The next big entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe feels closer than ever now that we've crossed the border into 2019, but there's still a lot we don't know about Captain Marvel, including the identity of the character being played by Jude Law. When the actor was originally cast it was believed he was playing Mar-Vell, the comic character that held the Captain Marvel moniker prior to Brie Larson's Carol Danvers. However, when recently asked if he was playing Captain Marvel, the actor insisted that wasn't the case. According to Law...
No, I'm not. Brie Larson is Captain Marvel.
Of course, immediately after saying this, Jude Law makes a joke that the "Marvel Police" might shoot him for saying that. On the one hand, he might be joking about the fact that the one thing we all know, that Brie Larson is playing Captain Marvel, is the sort of thing he could get in trouble for saying. Of course, if Jude Law were playing Mar-Vell, there's an argument to be made that he is, in fact, playing Captain Marvel, meaning this question is a bit dicier than it might appear.
The question came as part of an "autocomplete interview" with Wired where Jude Law, and his Vox Lux co-star Natalie Portman, answered questions that came up as part of Google autocomplete search results. This means that a not insignificant number of people have apparently searched for the question "Is Jude Law Captain Marvel?" Certainly, while Brie Larson may be playing the title role in the film, there are still enough people who are curious as to how Jude Law's character fits into the story to ask such a question.
While Jude Law may not be Captain Marvel, it does appear that he is playing Mar-Vell. A slideshow of images recently posted to a Disney website outed Law's character as Mar-Vell at one point. The title of the image has since been changed to call Law "Leader of the Starforce," so it appears Marvel still isn't quite ready to let the cat out of the bag.
Of course, other leaks and rumors have claimed that Law is playing a different role, Yon-Rogg is one potential character that Law might actually be playing, so at this point, it seems we really won't know for sure until the movie comes out and confirms what's going on.
What does seem likely is that the simple fact that Jude Law's role is being held back is important. It probably means that knowing who Jude Law is playing would reveal something about the movie they don't want us to know. If that's the case then maybe he isn't actually playing Mar-Vell after all, as that doesn't seem like much of a spoiler, but who knows?
