20 facts you might not know about 'Captain Marvel'

The idea of entering Captain Marvel into the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been bandied about for a while. At one time, she was in the script for Avengers: Age of Ultron, but Marvel did not want her to be introduced as part of the ensemble, preferring her to get her own film as a jumping-off point.

Nicole Perlman, who had written on Guardians of the Galaxy, and Meg LeFauve, who co-wrote Inside Out, both pitched takes on Captain Marvel. Marvel liked them and, instead of picking one, decided to put the two together to work on the script as a team. Jessica Gao also pitched, and while she did not get the gig, she probably impressed Marvel. She became the head writer of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Marvel approached Ava DuVernay, and she expressed interest in potentially directing Captain Marvel or Black Panther. Ultimately, she declined to do either, not wanting to be hemmed in by the Marvel machine. Director Emily Carmichael’s name was also bandied about early in the process. Ultimately, the directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck got the gig.

For the film, Marvel decided to change the origin story of Carol Danvers becoming Captain Marvel. They feared it was too similar to the origin of DC’s Green Lantern, which probably felt doubly treacherous given how the Green Lantern film turned out.

Brie Larson seems to have been the choice to play Danvers from the beginning. There was some concern about a 26-year-old playing such an accomplished fighter pilot, but a quick consultation with the Air Force indicated that it’s possible to achieve such heights by 28 or so, making it feel plausible.

Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury is always available to the MCU, but he has a particularly big role in Captain Marvel. Larson had a part in that. She had worked with Jackson on Kong: Skull Island and pushed for Fury to have a sizable role in the film. Since the movie is set in the 1990s, Jackson was digitally de-aged 25 years — the first time Marvel did that for an entire movie.

Mendelsohn plays dual roles, in a sense, in Captain Marvel. He plays the Skrull Talos, who goes undercover as Keller, Fury’s boss at S.H.I.E.L.D. For Talos, Mendelsohn used his own Australian accent. To play the American Keller, he based his accent on Donald Rumsfeld.

Mar-Vell, in the comics, is male and Danvers’ love interest. In the initial screenplay, that was the case. However, casting proved difficult. Boden suggested maybe they could cast a woman in the role and change the dynamic between Mar-Vell and Danvers and also that Mar-Vell could be the Supreme Intelligence. After that, Annette Bening was cast.

In the comics, Danvers’ cat is named Chewie after Chewbacca from Star Wars. Disney owns Star Wars and Marvel, but they still wanted to change the cat’s name. They went with Goose, after the character from Top Gun, which made sense for a character who was a military pilot in the 1990s.

When Law was offered the part of Yon-Rogg, he knew just who to turn to. After all, he had co-starred in two Sherlock Holmes  movies with Robert Downey Jr., who birthed the MCU when he played Iron Man. Law consulted with Downey, and obviously, it was an encouraging chat as he signed on for the film.

Before Law got the part, Marvel reportedly approached Keanu Reeves. However, Reeves declined. Maybe if he were friends with Downey, too, it would have gone differently.

LeFauve got a gig co-directing Gigantic for Disney, a movie that did not come to fruition, so she left Captain Marvel. Then, Perlman left the movie. Geneva Robertson-Dworet was hired to take a shot at the script, which she envisioned as an action comedy. Apparently, the script changed a bit, as Robertson-Dworet, along with Boden and Fleck, ended up with the screenplay credits. All three share "story by" credit with Perlman and LeFauve. It takes a village.

DeWanda Wise was initially cast as Maria Rambeau. However, she ran into a scheduling conflict with her TV show She’s Gotta Have It. As such, Wise had to drop out, replaced by Lashana Lynch.

Four different cats play Goose, but Larson is not on friendly terms with any of them. It’s nothing personal; she’s just allergic to cats. Thus, a realistic cat puppet was used on set when Larson was filming because of her allergies.

Stan Lee has a delightful cameo in Captain Marvel as himself trying to memorize his lines for Mallrats. This was a posthumous appearance. Lee died between filming and Captain Marvel's release. This was Marvel’s first release in the wake of Lee’s death, so the opening Marvel production logo used all of Lee’s MCU cameos to pay homage to him.

It’s 1995. You’re at a video store. Of course, you’ll see a cardboard cutout of The Mask. That was originally in the script of Captain Marvel, leading to a joke where Carol mistakes The Mask for a Skrull. However, The Mask is a Warner Bros. movie, so Disney could not use him. Instead, Arnold Schwarzenegger from another 1994 movie, True Lies, was used.

In a memorable fight scene, Danvers fights a Skrull masquerading as a kindly old lady. Classic bit. Larson’s stunt double on this film was Renae Moneymaker. The older lady’s stunt double was Heidi Moneymaker. Yes, they are sisters, which means that two sisters were going toe-to-toe during that fight scene.

Scheduling the MCU is complicated. Initially, Captain Marvel was going to come out on July 6, 2018. However, it got pushed to allow Spider-Man: Homecoming to be released. The film was moved to November 2, 2018. Then, Marvel wanted that date for Ant-Man and the Wasp. So, Captain Marvel was finally moved to March 8, 2019, which stuck.

Captain Marvel may have been pushed and pushed, but it all worked out. The film made $456.7 million worldwide in its first weekend, a record for a female-led film. It opened atop the box office domestically, but while it dropped over the ensuing weeks, it bounced back up to eighth in its eighth week. Why? Because Avengers: Endgame came out. All in all, Captain Marvel made $426.8 million domestically and $1.128 billion worldwide.

On July 28, 2023 (barring a pushback), The Marvels will be released. Larson is returning as Captain Marvel but will be joined by the grownup Monica Rambeau from WandaVision and Ms. Marvel from her eponymous Disney+ show. Nia DaCosta directed, with Megan McDonnell getting sold screenplay credit.