Captain Marvel 2 Release Date, Cast And Story

In the eternal struggle between comic book giants Marvel and DC, it's generally agreed that the former are currently winning the battle of the big screen. However, the DCEU did beat the MCU to the punch on one thing: they were the first of the two to release a movie led by a female superhero. Smashing onto screens in 2017, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman became the highest grossing DCEU hit to that point, and whipped up a conversation about the need for more female-led superhero movies. Finally, in March 2019, Marvel delivered Captain Marvel. 

The titular character's out-of-this-world superpowers, the spectacular action sequences, and the chemistry between the cast earned an impressive worldwide box office take of $1.1 billion. We next saw Captain Marvel in 2019's Avengers: Endgame, but fans were already anticipating her second solo adventure. While news about Phase 4 of the MCU has started coming fast and furious, fans of Carol Danvers were disappointed to learn that the wait for Captain Marvel 2 might be longer than expected. We're here to help ease that wait with all the news and rumors about her second solo flight, including the cast, the story, and when you can expect to see it.

Before Captain Marvel, Brie Larson was most famous for her Oscar-winning role in Room, a drama that does not immediately scream superhero franchise. But Kevin Feige could see her potential from the start: in 2016, he told Variety, "With Captain Marvel, who has powers that approach a level that we haven't seen before in our films, you need to counterbalance that by finding somebody who is also very human and very relatable...  Brie is a person you're going to want to go on this journey with." He was right: the film excelled at the box office and received widely positive reviews. Marvel is so confident in Larson that she has reportedly signed on for at least five more films in the MCU post-Endgame.

However, not everyone was pleased to see Larson in the title role — for a couple of very different reasons. One petition, launched on Change.org by someone who hadn't seen the movie, decided she was too boring. They only received around 2,800 signatures. A second petition with nearly 25,000 signatures called for Larson to step down because the organizers felt that her casting whitewashed the hero. In the comics, the character of Carol Danvers was first known as Ms. Marvel, while the first female Captain Marvel was Monica Rambeau, a black cop from New Orleans. However, the Captain Marvel movie introduced a young version of Rambeau, and we now know that the character will get to tell her own story in the MCU.

Captain Marvel 2 officially has lift-off. On January 22nd 2020, Disney revealed that the sequel was in active development with a screenwriter on board. Relative newcomer Megan McDonnell already has an in with the MCU: she's a staff writer for WandaVision, her first writing credit. The studio is reportedly also looking for a female director. The first film ultimately had seven scriptwriters over the course of its existence, so McDonnell may have a few colleagues by the time we finally see the fruits of her labor. Captain Marvel co-writer/directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck won't be working on the sequel, but are reportedly hoping to keep contributing to the MCU, possibly directing a series for Disney+. 

This doesn't necessarily give us any hints as to when Captain Marvel 2 will hit theaters. Marvel had a script for a movie about Ms. Marvel by May 2013, and it wasn't until a year later, in October 2014, that Kevin Feige confirmed that Carol Danvers would, in fact, be introduced in Captain Marvel. Brie Larson was cast as the title character in 2016, and the film finally premiered on March 8th 2019. That said, while we know the sequel is one of many Marvel projects that aren't happening in Phase 4, it will likely be part of Phase 5. Since that's estimated to start in 2022, it's looking likely that development this time around will probably be a shorter process, especially with so many main characters already cast. There's a long way to go, but the project is officially off the ground.

If you enjoyed the all-heroes-on-deck approach of The Avengers, you'll love the plot of Secret Invasion, an eight-part 2008 comic event with numerous tie-in issues. For fans who came to Marvel at the movies rather than through the comics, the TL;DR version is that the Skrulls slowly infiltrate Earth by shape shifting and replacing people — superheroes included — so that they can one day take over. Cue confusion, paranoia, and hero vs. hero dust-ups.

According to rumors and fan theories, the plot of Captain Marvel 2 could take inspiration from this storyline. The speculation comes in part from a Reddit post by a user who claims to have gotten the inside scoop from someone else who has previously given inside information on Marvel films. In other words take it with a dangerously generous serving of salt. 

One fan theory as to how this could come to pass is tenuous, but nonetheless interesting. In the comics, the Skrull that kicks off the plan for the Secret Invasion is heir to the Skrull throne, Princess Veranke. The theory goes that we've already met her: she's Talos' (Ben Mendelsohn) young daughter, the one who sneaks a glimpse of her father shooting the Kree. Although the movie ends with the Skrulls and Captain Marvel on the same side, the theory suggests that this could change by the next film. Kevin Feige even hinted as much, saying, "I do think to continue fleshing them out and making them these three dimensional actual beings, the Skrulls, you would encounter good ones and bad ones."

