This ‘Captain Marvel’ Villain Almost Stayed Much Truer to the Comics
Right now, all eyes are on whether Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) will lead the Avengers. But it could be a while before fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe see Captain Marvel again. Thankfully, Marvel movies are never short of fascinating behind-the-scenes tidbits. In the case of 2019’s Captain Marvel, one of its key villains almost looked very different.
Brie Larson famously shot ‘Captain Marvel’ after ‘Avengers: Endgame’
Larson may be a bit of a hot-button figure in some corners of the internet. But the character still made a huge mark in her debut film. Captain Marvel — directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck — earned more than $1.1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Just a few months later, Larson’s cosmic superhero played a small but critical role in Avengers: Endgame. As fans have since learned, the Oscar-winning actress actually filmed the team-up movie first. So Captain Marvel’s look and personality were much in flux at the time.
Given the hectic schedule of the MCU, perhaps this shouldn’t come off as much of a surprise. If anything, it simply speaks to the ambitious scope of Avengers: Endgame. It’s amazing that Captain Marvel’s role in that role connects as well as it does, especially with the 23-year time jump too.
Her suit looked very different at one point, and so did Ronan’s
After all, Captain Marvel is set in 1995, whereas Avengers: Endgame starts in 2018. Due to the logistics of all that, Larson almost wore the same suit in both movies. That was changed in post-production to better reflect the passage of time. But Larson isn’t the only MCU star with wardrobe changes.
Despite his previous appearance in Guardians of the Galaxy, Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) almost had a different look in Captain Marvel. On his Instagram page, concept artist Aleksi Briclot recently shared some unused design art for Ronan. And the suit actually hews more closely to the character’s comic book appearance.
For this design, Briclot drew inspiration from legendary artist Jack Kirby, who co-created Ronan with Stan Lee in the 1960s. Since Captain Marvel sees Ronan in more of a military role, Briclot said he was going for “some commander vibe.” Ronan’s final look stayed true to his previous MCU style.
Will Lee Pace return as the main villain of ‘Captain Marvel 2’?
The way Captain Marvel ends, there’s still room for Pace to return as Ronan in the sequel. After coming face to face with Carol Danvers, Ronan proclaims he and his forces will return for “the weapon.” Asked what he means, Ronan explains he’s referring to “the woman.” So the sequel should pick up this plot thread.
If it does, it would probably have to stay in the 1990s. Or at the very least, the movie would need to be set before 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. In that movie, Ronan is ultimately foiled by Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and his friends by the Power Stone. If Pace returns for Captain Marvel 2, maybe the movie could even make use of Briclot’s design. Stay tuned.
