Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: captain marvel, film, marvel

Captain Marvel: Ben Mendelsohn Says the Skrulls are "Misunderstood"

There are a lot of firsts with Captain Marvel. First solo female hero, first female director, first time a character will de-aged throughout the entire movie, and the first time we'll see the Skrulls in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ben Mendelsohn is taking on another villain role in Captain Marvel as the Skrull leader Talos and a human S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that just so happens to be Nick Fury's boss. Entertainment Weekly spoke to Mendelsohn and asked him how he approached the duel role and invented a new verb while he was at it.

I mean, when you're Skrullin', it's a bit of a different thing. It's a got a certain flow to it that this guy [gestures to human costume] doesn't have. Because this guy doesn't sound like this. This guy is [adopts American accent] a lot more like, straight up, ready to do the work, very military industrial complex certain 1990-whatever. A lot more buttoned up. Skrullin' is a bit more laid back, a bit tougher. A little bit nastier? Maybe? Maybe. You got sharper nails, stuff like that.

The thing is, when you're Skrullin', there's a kind of take-no-prisoners vibe about it, which is more relaxed. This guy's got to follow protocol because it's S.H.I.E.L.D. Skrullin', you're punching through shields. You're taking shields off people and using them on people. So it's kind of more fun to play.

It's two different versions of being a bad guy; the more overt Talos and the guy destroying things behind-the-scenes. It does beg the question as to which one will do more damage.

The thing is, when you're Skrullin', there's a kind of take-no-prisoners vibe about it, which is more relaxed. This guy's got to follow protocol because it's S.H.I.E.L.D. Skrullin', you're punching through shields. You're taking shields off people and using them on people. So it's kind of more fun to play.

We know that Talos has an issue with the Kree, in this continuity the Carol Danver aka Captain Marvel is half Kree, and Mendelsohn seems to be on the side of the race that he is playing.

Look…. [long sigh] We gotta deal with the Kree. The Kree are punks. And the Skrulls, I mean, we're just misunderstood. At the end of the day, the Skrull is really misunderstood. Look, I don't want to curse in print or anywhere else, but if I could, I would about the Kree. Yeah. I would.

When it comes to the Skrulls and Carol there is a bit of a different dynamic and Mendelsohn seems to think that they could take her if they wanted to.

You've gotta be a bit more careful of Carol than the Kree. But I think as far as we're concerned in the Skrull world, she's kind of like a major obstacle. I still think we can take her. If we had to — if we had to, had to, had to — we could take Carol.

Them fightin words. A lot of people have talked about this movie being Carol's journey and despite the fact that he's playing the villain he says you want her to win.

It's very touching, actually. I mean, you want her to win. Now, unfortunately, not every fairytale turns out that well. Sometimes you meet a Skrull. But Carol's resourceful. She's going to have a few films to get over this and maybe come back from this. We'll see. [Laughs]

"Get over this" sounds like things might not end entirely well for Carol at the end of this movie. It wouldn't be the first time that the bad guys have won in a Marvel movie, see Infinity War, and even if Carol does come out on top in the end it sounds like the price could be very high.

Summary: Carol Danvers becomes one of the universe's most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races.

Captain Marvel, directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, will also star Brie Larson, Jude Law, Gemma Chan, Djimon Hounsou, Lee Pace, Lashana Lynch, Samuel L. Jackson. The film is set for release on March 8th, 2019.

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