Captain Marvel 2019: Cast, Plot, Villain and Ending Explained

The Captain Marvel 2019 plot follows a Kree soldier called Vers who discovers that Earth holds the key to her forgotten past. The story begins in 1995 on Hala, the Kree capital, where Vers serves on the military team Starforce. She has no memory of her life before the Kree, and she keeps dreaming of an older woman she cannot place. Her commander Yon-Rogg trains her, and the Supreme Intelligence tells her to keep her emotions in check. A mission to rescue an undercover agent from the shape-shifting Skrulls goes wrong, and Vers is captured by their leader Talos. She escapes and crash-lands in Los Angeles, which is where the rest of the story unfolds.

Vers turns out to be Carol Danvers, a human pilot the Kree have kept in the dark about her own history. During her capture, Talos digs through her memories and glimpses Earth. After her crash into Los Angeles, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury and Phil Coulson come to look into it, a Skrull ambush follows, and Fury kills the one wearing Coulson's face. Talos then passes himself off as Fury's boss Keller, yet Fury sees through the act.

The pair dig up the fact that she was presumed dead in 1989 during a test flight of an engine designed by Dr. Wendy Lawson. With Lawson's cat, Goose, aboard a jet, they head to Louisiana to find Maria Rambeau, Carol's old friend, and Maria's daughter Monica. There Talos walks in unarmed and tells them the Skrulls are refugees, and that Lawson was actually a Kree scientist named Mar-Vell who had been helping them.

Carol's memories come back in full: Yon-Rogg killed Mar-Vell, and Carol herself blew up the engine, taking in its energy and gaining her abilities. Mar-Vell's concealed lab, floating in orbit, houses Skrull families and the Tesseract. Starforce takes Carol prisoner, but she pulls out the implant holding her powers back. During the fight Goose proves to be an alien Flerken, swallows the Tesseract and leaves Fury without his left eye. Carol wrecks a Kree bomber, sends Yon-Rogg home to Hala with a warning, and Ronan's forces pull back.

Captain Marvel (2019) opened in Australia on March 7, 2019, and in the United States and United Kingdom on March 8, 2019. Disney's own release announcement lists March 8 as the US date, and Box Office Mojo carries the UK and Australian dates. The film was released in 3D and IMAX, according to Disney's D23 entry.

In release order it is the 20th film, sitting between ant man and the wasp and avengers endgame. In the Disney+ chronological order it moves up to second place, after captain america the first avenger and before iron man 2008, because it is set in 1995. For the full sequence, see marvel movies in order.

The ending of Captain Marvel (2019) explains how the Avengers get their name and how the team can later call on Carol. Carol leaves Earth to help the Skrulls find a new home, and before going she leaves Fury a modified pager for emergencies. Fury then starts the initiative that will gather heroes, and he names it Avenger after Carol's Air Force call sign.

In my opinion, this is the neatest piece of saga bookkeeping in the film, because one small gesture becomes the origin of a title that carries the whole franchise. The pager matters again in the mid-credits scene set in 2018, where the Avengers watch it activate and Carol appears looking for Fury. That payoff is why the ending works as setup rather than as a loose thread.

The Tesseract thread is worth following across films. In captain america the first avenger, Johann Schmidt seizes the cube in Norway in 1942. In Captain Marvel it sits inside Dr. Wendy Lawson's hidden orbital lab among Skrull families, and Goose, an alien Flerken, swallows it during the battle. By the time of the avengers 2012, Fury is at a research base when the cube activates and Loki steps through. The Goose stinger is therefore a joke, but it also fills in the cube's journey between those two films.

It could be argued that the ending is also the film's most practical choice. Carol does not stay on Earth, so the 1990s story stays self contained and Fury, not Carol, is the one who builds the team. Compare that with the origin films for iron man 2008 and thor 2011, where the hero stays and the team comes to him. Here the hero leaves and the team is built around her absence. Carol's return is then handled in the marvels. To see where the saga goes next, follow the marvel timeline.

Captain Marvel has two post credit scenes: a mid-credits scene set in 2018 and a short stinger with Goose. In the mid-credits scene, the Avengers watch the pager Fury gave Carol activate, and Carol appears looking for Fury. In the post-credits scene, Goose jumps on Fury's desk and coughs up the Tesseract.

Captain Marvel was filmed mostly in California, with a shorter shoot in Louisiana. Principal photography began on March 19, 2018 at Sony Studios in Los Angeles under the working title Open World, and filming wrapped on July 6, 2018.

The locations named in production coverage are:

• Culver City, California (Sony Pictures Studios, main stage work)
• Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana (location shooting, about two weeks)
• Oxnard, California (the 1986 carnival scene at Jim Hall Racing Club)
• Simi Valley, California
• Edwards Air Force Base, California
• Lucerne Valley, California
• Shaver Lake, California

The best Captain Marvel trivia covers de-aging, the cat and the Stan Lee tribute.

• Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg were digitally de-aged about 25 years by Lola VFX.
• Goose was played mainly by a tabby cat named Reggie, with three stand-ins named Archie, Gonzo and Rizzo.
• Pinar Toprak was the first woman to score an MCU film.
• The Marvel Studios opening logo was altered to honor Stan Lee, who died in November 2018, and is followed by the words Thank You Stan.
• The mid-credits scene set in 2018 was directed by Anthony and Joe Russo.
• The working title during production was Open World.