'Captain Marvel' explores the 'Guardians of the Galaxy' side of the MCU
Lee Pace and Djimon Hounsou are both returning to their old Marvel Cinematic Universe roles in Captain Marvel.
The two actors previously appeared in Guardians of the Galaxy, as Ronan the Accuser and his crony Korath the Pursuer, respectively. So now we know that Captain Marvel will be wading into Guardians territory.
It's not a huge surprise. We already know that the Skrull alien race is Captain Marvel's principal villain. We also know from the synopsis that the story places star Brie Larson's superpowered Carol Danvers smack in the middle of a galactic war between two races.
It's a safe bet that the Skrulls sit on one side of that conflict. Now that we've learned Ronan and Korath are returning, it's fair to speculate that their people, the Kree, form the other side of that conflict. Especially since Danvers herself is half-Kree in the comics.
If you're wondering how Ronan and Korath are returning in Captain Marvel when (spoiler alert, I guess?) they didn't survive Guardians, remember that the upcoming movie is a prequel. It's set during the 1990s, long before even the earlier present-day MCU stories started playing out.
The prospect of a Kree-Skrull war is a big deal, however. In the comics, a similar storyline framed a nine-issue Avengers run during the early '70s. The movie definitely won't recreate that story, which included both the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, but you can expect it to draw on some of the comic storyline's ideas, in much the same way past MCU releases have done.
It was during this comic book run, for example, that a romance between the Vision and Scarlet Witch first sprung up. That pair hasn't reached the same point yet in the MCU, but many of their appearances together have foreshadowed an eventual relationship.
It was previously announced that Jude Law would play the Kree hero Mar-Vell in Captain Marvel. In the comics, Mar-Vell was Captain Marvel during the Kree-Skrull war. Danvers was still herself; she developed powers after her DNA intertwined with Kree DNA during a Mar-Vell confrontation that was loosely connected to Ronan.
With Pace and Hounsou both returning to the MCU and Captain Marvel telling a story that features Mar-Vell to some extent, we're likely seeing some pieces of the origin story for MCU Danvers taking shape here. Ronan is also a major player in the Kree-Skrull war of the comics, so his return makes sense on that level as well.
Marvel's Monday announcement additionally confirms the return of another familiar face: Clark Gregg. His SHIELD agent, Phil Coulson, "died" in The Avengers and later returned in the Agents of SHIELD TV series. Captain Marvel marks his first return to the MCU movies, even if it's technically at an earlier point in the storyline.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
