Lashana Lynch has been making headlines for her role in the upcoming James Bond movie No Time To Die (she'll play the woman who inherits the 007 mantle from the iconic super-spy), but the British actress first landed on comic book movie fans' radars when she appeared as Maria Rambeau in 2019's Captain Marvel.
During an interview with GQ, Lynch recalls a story from her time working on a series called Still Star-Crossed, when she told her cast-mates that she aspired to play a superhero in a Marvel movie.
“I remember telling them, ‘the next thing I want to do is play a superhero. I want to aim for Marvel.’ And they were like,” – she puts on a smug, patronising voice – “‘Uhhh, OK.’” Lynch just shrugged. “You guys don’t know me. If I say I want to walk through this wall, then I’m probably going to do it within about two years.”
Less than a year after the now cancelled series aired, Lynch had landed the role of Carol Danvers' fighter pilot pal, but it sounds like her MCU adventure almost played out very differently.
“I’d been taping for years. [Casting director] Sarah Finn at Marvel knew me in and out because I’d taped for many roles, big and small. Black Panther – I won’t say [whom], because I’ve got friends in the film – Venom, an Avengers film... There were a good handful.”
Feel free to speculate away!
Lynch drew high praise for her performance in Captain Marvel, but we're not sure if she'll get the chance to reprise the role since the upcoming sequel is expected to take place in modern day. That said, flashbacks are always a possibility, and there's nothing to say Danvers won't pay a visit to her old friend at some point (old-age makeup works wonders).
At any rate, Lynch is going to have her hands full playing the new 007 in No Time To Die, and based on past comments, it sounds like she may stay with the franchise even when Daniel Craig's replacement comes on board.
Do you think we'll see Maria Rambeau in the MCU again? Drop us a comment down below, and check out our Captain Marvel spoiler breakdown if you fancy a recap.
To view the moments all at once, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
Thank You Stan
As we reported already,
Captain Marvel opens with a touching tribute to the late Stan "The Man" Lee.
Instead of the usual collage of Marvel character featured in the opening logo graphic, it's completely made up of Lee's cameo appearances in all of the earlier MCU films. Then, just before the movie gets underway, "Thank you Stan" shows up on the screen.
The Generalissimo also makes his first posthumous cameo in the film when Carol spots him reading the script for Kevin Smith's
Mallrats on the bus (Lee appeared in that movie in the '90s), but, to be honest, it's not quite so effective.
Vers
After a quick glimpse into the past (more on that later), we're transported to The Kree homeworld of Hala and introduced to Star Force Officer Vers (Brie Larson), who can't sleep and decides to instigate a sparring session with her commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law).
During their fight, he tells her that she must learn to control her emotions if she hopes to harness her full potential. It's suggested that Vers' power comes from an implant in her neck.
We then see Vers convening with The Supreme Intelligence (Annette Bening), who takes the form of the person one most respects and admires - although Vers has no memory of Bening's character.
Skrull Ambush And Capture
The Intelligence gives Vers and her team a mission: they must retrieve a Kree spy with information vital to winning the war from a nearby planet. Unfortunately, the whole thing is a setup and Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) was posing as the agent the whole time. He stuns Vers and takes her aboard his ship while the others fight their way free.
Talos is looking for information buried deep within Vers' consciousness, and his mind probe is able to scan through the events of her past.
Through these flashes we learn that Bening's character is a Doctor Lawson who worked with Carol Danvers in the Air Force. She seems to be the key to the coordinates Talos wants, but Vers busts loose before he can retrieve them.
Escape
Vers manages to free herself, and after she briefly interrogates Talos (he just taunts her like a boss) we're treated to arguably the best action sequence in the movie.
Vers' hands are still encased in metal so she can't use her photon blasts, but the resourceful warrior still manages to take down dozens of Skrulls. In the end, she's able to free her hands but inadvertently blasts a huge hole in the side of the ship in the process.
Vers then commanders an escape pod, and it's off to Earth we go.
Planet C-53
Vers crash-lands on Earth, aka Planet C-53, and after a series of "look, it's the '90s!" sight gags, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive on the scene to question her.
Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) doesn't believe a word of her story at first, but when The Skrulls attack and it's revealed that one of them is posing as Coulson (Clark Gregg), that soon changes. Vers pursues one of the Skrulls, but after posing as an old lady on a train (yes,
that one), he manages to give her the slip.
Meanwhile, back at S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ an autopsy on the Coulson Skrull is performed and we see that Talos is now posing as Fury's boss.
