At this point, odds are you’re well aware thatBrie Larsonpunches an old lady in theCaptain Marveltrailer. But fear not; Captain Marvel doesn’t just run around punching whoever she pleases. That old woman is almost positively a Skrull, an individual part of a race of alien shapeshifters. In the comics, there’s a crossover storyline calledSecret Invasionand in it, according toMarvel.com, “The shape-shifting Skrulls have been infiltrating the Earth for years, replacing many of Marvel’s heroes with impostors, setting the stage for an all-out invasion.”
We’re not just talking about any random person here.Secret Invasionsuggests that anyone can be a Skrull - even some of the superheroes we’ve seen featured in past Marvel Cinematic Universe films. But before we take that idea too far, is that even the case? IsSecret Invasionpart of theCaptain Marvelstory? While visiting the set of the film back in the summer of 2018, I got the chance to participate in a roundtable interview with executive producerJonathan Schwartzand here’s what he told us about theSecret Invasionstoryline’s impact on the film:
“Yes, we talked aboutSecret Invasion. I wouldn’t go into this movie saying, ‘Which one of these superheroes is a Skrull?’ Because Carol is more or less the first superhero to show up on Earth. But are we planting seeds for future movies? Always.”
Does that mean a well-known hero could ultimately be revealed to have been a Skrull all along? At this point, your guess is as good as mine but, personally? I’m betting on it.
From there the group dug in a little deeper with Schwartz, specifically asking about the political paranoia that comes with the Skrull invasion in the comics. Here’s what he told us:
“If you’re talking about kind of the [H. Warren] Craddick Anti-Superhero Act stuff from the comics, not really. There is a paranoia element that’s a little bit different from what’s in that specific storyline, but it’s not kind of related to the Anti-Superhero who could be a Skrull comic stuff. What I’d say about the Kree-Skrull War overall is it’s much more of a kind of backdrop and mythological underpinning for the movie than it is a direct lift of that plot like Civil War was.”
We probably won’t know exactly how deep the Skrulls will dig their claws into the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe for a good while, but we will likely get a better sense of how this might play out whenCaptain Marvelhits theaters nationwide on March 8th. I, for one, am putting a lot of stock in this particular bit of Schwartz’s comments: “But are we planting seeds for future movies? Always.” It would certainly add a very interesting wrinkle to the MCU past, present and future.
For more of myCaptain Marvelset visit coverage, check out the links below:
