In a recent interview, Marvel Studios President and producer Kevin Feige teased highly anticipated upcoming MCU films and suggested that Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel will lead directly into the untitled fourth Avengers film. Speaking to Indie Wire, Feige touched on life after the Avengers and how Captain Marvel will play a crucial role in closing out the current phase of Marvel movies.
“We’re really focusing on Captain Marvel and the work that [directors] Anna [Boden] and Ryan [Fleck] are doing,” Feige said. “It’s going to be a big part of heading towards this epic conclusion and epic finale of 22 movies over the course of 10 years. That is focus for the next six movies we have to finish and get out.”
Based on these comments and the fact that Larson’s solo movie, one of just two films set to hit theaters in between the next two Avengers movies, is a prequel that takes place before 2008’s Iron Man, we can guess what the loose plot may be. It sounds very much like Feige and company are preparing to adapt the Kree-Skrull War for the big screen.
Too inside nerdy baseball for you? That’s okay, let us explain. The Kree-Skull War comic book storyline revolved around two rival alien species: the Kree (who we already saw via Ronan in the first Guardians of the Galaxy) and the Skrulls, a group of shape shifting aliens. In the comics, they both have their sights set on Earth with the Skrulls replacing superpowered individuals and high-ranking government officials with alien clones and the Kree just generally causing a ruckus as well.
Why do we think this is the case? The origins of Carol Danvers’ version of Captain Marvel, who Larson will be playing, is closely tied to the Kree and Skrulls. Originally, the character gained her powers when she was caught in the blast radius of a Kree technological explosion. She was also body-snatched by a Skrull at one point. Much of this would help explain why she’s been absent from the MCU all these years and is just now showing up after her solo movie, which is set in the 1990s. Beyond that, it also offers an opportunity for the key Avengers to take their leave in one final mega battle peppered with shape shifting aliens as the core actors will all see their contracts expire after Avengers IV. Feige has already hinted that the studio will create a “new thing” in the aftermath.
This is far from a guarantee, but the writing is on the wall that some type of “Secret Invasion” storyline from the comics will make its way to the big screen via Captain Marvel and Avengers IV.
In the meantime, Avengers: Infinity War will arrive in theaters on May 4.