The Truth
Vers and Fury decide to team up, and after commandeering an experimental plane - with Goose as a stowaway - at the military base where Lawson worked, they decide to track down Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) to see if she has any answers.
After an emotional reunion with Maria and her awesome daughter Momica (who were led to believe that Carol was killed), Talos appears and agrees to tell Vers the truth in exchange for coordinates that will lead his people to a new home.
Yes, The Skrulls are actually the good guys, and, as Carol soon finds out, it was Yon-Rogg that killed Lawson, aka...
Mar-Vell
Yes, Lawson turns out to be Mar-Vell - an undercover Kree scientist who was attempting to create a faster-than-light vessel to transport the Skrull refugees away from Ronan and the other Accusers.
Danvers agreed to pilot the plane to Lawson's lab, but Yon-Rogg shot them down en route and killed Mar-Vell before she could destroy the light drive. However, Carol finished the job and absorbed the drive's energy after the resulting explosion, giving her powers.
It seems a blood transfusion from Rogg on top of that was enough to fake Kree physiology.
The Tesseract
Carol, Fury, Maria, Talos and Goose arrive at Mar-Vell's space lab where The Skrull General is reunited with his family and the other refugees in an emotional scene. As It turns out, Talos was searching for more than just the light drive's power source - which just so happens to be the Tesseract!
Before they can nab it, however, Yon-Rogg and his team show up and capture our heroes, and a de-powered Carol is plugged in to converse with The Intelligence.
Binary
The Supreme Intelligence has some fun flinging Carol around the place, before taunting her for being "only human." This is all Danvers needs to hear, and after a montage of the younger Carol being knocked down and getting up again, she unleashes her full power after coming to the realization that the device in her neck was actually an inhibitor all along.
Carol, in Binary form, bursts loose and kicks some Kree ass, while Talos skims one of the guards in order to free the others. Oh, and Goose - who is indeed a flerken - devours several bad guys before swallowing the Tesseract. Good kitty.
Motherflerken!
Well, if you guessed that Goose would be responsible for Nick Fury losing that eye, you'd have been absolutely right!
After Maria successfully pilots the crew to freedom, Fury picks Goose up to make a fuss of him and the little f*cker scratches his eye. Nick doesn't think much of it, but Talos knows better!
Yes, Nick will be losing that eye, and neither confirming nor denying the resulting story that The Kree burned it out under interrogation.
Showdown With Yon-Rogg
When Carol falls from Yon-Rogg's ship and plummets towards Earth, her flight powers kick in and she rockets back into space to take down Ronan's fleet with ease. The Accuser flees, promising to return "for the weapon."
Carol then returns to the desert for a showdown with her old mentor.
Rogg tells her he's proud of her before encouraging her to "drop the light show" and take him down with her fists. Carol promptly blasts him in the chest before telling him she has nothing to prove. She then sends him back to Hala with a message for The Intelligence: She's coming to bring the truth about the war to The Kree.
Costume Change
Earlier on in the movie, Carol decides that she can't sport Kree colors anymore and gets Monica to help her redesign her uniform to look more like the red and clue costume from the comics, but that's not the only wardrobe change in the film.
Back on Earth, Monica returns Carol's Air Force jacket (minus ketchup stain), and Captain Marvel takes to the skies sporting a slightly different ensemble, now able to blast through space without the aid of a helmet.
The last time we see Carol (in this timeline), she's jumping into hyperspace to find Talos and the Skrulls a new home.
The Avengers Initiative
Captain America may have been the first Avenger, but Captain Marvel inspired the name!
The final scene takes us to Fury's office, where Coulson is trying to get him to choose a new eye. Fury tells the future S.H.I.E.L.D. Director that they need to begin to assemble heroes to deal with intergalactic threats.
We then see that Nick is typing out a document titled "The Protector Initiative," but when he notices that his new superpowered pal was known as Carol "Avenger" Danvers back in her military days... well, the rest is history.
We're In The Endgame Now
As previously reported, the mid-credits scene takes place soon after "The Snap," as Captain America, Black Widow, Rhodey and Banner are attempting to figure out what's going on with the pager Fury used to contact Danvers at the end of
Infinity War (she modified it and told him to use it only in an emergency before they parted ways)
Natasha tells Banner to resend the signal, and turns around to be greeted by Captain Marvel, who asks where Fury is.
So, it doesn't look like
Avengers: Endgame is going to waste any time reintroducing Carol, as she'll be among the heroes when the film begins.