Dragonlord's CAPTAIN MARVEL Movie Adaptation (First Draft)

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Update: March 24, 2015

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting Vol. 12: CAPTAIN MARVEL

For the 12th edition of the Dragonlord Fantasy Casting, I thought I'd try something new and come up with a story for the upcoming Captain Marvel movie, which is scheduled to be released on Nov. 2, 2018.

The challenging part of conceptualizing a Captain Marvel movie is that the character is not very well-known nor is her origin story that strikingly memorable. Even her solo comic books series is dull and forgettable. On top of it all, there's a prevailing notion among many that female superhero movies don't work.

However, I do believe I have constructed a "script" for a really good origin story for Captain Marvel that will make the female heroine an instant fan-favorite. The following casting write-up and character profiles all correlate to my fan-fiction and not to the actual source material.


YVONNE STRAHOVSKI as CAPTAIN MARVEL

One of the best agents of S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), Carol Danvers was transformed into Captain Marvel when she was mortally wounded by the Skrulls and saved by the Kree scientist Mar-Vell when he gave her an experimental serum. Ever since the NBC's spy comedy series Chuck debut in 2007, I've always thought Yvonne Strahovski would be outstanding as Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel. She has all the right stuff - beauty, height, acting, build, and action experience. The 5'9" Australian bombshell is also known for her roles in Showtime's Dexter and Fox's 24: Live Another Day. She'll next be seen in the ABC drama The Astronaut Wives Club.



DEVON BOSTICK as RICK JONES

Rick Jones is S.W.O.R.D.'s resident computer genius and techie wizard. What he lacks in field experience, he makes up for it with his youthful gung-ho spirit and gumption. He would eventually becomes Carol Danver's closest ally and confidante. Rick's lifelong dream is to work alongside Captain America, which he does later on the film. Devon Bostick is my choice for Rick Jones. The 23-year-old Canadian actor just has that likable sidekick aura and he looks harmless enough that the audience won't mistakenly perceive him as Carol's love interest. Bostick is best known as the bully older brother in Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. He can be currently seen in The CW's sci-fi drama The 100.



DAN STEVENS as MAR-VELL

Posing as Dr. Walter Lawson, Mar-Vell is a Kree scientist sent to Earth to monitor Skrull activities. Mar-Vell has spent years finding humans that are compatible with his KRX3 serum which enhances the physical abilities of the recipient three fold. Mar-Vell wants to help the humans in the inevitable invasion from the Skrulls. Dan Stevens is my pick as Mar-Vell. Better known as the honorable Matthew Crawley in Downton Abbey, Stevens' career has been booming with a star-making turn in the well-received indie thriller The Guest and key roles in Night at the Museum 3 and A Walk Among the Tombstones. He recently signed to play the Beast opposite Emma Watson in Beauty and the Beast.



ELODIE YUNG as ABIGAIL BRAND

Abigail Brand is one of the elite agents of S.W.O.R.D. and comes from a mixed heritage, being half alien and half human. She is also very intelligent, and fluent in many extra-terrestrial languages including several Kree and Skrull languages. A few of her peers, including Carol Danvers, look down on her and give her a hard time due to her alien nature. I've been dying to cast Elodie Yung in one of my fancasts and Abigail Brand would be perfect for her. The charming French-Cambodian descent actress was remarkable as an action heroine in District 13: Ultimatum and G.I. Joe: Retaliation.



JACK COLEMAN as HENRY GYRICH

Henry Peter Gyrich is the director of S.W.O.R.D. (the Sentient World Observation & Response Department), an offshoot of S.H.I.E.L.D. that deals with extraterrestrial threats. Afraid of that which is different, Gyrich has often hindered the effectiveness of superheroes and has been among the first to blame them for society's ills. In a nutshell, Gyrich is a major tool of a boss. Heroes alum Jack Coleman has the bureaucratic look and smugness down to pat. Coleman is set to reprise his Noah Bennett role in the Heroes Reborn limited series.



