A trio of clips has been released in recent days to build up anticipation for the looming June home release of “Captain Marvel,” which, following the massive opening and discourse launched by “Avengers: Endgame,” suddenly feels like it came out much longer ago than it did.
The brief clips – two of them whole scenes cut out from the final film released in March – provide some context to the first portion of the film, when Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) is still referred to as “Vers” and training with her adoptive Kree paramilitary family on Hala. In one, Jude Law’s Yon-Rogg (several weeks after watching the movie, it’s still hard to believe that’s actually his name) is teaching a class of young Kree warriors about the species’ enemy—the Skrulls.
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Of course, what we’re led to believe at the start of “Captain Marvel” is turned on its head by its conclusion. But here, Jude Law is still a good guy; Vers still believes he doesn’t know where she came from and the Skrulls are painted as a diabolical foe.
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A second clip briefly fleshes out the personalities of the Kree crew as they head on a mission to Torfa, where Vers is eventually captured and her memory probed by Skrulls.
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The third clip is perhaps most notable in that it is a version of a scene from the movie that plays out much differently, and, on a metatextual level, feels like a not-so-subtle rebuke at the internet trolls who felt a female-led Marvel Studios story threatened their entire existence. (Look around, Ben Shapiro’s Daily Wire and the likes are triggered and writing their takedown pieces of the clips and what it means to her storyline as a hero).
If you’ll remember, parts of the ever-so-enlightened Internet were thrown into a frenzy when the movie’s first posters came out, decrying that Brie Larson doesn’t smile. (The episode sparked a fantastic response online to make the point that Iron Man, Steve Rogers, and Co. don’t necessarily smile in their posters either, editing some toothy grins onto the faces of those heroes to prove their point.)
“Captain Marvel,” essentially a story about a woman breaking free from the limits others have placed on her all her life (*cough*Yon-Rogg*cough*) and proving she’s more than capable of wielding the power she’s been gifted with, played along with that rhetoric in the movie.
If you’ll recall, after Vers crash-lands on 1990s Earth and begins to get her bearings, a biker rides up and tries to spark conversation before asking for just a smile. Her non-verbal rejection is enough for him to go inside, leaving his bike for her taking (karma’s a wonderful thing).
The final (extended) clip released from “Captain Marvel” starts out in much similar fashion, only for the man to be a bit more assertive about getting that smile. Vers answers that aggressiveness with some delightful aggressiveness of her own, meeting this unsuspecting human on his level and, well…see for yourself.
Needless to say, we all probably were happy to see the guy get a little more than just his bike stolen. “Captain Marvel” hits DVD/Blu-Ray on June 11.