo with Director Ryan Fleck

On the second day of the set visit later in the week, the group travelled to a location in North Hollywood, CA that resembled an old Costco that had been transformed into a Marvel Studios set. Ongoing construction was everywhere and inside were what looked like sleeping pods aboard the large Kree ship. Here the second set of interviews took place and in between, the group was able to observe some filming.

Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva) Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview
Djimon Hounsou (Korath) Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview
Jude Law Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview
Directors Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview
Brie Larson Captain Marvel Set Visit Interview

The scene observed featured the Starforce in costume. All of the members (who've been together for 15 years according to Law) are standing on a hexagon pattern that's lighting them and they're bantering, about to embark on a stealth mission.

Minn-Erva (Chan) says to Carol something like "You brought too much heat, twinkle fist. Use your head, not your fist," and Jude Law's unnamed character responds, "She knows what she's doing. Let's get focused. Let's follow the signal to the beacon and extract _______. Let's take a dip."

Captain Marvel Set Photo with Director Anna Boden

The team then enters the pods we mentioned above, which we're told are sleep pods of some sort. They look like MRI machines and in this scene are being used to travel to Planet X-27. We're unclear on who they're going after in this sequence but it sounds like it could be the very same planetary mission form this Captain Marvel scene description where the planet name is revealed to be called "Torfa" (from the 2014 Marvel Comics) where they're retrieving a spy. What happens next remains to be seen...

Stay tuned for Captain Marvel coverage all through the week right here on Screen Rant.