Jude Law has been secretly waiting to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Academy Award®-nominated actor, who has two other successful film franchises in his film resumé, says of being invited to join the MCU: “It kind of felt like a party you’ve heard about for years, and you know and admire all the people who go, and then you suddenly realize that you haven’t had an invitation. So to get an invitation is a good feeling, and I’d been a fan for a long time and being able to step into and be part of the things that I admire and love is a thrill.”
In “Captain Marvel,” Marvel Studios’ first stand-alone, female-franchise character, Law plays the Kree Starforce Commander, the head of the alien race that Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel (played by Brie Larson)—the film’s part-human, part-Kree heroine—belongs to.
“My character is the commander of Starforce, which is an elite special-forces division of the Kree army,” says Law. “He is also a mentor to Carol Danvers. She has been a sort of pet project for him. He feels responsible for guiding and containing her skill sets, honing her abilities, and trying to keep her mind from drifting into the more human, emotional places, and becoming therefore more focused and driven and slightly less emotional, which is rather more Kree.”
To prepare for his role, Law didn’t have to go far in his research. “Here’s an interesting story,” he shares. “Captain Marvel was my father’s favorite [comic book] character when he was young. So, he could tell me all about it, from the male iteration into the female iteration. And he knew exactly who my character was. I’m here for him.” Aside from input from his dad, the actor also got reference materials from Marvel.
Law thinks that after watching “Captain Marvel,” which is set in the 1990s, audiences will want to revisit the other movies in the MCU. “I’m blown away by the ardent fans’ attention to detail and knowledge; they will undoubtedly pick up on things that even I don’t know,” he says. “There will be pieces of information and storylines that start in ours that will fill in gaps, so they may want to revisit the other films.”
The actor says another thing unique to the film, especially because of its timeline, is the origin of S.H.I.E.L.D. “and how they start out and seeing them as sort of bright-eyed ingénues not really knowing that this super other world or worlds even exist…. It’s going to be wonderfully satisfying.”
The film being led by a character as powerful as Captain Marvel, who is female, is also “wonderfully exciting,” he says. “I think the fact that it’s a woman, there’s a fantastic sense of female strength and intelligence that’s really unique to this character and particularly to this film.”
For fans who are coming new to MCU with “Captain Marvel,” Law says not to worry about catching up. “This movie will be a standalone in that people can enjoy it even if they haven’t seen all the others,” he says. “What will be interesting is that they’ll be able to see this one and watch them almost chronologically because we are starting at the beginning. There are all these little gags that tie through to stories that you’ve seen before, which I think will be amusing and satisfying in that wonderful way where you can finally go, ‘Oh, that’s where he got that from.’ Or, ‘that’s why that’s like this.’ Then there’s also a great sense of hope. At the end of “Infinity War,” we were all left so devastated and in shock about what happens next. Suddenly, there’s this great sense of hope because we’ve got someone who can seriously kick ass.”
Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel” opens in Philippines theaters on March 6. Join the conversation online and use the hashtag #CaptainMarvelPH
About Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel”
Marvel Studios’ presents “Captain Marvel,” an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that introduces the MCU’s first stand-alone, female-franchise title character—Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel.
Set in the 1990s, “Captain Marvel” follows Carol Danvers’ journey as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes. As the story unfolds, Danvers finds herself and a small cadre of allies at the center of a maelstrom when a galactic war between two alien races reaches Earth.
Based on the beloved Marvel comic book series, first published in 1967, “Captain Marvel” stars Academy Award® winner Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan, Rune Temte, Algenis Perez Soto, Mckenna Grace, with Annette Bening, with Clark Gregg, and Jude Law.
Marvel Studios’ “Captain Marvel” is produced by Kevin Feige and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Jonathan Schwartz, Patricia Whitcher and Stan Lee are the executive producers. The story is by Nicole Perlman & Meg LeFauve and Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet, and the screenplay is by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck & Geneva Robertson-Dworet.