RICHARD SAMMEL as HERR KLEISER

Kleiser is an alien shapeshifter and the leader of the Skrulls forces on Earth. Back in WWII, Kleiser's plans were thwarted by Captain America on several occasions. Kleiser resurfaces in the present day with a new army, ready to completely annihilate Earth’s armies to finally conquer the planet. Like all Skrulls, Kleiser can change his appearance after a few minutes of uninterrupted concentration. Unlike the other Skrulls, Kleiser has strong regenerative powers capable of surviving normal fatal damages. Richard Sammel has been magnificent as the charismatic vampire lieutenant in FX's The Strain and I have no doubt he would be superb as Kleiser as well.



Links to all Dragonlord's Movie Adaptation:

Dragonlord's Movie Adaptation: Old Man Logan

Dragonlord's Movie Adaptation: Captain Marvel 2.0


Links to all Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting:

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Old Man Logan

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Captain Marvel

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Fantastic Four

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Spectacular Spider-Man

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Justice League

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: X-Men Reboot

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Daredevil

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Inhumans

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Ant-Man

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Guardians of the Galaxy

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Black Panther

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Doctor Strange

Dragonlord's Fantasy Casting: Preacher

 

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FOREWORD


For the Captain Marvel movie, I'm borrowing heavily elements from Ultimates 1 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. The limited series is my favorite Avengers story ever. Since there's no chance it will be adapted to the big screen now that 2012's The Avengers already exist, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to incorporate the Ultimates into my Captain Marvel story.

Then there's Rick Jones. He used to be a key Marvel supporting character sharing a rich history with the Hulk, Captain America and Captain Marvel. Thought it would be cool to finally utilize Rick in here since Marvel Studios doesn't seem to care about the character.

As for the plot summary of the movie, I tried to be brief and concise with some while others are a bit more detailed. Most of the action scenes and character development are just glossed over, leaving the imagination up to the reader.

Special thanks to Three Gun Fish and Anung Un Rama for their assistance.

[Optional] Lastly, please play the video below and listen to the score while you read the story. Replay if necessary.

 

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ACT ONE


The opening scene is a big spectacular action piece. S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), a counterterrorism and intelligence agency that deals with extraterrestrial threats to world security, is preparing a raid on an office building in Houston. The office building is secretly a base of operations for the shapeshifter Skrulls. All the Skrulls in the building are in human disguises. Note: The Skrulls can only change their appearances through uninterrupted concentration for ten minutes.

The raid team is situated near the Skrull building. Inside one of the armored trucks, we are briefly introduced to the main characters. Leading the assault is Carol Danvers. She and a select few S.W.O.R.D. agents (Tom, Dick, Harry, Cat, Mike), who are compatible with the KRX3 serum, inject themselves with the experimental formula which temporarily gives the recipient three times the physical abilities of a man in peak physical condition. Among Carol's support team includes Rick Jones, a young techie wizard, and Dr. Walter Lawson, a brilliant science officer and creator of the KRX3 serum. Abigail Brand and Clint Barton a.k.a. Hawkeye are also among the strike team.

The S.W.O.R.D. strike force meet some heavy resistance by the Skrulls during the assault on the building . Later on, Carol encounters Kleiser, the highest ranking member of the Skrull hierarchy on Earth. Kleiser manages to get away and detonates a bomb on the building which takes out a large chunk of the top floor. Many S.W.O.R.D. agents, including Tom, and Skrulls die from the explosion or fall to their death. Hawkeye and Rick survive but are in a tough spot with Hawkeye hanging on to a steel bar in one hand and holding onto Rick with his other hand. A few Skrull sleeper agents also survive and are about to finish off Hawkeye and Rick. The sniper on the S.W.O.R.D. chopper doesn't have a clear shot at the Skrulls.

Carol asks what floor Hawkeye and Rick are on and orders the sniper from the chopper to drop his rifle on her mark. Carol's wrist watch beeps an alarm indicating that the KRX3 boost will wear off in a few seconds. Carol frantically runs up a couple of stairs and gives the command to the sniper to drop his rifle. She smashes out of the window. She catches the rifle in mid-air, lands on the other side of the building and shoots the Skrulls just in time. A second later, her KRX3 boost expires.

