7 questions we have after watching the first Captain Marvel trailer

The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. The first Captain Marvel trailer landed today courtesy of Good Morning America, and if you thought you were excited for the upcoming movie before, prepare to be even more hyped after the two minute teaser. There’s plenty to dissect from the trailer (including a young Nick Fury, Captain Marvel’s powers, and fights with little, old ladies), but the main thing we have is… questions. No matter how exciting trailers can be, they always leave us wanting more. (Well, that’s kind of the point of a trailer, isn’t it?) So, if you can’t stop thinking about the Captain Marvel trailer and you want more, more, more, read on for the seven big questions we need answered. 

1. What causes Captain Marvel to crash?

Let’s start at the very beginning. No sooner has the trailer started and we see a huge explosion in the sky, Captain Marvel falling to Earth and crashing - into a Blockbuster Video no less! What caused her crash? Nothing good surely, but at this point it’s hard to say. Space battle? Ship malfunction? Or something else? Either way, it’s surely what brings her to Earth at the start of the movie and eventually introduces her to Nick Fury. 

2. Why was Nick Fury going to give up?

“Truth be told, I was ready to hang it up... ‘til I met you today,” Fury says in the trailer. We’re given the impression that he’s talking to Captain Marvel, but why was he ready to give up before she came along? Fury is a young man in this movie, so he’s not exactly at retirement age and, as we know from previous MCU movies, he’s not the sort of person to fall at the first hurdle. Could it have something to do with having a really, really bad day? Just before Fury talks about giving up, he also says: “Space invasion… big car chase…” Plus, some of the shots of him in the trailer make it seem like he’s not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent yet, but a regular police officer. Could Fury start out as a cop at the beginning of Captain Marvel and then find himself ready to quit after having his first brush with aliens? Maybe. Thankfully, it seems like Captain Marvel will help him out. 

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3. Why can’t Captain Marvel remember her human life?

One thing none of us expected from the first Captain Marvel trailer was her memory loss. We already know that Carol Danvers is a human who gets her powers through an accident and joins the alien Space Fleet, but we presumed she’d still know where she came from. Not so in the trailer as she says: “I keep having these memories… I see flashes… I think I had a life here… but I can’t tell if it’s real.” Why doesn’t she remember her human life? The answer might be hidden in the comics. In one version of Captain Marvel’s origin story, she gets her powers from a device called the Psyche-Magnitron, which transforms her cells and, in the process, wipes her memories. If the movie is going down a similar route, this could explain why Captain Marvel doesn’t remember her human life in the trailer. 

4. What’s that upside down thingy Captain Marvel is in?

At around 1.15 in the trailer, Captain Marvel is hanging upside down in some sort of electric contraption, and it doesn’t look comfortable. What is it and what’s it doing to the superhero? Well, it might be the Psyche-Magnitron device we’ve just mentioned. Except, during the scene, Captain Marvel is already wearing her red and blue suit, which we know she doesn’t get until well after she gains her powers. Having said that, in one version of the comic book story, the Psyche-Magnitron not only gives Carol her powers (as I’ve said above), but also creates a suit for her to help her adjust to the genetic reconstruction, so we could in fact be seeing the moment Carol gets her powers, loses her memory, AND gets her suit. The other possibility is that this moment comes much later in the movie, after Captain Marvel has got her red and blue suit, when the baddies are trying to once again rid her of her memories of Earth, so she won’t fight the invasion. Finally, it could not be the Psyche-Magnitron at all, but some sort of prison or torture device. At this point, who knows?! 

5. Why does Captain Marvel punch that old lady?

It’s the moment everyone is talking about. Captain Marvel punching that sweet, little old lady on the bus. While it might seem pretty shocking that a superhero would behave in such a way, there’s actually a really good reason for it… and no, it’s not because her bag is on the spare seat next to her. If you’ve been paying attention to the news coming out around Captain Marvel then you’ll know that the movie will focus on the Kree-Skrull war from the comics. The Skrulls are a classic comic book villain and they have shape-shifting abilities. That’s right, most likely that sweet little old lady isn’t a sweet little old lady at all, but a Skrull in disguise and Captain Marvel has sniffed her out. That… or she’s going to have a lot of apologising to do when the grandma wakes up. 

6. Who is Nick Fury paging (again)?

Haven’t we been here before? The appearance of Nick Fury’s pager in the trailer is a nice nod to the Avengers: Infinity War post-credits scene, which gave us our first hint of how important Captain Marvel was going to be for Avengers 4, but you might have missed something in all the excitement. Yes, we can assume it’s the same pager he uses to call Captain Marvel for help during the Avengers: Infinity War ending, but if you pay attention when it’s on screen, you can see that he’s telling someone he’s “with target”. I think we can assume that the target he’s referring to is Captain Marvel, which would seem to imply that he’s not just your average cop as I suggested above, but an undercover S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who has been sent to track down the female superhero. Why? Surely not harm her. To talk her into helping them? Maybe. Or maybe the target is someone else entirely... 

7. Who is this?

It’s Captain Marvel of course! Actually, it isn’t that obvious given the mask she’s wearing in this particular shot (above), but any fans of the comics will recognise the helmet straight away. Captain Marvel comic book artist Jamie McKelvie also retweeted the below tweet after the trailer hit the internet, pretty much confirming that we’ll get this look in the movie. It’s also probably the “additional head” star Brie Larson is concerned about in this tweet. You can take another look at Captain Marvel wearing the cool helmet (complete with a forcefield around her mouth for breathing and a mohawk hairstyle) in an underwater scene at around 1.36 in the trailer. 

Captain Marvel isn't the only new Marvel movie on the horizon. Check out Marvel Studios full slate in the link above.