Far more surprising than Jackson's return is the rumor that Jude Law will be reprising his role as Captain Marvel's mentor-turned-nemesis, Yon-Rogg. By the end of Captain Marvel, the Kree Starforce commander had been thoroughly defeated by his long-time pupil — but instead of killing him, she sent him back to the Supreme Intelligence with the threat that they were now on her hit list. According to rumor, he'll return for the sequel as a villain, but will somehow end up getting back on Captain Marvel's good side.

In the meantime, Yon-Rogg/Jude Law fans can check out a deleted scene on Captain Marvel's home release that reveals something about the character we'd already suspected: he's really only got eyes for himself. In the scene, Yon-Rogg faces the Kree ruler, the Supreme Intelligence, an artificial intelligence that takes the form of the person you most respect. In Captain Marvel's case, that's Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Bening). In Yon-Rogg's case, that's... an older Yon-Rogg. Of course, whether we eventually get to see an older Yon-Rogg in action on the big screen depends on when the movie is ultimately set.

When Captain Marvel was released in March 2019, Lashana Lynch became famous for playing the superhero's fellow fighter pilot and best friend, Maria Rambeau. She's also the mother of Monica Rambeau, which will become more relevant in the future. It's yet to be confirmed whether Lynch will return for the sequel, but she would certainly be up for it. When the film came out, she told Entertainment Tonight, "It would be nice to see Captain Marvel way in the future. Just like with this origin story, we've gone back in time before she had her powers and then as she got her powers and that slight journey just after that, I think it would be nice to see everyone — no matter what characters they are — way in the future. In like, 2050."

In the meantime, Lynch is getting her name in headlines thanks to another big franchise. In July 2019, it was announced that she will appear in the next James Bond film, which is coming to the U.S. on April 8th 2020, but she won't exactly be playing a traditional Bond Girl. While Daniel Craig is reprising his role as supposedly retired secret agent James Bond, Lynch will be playing a character called Nomi — who has reportedly taken over his codename of 007. Whatever that means for the movie, it's a good sign for Lynch's career.

We love a superhero romance like Scarlet Witch and Vision, or Ant-Man and the Wasp, or even an are-they-or-aren't-they situation like Gamora and Star-Lord. And the moment Captain Marvel met up with a bunch of fellow world-savers in Avengers: Endgame, everyone was playing matchmaker. 

Even after the trailer, people were already shipping Captain Marvel and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), but a different hot new couple quickly emerged: Carol Danvers and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). Brie Larson is firmly in the latter camp, retweeting fan art of her and Thompson's characters with the caption, "We cute." This triangle gets even more complicated when you remember that Thor and Valkyrie also have flirtatious chemistry — which Thompson and Hemsworth noted while doing press for their other joint project, 2019's Men in Black: International.

However, despite all that supposed sexual tension, Kevin Feige has put something of a dampener on Danvers' romantic chances — at least, he did for the first film. He told Screen Rant, "it never even occurred to [us to] have a love interest. That's not what the movie was about. It was about Carol finding herself and growing and making mistakes and being bolstered up by her female mentors and female friends." However, that was then, and this is now. Or in the future. Either way, there could be love in Danvers' later life — could she become the new queen of Asgard? Of course, she could continue to be the most powerful single lady in the MCU. We won't complain either way.

Kamala Khan isn't the only teenage superhero fans are hoping to see make the leap from page to screen. As always, Marvel's ambitious slate of movies and shows has got the rumor mill swirling, and one topic that keeps coming up is the possibility of a Young Avengers franchise. That involves exactly what the name suggests: a group of superpowered teens who step up after the OG Avengers disband for good, doing battle with time-traveling supervillains, doubtful would-be mentors, and S.H.I.E.L.D. bureaucracy — not to mention the enemy of all teenagers, puberty.

Adding fuel to the fire is the as-yet-unconfirmed rumor that Captain Marvel 2 will introduce one of the characters seen in the Young Avengers comics. Hulkling — a.k.a. Theodore "Teddy" Altman — is the son of Mar-Vell and a Skrull princess named Annelle. Thanks to his dual alien heritage, he can shapeshift (often into the green, muscle-bound form his name suggests) and has super strength — but since he was raised on Earth by a Skrull posing as a human woman, he initially thinks he's a mutant. The rumor adds that, as in the comics, Teddy will be openly gay, finding a love interest in Scarlet Witch and Vision's son Wiccan. 

Marvel has yet to confirm Hulkling's appearance in Captain Marvel 2, or whether there will even be a Young Avengers series or movie, but it's a tantalizing hint for the couple's many stans.