Back at S.W.O.R.D. headquarters somewhere in the Nevada desert, Carol asks the super-powered speedster Pietro Maximoff where he was during the recent operation. Pietro smugly tells her that "if she slows down the building's security tapes, you'll find out that I've saved your lives on three separate occasions, you ungrateful sow." Rick calls him a liar.

We then learn more about Carol and S.W.O.R.D. The organization was formed after the events of the Chitauri invasion in New York and is headed by Henry Peter Gyrich. Carol was a Captain in the United States Air Force. She is also an exceptional espionage agent, pilot, hand-to-hand combatant and marksman. She joined S.W.O.R.D. after she lost a loved one in the battle of New York. Carol is revealed to be a xenophobe and has an intense dislike to other alien races, even her half-human/half-alien colleague Abigail Brand. Carol is close friends with Rick and the other KRX3-compatible agents. She also has a subtle flirty connection with Dr. Walter Lawson.

 

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ACT TWO


Kleiser manages to obtain the personal information on the S.W.O.R.D. officers involved in the raid in Manhattan and begins to systematically assassinating them all. Several S.W.O.R.D. agents, including Dick and Harry, are killed at their residences or hangouts that evening. Carol manages to fend off most of her attackers at her home but is gravely wounded in the process. The Skrull reinforcements move in for the kill but Carol is saved by Walter who arrives just in time. Realizing that she is dying, Walter has no choice but to bring Carol to his secret lab in a warehouse at the pier. Walter reveals to her that his real name is Mar-Vell and he is secretly an alien from the Kree Empire sent to Earth to monitor the Skrull activity. The Kree and Skrulls have been in conflict for thousands of years. Unbeknownst to the Kree Empire, Mar-Vell has been secretly experimenting ways to create human super soldiers to help mankind in their inevitable war against the Skrulls.

Suffering from extreme blood loss, Carol is given an emergency blood transfusion by Mar-Vell who is genetically congruent with her. While posing as Dr. Walter Lawson for years, Mar-Vell began screening humans who are genetically compatible with the KRX3 serum and Carol is one of the very rare persons who is a match. Kleiser and an army of Skrulls show up outside Walter's building. Unable to get past the building's hi-tech defenses, Kleiser decides to detonate a Gene Bomb. Seeing the situation from his monitors, Mar-Vell realizes that they are surrounded and can't fight their way out in both of their weakened states. Mar-Vell injects Carol with the new untested serum KRX10 he has been working on. He puts her in his family-crested space suit and places her in his durable stasis pod to give her a better chance of surviving the Gene Bomb blast.

The Gene Bomb goes off and Carol witnesses Mar-Vell vaporized. Her stasis pod eventually shatters and she is also engulfed in the blast. Moments later, Carol rises from the rubble transformed. The Skrulls attack her in full force. At one point, the Skrulls unleashes a 20-foot war-bot. With her newfound powers, she defeats the Skrull ground forces and the war-bot but Kleiser manages to escape again. The media captures the battle and broadcasts it to the world. When asked by a reporter what her superhero name is, a groggy Carol instinctively answers "Captain.." but stops and thinks about Mar-Vell and his sacrifice. She announces her name as "Captain Marvel."

Back at S.W.O.R.D. headquarters, a brief training montage features Carol exercising her new powers with Rick Jones monitoring and analyzing her progress. Carol possesses superhuman strength, endurance, stamina, flight, physical durability, a limited precognitive "sixth sense," absorb energy and discharge explosive blasts of radiant energy. She can fly at roughly six times the speed of sound. Due to the KRX10 and the explosion from Gene Bomb, Carol's physiology has been perfectly amalgamated into a human/Kree hybrid. Being a huge Dragon Ball fan, Rick shows Carol how to do the Kamehameha Wave and begs her to do the move once. Carol declines and just laughs it off.

Carol's popularity among the public is growing more and more each day while the opposite is happening back at the S.W.O.R.D. HQ. Gyrich and a few S.W.O.R.D. personnel have some animosity towards her due to her new alien hybrid status. What she used to do to Abigail, Carol is now on the receiving end of the distrusting stares and name-calling.

