Captain Marvel: Why Brie Larson's Carol Danvers is a Marvel game-changer

Captain America and co were left in a tricky position at the end of Avengers: Infinity War, but help may be at hand with the arrival of Captain Marvel.

The first trailer for Brie Larson's Marvel movie has premiered ahead of its 2019 release.

Marvel Studios Chief Kevin Feige has described Carol Danvers as "the most powerful character" so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

So it seems there's finally someone set to go toe-to-toe with villain Thanos.

The trailer sees Brie meeting Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury after a period of time spent away from planet earth, power up as Captain Marvel and punch a smiling old lady in the face (who is almost certainly an alien in disguise - we hope).

The film is set in the nineties - in case the extras in retro clothes, a Blockbuster video store and pagers didn't give that away.

Maria Rambeau (left) is the mother of Avenger Photon, who is expected to appear in future Marvel movies

'I didn't know that female superheroes even existed'

The movie is the first Marvel film to have a female star as its lead in a decade of building its Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The closest we've come before now is when Evangeline Lilly's character The Wasp appeared in the title of Ant Man sequel, Ant Man and The Wasp.

That means a lot to viewers like Aida Latifi, who's 18, lives in Iran and started watching Sam Raimi's Spider-Man movies after school when she was younger.

"Before I saw the Avengers I didn't even know that female superheroes even existed," she tells Newsbeat.

"It didn't even cross my mind. As weird as it might be, seeing Black Widow just boosted my confidence as a child."

Captain Marvel will face the threat of Skrulls in the movie, an alien race of shape-shifters

And she says this is why Captain Marvel's arrival has special meaning for people like her.

"Captain Marvel's arrival in the MCU is very important, especially for children in countries like mine," she adds.

"It shows them that they can be as strong as the boys and deserve equal rights."

Who is Captain Marvel?

Captain Marvel is the hero that Samuel L. Jackson, as Shield boss Nick Fury, called for help at the end of Avengers: Infinity War.

She's super strong, can fly, survive in space and project energy (among other things) making Carol Danvers to The Avengers what Superman is to Justice League: the big hitter.

"She's more powerful than, possibly, all The Avengers combined," says Claire Lim, a huge comic book fan and a presenter for BBC's The Social.

"It's important they're actually putting a female front and centre as a superhero powerful enough to beat this threat."

The film will also introduce a second alien race, Kree to the Marvel Universe

A new start for the MCU as we know it

On a more practical level, the introduction of Brie Larson as a potential new leader of the Avengers solves problems thrown up by the end of contractual agreements with the franchise's biggest names.

Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Jr and more of the main cast members are not contracted to appear in movies beyond the fourth Avengers movie, the Infinity War sequel.

Jude Law plays Mar-Vell, a superpowered 'mentor' to Carol Danvers

"Marvel have played it so well over the past ten years, I think people are ready for different heroes," says Claire, who's excited by the casting of Lashana Lynch as fighter pilot Maria Rambeau, mother of another female Avenger.

"I'd like to see Monica Rambeau, it would be great to see Photon," she says.

"It would be good to get odd characters like that who people don't really know about."

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