A year ago at San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios announced that Academy Award winner Brie Larson has been chosen to play Carol Danvers, also known as Captain Marvel. With a release date of March 8, 2019, Captain Marvel will be the studio's first film headlined by a female superhero. Fans have been salivating ever since to learn more details about the film, and Marvel didn't disappoint at this year's massive Hall H presentation. The studio revealed that Captain Marvel will take place in the 1990s - a decade before the Marvel Cinematic Universe formally launched when Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) revealed to the public that he was Iron Man. What's more, Marvel unleashed stunning concept art, not just of Larson in Captain Marvel's trademark red, blue and gold uniform, but of her battling the villains of the film - the alien Skrulls!The Skrulls are a surprising and unexpected addition to the MCU. The Skrulls date back to very beginnings of the Marvel Universe of the comics. The insidious race of green alien shapeshifters, recognizable in their true forms by their notably large ridged chins, debuted in Marvel Comics all the back in Fantastic Four #2 (1962). Because the Skrulls are closely associated with the Fantastic Four, whose film rights are owned by competing studio 20th Century Fox, it was assumed by fans that they were among the ancillary characters off limits to Marvel Studios. Happily, that isn't the case.Not merely antagonists for the Fantastic Four, the Skrulls have long since been a threat to the entire Marvel Universe, and especially to the superheroes who defend the Earth. One of the hallmark Avengers stories of the 1970s was the Kree/Skrull War, where Earth's Mightiest Heroes were caught in the middle of the intergalactic conflict between the shapeshifting race and their enemies, the blue-skinned Kree, the creators of the Inhumans. Recently the Skrulls became an even greater threat to Earth's heroes in the 2008 crossover event Secret Invasion - and this is where the Skrulls arriving in the Captain Marvel film could alter the very fabric of the MCU.
Created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and Leinil Francis Yu, Secret Invasion was essentially the Marvel Universe's version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It revealed that after the Kree/Skrull War, a coalition of Earth's superheroes who dubbed themselves the Illuminati - Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Mr. Fantastic, Namor the Sub-Mariner, Black Bolt of the Inhumans, and Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men - invaded the Skrull homeworld to warn them against further attacks on the Earth. The heroes were subsequently captured and experimented upon before escaping.Armed with knowledge of Earth's superhumans from their experiments, the Skrulls, who believe the Earth is "religiously and rightfully theirs," mounted a secret invasion of the Earth. They captured and replaced several superheroes, as well as infiltrating S.H.I.E.L.D. The Marvel Universe was destabilized and thrown asunder by suspicion and mistrust - the event's slogan was "Who Do You Trust?" - as anyone could have been revealed as a Skrull. The end result saw S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded by the President of the United States and replaced with an organization called H.A.M.M.E.R. led by Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin). Osborn formed his own secret evil version of the Illuminati, which included Doctor Doom, Emma Frost, and Loki, leading into the Dark Reign storyline.
By setting Captain Marvel in the 1990s, Marvel Studios looks to be laying out a long game involving the Skrulls that could ultimately lead to a Secret Invasion of the MCU. We won't know until the film is released how Carol Danvers gains the powers of Captain Marvel, but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige has announced Captain Marvel will depict the MCU's version of the Kree-Skrull War. This indicates that rather than gaining her might from an Infinity Stone like Scarlet Witch and Vision, her origin will involve the Kree as it does in the comics. The Kree are already in the MCU and have been sighted in both Guardians of the Galaxy and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which introduced the Inhumans to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was also confirmed at Comic Con that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) will appear in Captain Marvel, and that this younger version of the famed super spy has two working eyes - therefore Captain Marvel could depict the events that caused Fury to lose the use of his left eye.
There are also bigger questions Captain Marvel must answer: if she was active since the '90s, where has she been and why hasn't she been mentioned by anyone before? One answer could be that Captain Marvel's adventures are cosmic in nature and her exploits took place in deep space. The concept art seems to support that, showing Danvers in battle with Skrulls in what looks like a Skrull space craft. In addition, if she was affiliated with the S.H.I.E.L.D. of that era - which could mean welcome cameos by Agent Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Howard Stark (John Slattery), Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), Janet Van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), and even Alexander Pierce (Robert Redford) - the spy agency could have suppressed any public knowledge of Captain Marvel. Or perhaps, the Skrulls somehow did it. As for where Captain Marvel has been for 20 years, your guess is as good as ours, though she's expected to make an appearance in Avengers: Infinity War, which will allow her to take her place among the superheroes of the present day MCU.
The long-term ramifications of the Skrulls in the MCU is what's most exciting - and terrifying - about a potential Secret Invasion. The Skulls could have been on Earth for decades, even before Carol Danvers became Captain Marvel. It's possible they never left. The Skrulls could have been in the MCU this whole time - which could mean some characters we've been watching for years could secretly have been Skrulls all along! The Skrulls have the ability not just to look like humans but to mimic superhuman powers and abilities, so potentially be anyone could be a Skrull - from Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) to Scott Lang (Ant-Man) to even Tony Stark himself!
The MCU has already faced massive destabilization when it was revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier that Hydra had existed within S.H.I.E.L.D. since the agency's inception in the 1950s. After the Civil War over the signing of the Sokovia Accords resulted in the Avengers breaking apart and the imminent arrival of Thanos armed with the Infinity Gauntlet, a Secret Invasion by the Skrulls would be a game-changer that would wreak an untold amount of havoc on the already precarious state of the MCU.
Phase 3 of the MCU will culminate in Avengers: Infinity War, with the sequel to Spider-Man: Homecoming kicking off Phase 4 of the cinematic universe. Rather than our heroes basking in the glory of saving the universe and the unity between the Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Skrulls herald even darker times coming for the MCU - a world of paranoia and mistrust where even those heroes we feel closest to and think we know best could secretly have been a Skrull all along. This would mean, along with Captain Marvel, the MCU would need its young superheroes more than ever, as the heroes and fans alike will ask each other Who Do You Trust?