Gyrich assembles the team for a briefing on their next mission. Their intel suggests Kleiser and the Skrulls are holed up in a secret base in the Arizona desert, just outside of Phoenix. Steve Rogers aka Captain America is also in the room and shares his personal history with Kleiser going way back to World War II. A flashback scene features Captain America battling Kleiser and the Nazis aboard a German train, and then blowing it up. Back to the present, Steve will be leading the S.W.O.R.D. strike force for this mission. Carol voices her concern about the intel but Gyrich just dismissed the matter curtly.

Upon arriving at the Skrulls base in Arizona, the S.W.O.R.D. strike force realize too late that it's a trap. Most of the S.W.O.R.D. team are killed. Captain America, Captain Marvel and Abigail Brand are among the captured. Rick manages to slip away. Later, a rowdy group of Skrulls taunt and antagonize Carol by casually executing the remaining S.W.O.R.D. prisoners including Cat and Mike. Kleiser orders Captain Marvel to be dissected so that they can study and replicate her powers. Kleiser keeps his WWII adversary Captain America alive to witness the enslavement of Earth.

 

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ACT THREE


At the S.W.O.R.D. headquarters Kleiser and the Skrulls infiltrate the base and take command. Kleiser's true purpose is to gain access to the huge Skrull mothership that is underneath S.W.O.R.D. headquarters and lying dormant under the ground for hundreds of years.

Back in the Skrulls hideout at the Arizona desert, Captain Marvel is being prepped for dissection. Rick manages to free Captain America and Abigail. After battling the Skrull soldiers, Steve reaches Carol in time and frees her. All of them fly back in their ship to the S.W.O.R.D. base just in time to see the Skrull mothership rise above the ground. It will take a few minutes for the mothership to be fully charged up and operational. Captain Marvel flies out of their ship and engages the Skrull fighter ships in an exciting aerial dogfight.

Captain America, Abigail and Rick land on the ground and free the prisoners and engage the Skrulls in a firefight. Captain America tells Rick to open him to all US military frequencies for a priority alert notification. Rick's in the communication booth and gives Cap the go signal. Cap, who is in the middle of a firefight, says:

"Attention all military personnel: this is Captain America broadcasting simultaneously to the Army, the Marines, the Navy and the Air Force. Your commanding officers are receiving orders from a hostile alien force who has seized control of S.W.O.R.D. and now threaten our very existence. I'm asking you to ignore their orders and pick up whatever weapons you can find and get the hell over here. Do you understand me, gentlemen? Your country needs you."

Kleiser is still on the ground and calls out Captain America over the radio. A few moments later, Cap arrives in a Tornado IDS fighter jet and impales Kleiser. Cap ejects while the plane crashes into a fuel tanker and explodes. A badly-burnt Kleiser survives and battle Cap hand-to-hand. At some point, Kleiser suggests to Cap he surrenders. Cap gets the better of Kleiser and smashes his face with his shield while shouting, "Surrender??! You think this letter on my head stands for France?" Cap walks away but is surprised to see Kleiser trying to stand up. Kleiser regenerates and readies to fight Cap again.

 

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After an extensive battle sequence involving Captain Marvel fighting the Skrull fighter ships, tanks, warbots and ground troops, the US military and Air Force finally show up. With the cavalry running interference, Captain Marvel finally has a clear path and gets inside the Skrull mothership. Upon the suggestion of Rick via her comlink, she wrecks a vital part in the engine room to stop the mothership from being fully operational.

The five blocks-wide mothership starts to crash and is steadily heading towards the nearby city (maybe Las Vegas). Captain Marvel gets to the front exterior of the mothership. Rick tells her even at full power she can't put the brakes on something that size. Carol says she's not trying to stop the ship's fall. This will be Captain Marvel's quintissential heroic scene similar to Spider-Man 2's classic train scene. After her inspirational and valiant effort, Carol succeeds in clearing the ship out of the city where it safely crashes just on the outskirts of town and saves thousands of innocent lives. Due to sheer exhaustion, Carol drops unconscious.

