The long-awaited debut of the teaser trailer for Captain Marvel answered some questions, raised others, and presented fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with plenty of reasons to cheer -- from the introduction of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers to the the return of Agent Coulson to the big screen to the live-action debut of the shape-shifting Skrulls.

Arriving more than two years after Marvel Studios announced the casting of Larson as Captain Marvel, the nearly two-minute teaser sends Carol (literally) crashing back to Earth, and into the path of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, just as the planet is caught in the middle of an intergalactic war between two alien races.

Needless to say, a lot happens in this teaser. We unpack some of the best, and most revealing, moments.

Does Carol Even Have a Blockbuster Card?

Captain Marvel

The arrival of Brie Larson's Carol Danvers to Earth through the roof of a Blockbuster Video store isn't a callback to Bruce Banner's similar return in Avengers: Infinity War, or simply a fun bit of nostalgia that takes full advantage of Captain Marvel's 1990s setting. No, as we noted elsewhere, it's a clue to when in the 1990s the film is set.

So much for the fan theory that a line of dialogue in Captain America: Civil War pointed to the events of Captain Marvel unfolding in 1997.

Here Come the Men in Black

Captain Marvel

You may have to squint to make it out, but this is the first appearance in the trailer of a shape-shifting alien Skrull -- to say nothing of Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, and someone we can probably assume is Clark Gregg's fan-favorite Phil Coulson. The two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents are, of course, observing an alien autopsy (presumably unrelated to Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction, broadcast on Fox in 1995).

RELATED: Carol Danvers Stands Strong in First Captain Marvel Poster

Although it's virtually impossible to tell when in Captain Marvel this scene takes place, the accompanying voiceover suggests Fury he may not have been aware of a "space invasion" until he crossed paths with "renegade soldier" Carol Danvers.

An Unlikely Duo

Captain Marvel

We already knew that encountering Carol Danvers is “a mind-changing, attitude-changing moment" that puts Nick Fury on a path to becoming director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and founder of the Avengers Initiative. However, in the voiceover, he reveals he was this close from making a decision that would have altered the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: "Truth be told, I was ready to hang it up, until I met you today."

“He [now] understands that there are these other things out there,” Jackson said in a recent interview. “He understands that they’re not all enemies, and we do need to find allies who have specific kinds of skills that humans don’t have. And trying to convince people above him is a difficult task because they haven’t seen it or experienced it.”

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Hala, Ain't No Stoppin' Me

Captain Marvel

This is presumably Hala, the Kree home world, first mentioned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy. We know from Captain Marvel's synopsis that Earth is caught in the middle of a war between the militaristic, blue-skinned Kree and the shape-shifting Skrulls, and that Carol Danvers isn't entirely human.

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In the comics, Carol became friends with the Kree warrior Mar-Vell (aka the original Captain Marvel), and his genetic structure melded with hers following the detonation of a device called a Psyche-Magnetron, making her Kree-human hybrid. It remains to be seen whether a similar story will unfold in the film, but the trailer depicts Carol with only hazy memories of her life on Earth.

Kree Technology -- But Used For Good Or For Bad?

Captain Marvel

That said, this scene may offer more clues to Carol's backstory, although it's difficult to determine which conclusion we're supposed to draw. This certainly could the Kree using their advanced technology to repair her memories following the incident on Earth with the Psyche-Magnetron; in the comics, Carol initially suffered blackouts as her personality switched between that of a human and a Kree warrior.

But this also could be the Kree performing experiments on Carol, and altering her memories for unknown purposes. Maybe they needed her talents as a member of Starforce -- seen in an earlier image, in the the teaser -- or to battle the Skrull.

Is Jude Law Playing Mar-Vell ... Or Someone Else?

Captain Marvel

When Jude Law was cast in the film, it was widely assumed -- and widely reported -- that he'd play Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior better known in Marvel comics as the original Captain Marvel. However, Marvel Studios is keeping his character's hush-hush, referring to him publicly only as the leader of the interstellar peacekeepers known as Starforce.

That's led to speculation that Law's role, whether that turns out to be Mar-Vell or someone else entirely, will be revealed as the secret villain of Captain Marvel.

The Skrulls Hit the Beach

Captain Marvel

The shape-shifting Skrulls appear only briefly in the teaser, at least in the green, pointy-eared natural form. Luckily, though, Marvel Studios released a better image from this very scene earlier this month, showing the aliens emerging from the surf.

RELATED: How Captain Marvel's Origin Story May Work Around Carol's X-Men Ties

Introduced in 1962 in The Fantastic Four #2, by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the Skrulls have been a persistent foe in the Marvel Comics Universe, where they've waged intergalactic war against the Kree, infiltrated other cosmic empires, and hatched a plan to secretly invade Earth by capturing and replacing many of the planet's superheroes.

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Carol's Not Afraid to Punch An Old Lady

Captain Marvel

Carol Danvers presumably doesn't punch the kindly old lady on the train because she won't give up her set. No, granny is, in all likelihood, a shape-shifting Skrull who's traded interstellar travel for public transportation.

Presumably Captain Marvel will reveal why the Skrull would choose to impersonate a seemingly random senior citizen -- do the aliens need access to a bingo hall or an early bird special? -- rather than, say, a military official.

Welcome Back, Ronan

Captain Marvel

The casting in March of Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser and Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer took virtually everybody by surprise, albeit pleasantly. Although the two Guardians of the Galaxy antagonists didn't survive the 2014 film, the 1990s setting of Captain Marvel means they get to make a welcome return to the MCU; maybe this time Korath will get a little more screen time.

Needless to say, this is Pace as Ronan, with his trusty Cosmi-Rod in hand, observing what appears to be Earth from an orbiting Kree warship.

Agent Coulson Reporting For Duty

Captain Marvel

Even more welcome news than the involvement of Lee Pace and Djimon Hounsou in Captain Marvel is the return to the big screen of Clark Gregg as a rather youthful Agent Phil Coulson. Along with Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury, Coulson helped to form the connective tissue of the early MCU, appearing in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor and The Avengers, as well as in a couple of Marvel One-Shots.

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Coulson's apparent death at the hands of Loki in 2012's The Avengers helped to inspire the heroes to band together to stop the Chitauri invasion of Earth. He was later revived, of course, and has played a starring role on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., but hasn't appeared in a Marvel film since 2012. Marvel Studios used special effects to de-age both Gregg and Jackson.

Paging Nick Fury

Captain Marvel

But of course S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Nick Fury carries a pager in the early 1990s; it's either that or one of those enormous brick phones. However, much like the Blockbuster store at the opening of the trailer, this sequence isn't included merely as a symbol of the era.

This pager is, in all likelihood, the same one Fury uses in the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War to send a distress call to Captain Marvel -- albeit without the case, attachments and starburst symbol.

A Helmet, For Safety and Style

Captain Marvel

There had been some question as to whether Carol Danvers would wear her armor in Captain Marvel, and this teaser trailer provided us with the answer. She does indeed don the armor, complete with a helmet that, just as in the comic books, permits her hair to be exposed in a mohawk hairstyle.


Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck from a script they wrote with Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch, Meg LeFauve, Nicole Perlman, and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jude Law as the commander of Starforce, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer, Gemma Chan as Minn-Erva, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos, and Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau. The film arrives on March 8, 2019.