Humanity as a whole learned that aliens existed during The Avengers, but that wasn't the first time that visitors from other worlds came to our planet. Next year, Captain Marvel will show when Kree and Skrulls paid a visit to Earth in the mid-1990s, with the latter species serving as the movie's main antagonists. Ever since he was rumored to be appearing in Captain Marvel, it's been suspected that Ben Mendelsohn would be playing the movie's main antagonist, and sure enough, it's finally been confirmed that the Ready Player One actor will be portraying the Skrull leader.
Contrary to the earlier rumor that Ben Mendelsohn would play rogue Kree Yon-Rogg, Ben Mendelsohn will be getting his Skrull on as Talos in Captain Marvel, and you can head to EW to see him and three other Skrull operatives making a beach entrance. There is a Skrull named Talos in Marvel Comics universe who was introduced in 1994's The Incredible Hulk #418, but that character was unable to shapeshift and made up for that by becoming a skilled fighter and commander. Mendelsohn's Talos will share that leadership prowess, but unlike his comic book counterpart, he won't have any problems shapeshifting. To keep a low-profile on Earth, he'll go undercover as a human working within S.H.I.E.L.D. As if having HYDRA agents within the spy organization wasn't bad enough, now there's also a alien menace causing trouble.
Ben Mendelsohn has a good track record of playing villains on the big screen, from Orson Krennic in Rogue One to his upcoming turn as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood. So he'll find himself in comfortable territory as the Skrull leader in Captain Marvel, though unlike those other performances, he'll be covered in green makeup for a good portion of the superhero movie. However, what's particularly interesting about Talos is that he's embedded himself within S.H.I.E.L.D. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Nick Fury told Steve Rogers that the last time he trusted someone, he lost his eye. Being betrayed by a fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. worker who was actually an alien infiltrator certainly fits that bill, and the scarring around Fury's eye suggests the damage could have come from an energy weapon. Perhaps Talos is the one responsible for destroying Fury's 20/20 vision.
Of course, the main hook for Captain Marvel will be Brie Larson's Carol Danvers facing off against Talos and his Skrull minions, both on Earth and in outer space. As revealed today, Captain Marvel is bypassing Carol's origin story and introducing us to her as she serves on Starforce, the Kree military organization that also includes Ronan the Accuser, Korath the Pursuer, Mar-Vell and Minn-Erva. Just like in the comics, the Kree and Skrulls have been at war for ages in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it will be up to Carol to ensure that this conflict doesn't take out her home world in the process.
Captain Marvel flies into theaters on March 8, 2019, and if you're interested in learning what other MCU installments are on the way, head to our Marvel movies guide.