Abigail continues her assault on the base and taking out the Skrulls. She encounters two Henry Gyrichs. The two Gyrichs plead their case that they are the original and the other is a Skrull. While in the middle of their argument, Abigail shoots one of them in the forehead. Gyrich asks how did she know for sure who was the Skrull. She replies she didn't know. She turns around and walks away smirking.

Carol wakes up from Rick's screaming on her com-link. Rick hysterically yells to Carol that Captain America is being beaten within an inch of his life by Kleiser. Carol shakily stands up and punches a hole in the ground. She grabs the power line underneath and begins absorbing the electricity. Rick tells her she might not survive the ordeal. She continues with it. (Cue inspirational music) The entire city's power goes out. Glowing white hot and intensely bright, Carol hovers above the ground with the air crackling with electricity.

As Kleiser is about to land the killing blow on Captain America, a sonic boom can be heard. Over the horizon, a shining object is moving at supersonic speed and heading towards them. Carol tackles Kleiser away from Cap. The two fight all over the base, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. The critical moment arrives when Carol punches Kleiser so hard, she sends him flying straight up hundreds of feet in the air. Carol firmly plants her feet and prepares to unload all the energy she absorbed and release it into one devastating blast. It's a big dramatic scene. The slow-mo takes effect. The music swells. Then Rick interrupts the moment and everything screeches to a halt. Rick excitedly tells her to do the move. Carol refuses. Rick reminds her she owes him. Carol sighs and does the Kamehameha, vaporizing Kleiser in mid-air.

After the battle, the good guys celebrate. Steve and Carol are both airlifted to a nearby hospital. Rick sees Pietro also celebrating and shouting, "We did it! We saved the world." Rick asks Pietro what the f**k is he talking about when Pietro wasn't even around for the fight. Pietro smugly tells Rick that if he slows down any of the satellite pictures of the attack... Rick just groans and gives up.


Epilogue

Gyrich was forced to resign as S.W.O.R.D. director due to the Skrulls debacle and booted out of the organization. Abigail Brand is the new S.W.O.R.D. commander and their new headquarters is aboard a orbital space station known as the Peak. Carol quits S.W.O.R.D. but have become friends with Abigail since then. Carol reveals to Abigail that Captain America offered Captain Marvel to be an Avenger, which she declined but agrees to be a reserve member. Carol tells Brand that she needs time to re-examine her life and plans to explore the world.

Carol visits Mar-Vell's apartment. She discovers a key which leads her to one of Mar-Vell's secret lair. Carol's Kree genetic makeup allows her to bypass security. Her eyes widen when she sees Mar-Vell's spaceship capable of interstellar travel. She smiles.

The End.

 

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MID-CREDITS SCENE

On the the Peak space station, Rick Jones is in the surveillance room watching satellite footage from the Skrull battle in Nevada. He spots a blur among the footage and replays it. He slows the footage down and then pauses it. Rick is stunned for a few seconds. He mutters, "sonovabitch..." The audience finally sees what Rick is watching. It's Pietro fighting the Skrulls.







POST-CREDITS SCENE


A damaged Skrull ship flies out of Earth. On board are the group of rowdy Skrulls that executed the S.W.O.R.D. prisoners, including Cat and Mike, back in Phoenix. They survived the last big battle and are now trying to hightail it back to Skrull World.

They crash on the Earth's moon. The Skrulls' sensors pick up an energy source nearby that was not detectable before. They roam with their warbot around the surface of the moon. The closer they get to the signal, they notice that the gravity becomes normal. The Skrulls enter a slot canyon of sorts. Red strands in what appears to be made out of hair appear out of the shadows and muffle a Skrull's mouth before his whole body being pulled inside the darkness. The Skrulls hear a shattering sound and discover their warbot disabled from a key damage to its stress point. A strong tremor occurs which results in a few Skrulls being crushed by the collapsing rocks.

The last remaining Skrull runs away and climbs a little rocky mound. He sees something over the horizon. We don't see it but base on the reflection of his helmet, it's something wide and glimmering, like city lights. Something approaches at his back. He turns around terrified. We only see this mysterious stranger's mouth. The stranger put his index finger across his mouth and gently whispers, "shh..." The whole screen is engulfed in a white energy and we just hear a faint scream from the Skrull as the screen fades to white.