British actor Lashana Lynch is joining the Marvel Universe, stepping in for DeWanda Wise who had to exit production on ‘Captain Marvel’ due to scheduling conflicts with her hit Netflix series ‘She’s Gotta Have It’. It was never confirmed, but sources report that Wise was due to play Monica Rambeau, Marvel’s second Captain Marvel. The character would be a supporting character in the film, which stars Brie Larson as Marvel’s current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot who gains superpowers when her DNA is merged with that of the alien race, the Kree.
Lynch starred on the short-lived ‘Romeo & Juliet’-based drama ‘Still Star-Crossed’ and the acclaimed British film ‘Brotherhood’. She also had a role in the film ‘Fast Girls’ and the British TV series ‘Doctors’ and ‘Crims’.
Monica Rambeau was created by writer Roger Stern and artist John Romita Jr. She was a member of the New Orleans harbor patrol who gained the power to transform into various forms of energy. She joined the Avengers and eventually became their leader. Her first code name was Captain Marvel, although she eventually switched to Photon, then Pulsar and finally Spectrum.
Captain Marvel’ will be directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, based on a script by Meg Lefauve, Nicole Perlman and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. Brie Larson headlines the cast as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, while the cast also includes Jude Law as Mar-Vell, Ben Mendelsohn possibly as Yon-Rog, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill, and Gemma Chan as Minn-Erva.
The film will be set in the 1990s and may explain how Nick Fury lost his eye. The film is expected to borrow from the ‘Avengers’ storyline ‘The Kree/Skrull War’. Larson’s Captain Marvel will then return in the fourth ‘Avengers’ movie that opens in May 2019.
‘Captain Marvel’ opens on March 8, 2019.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
