Captain Marvel: The Enemy Within

***Captain Marvel: The Enemy Within*** is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Captain Marvel. The film was written and directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck with Patty Jenkins also contributing to the screenplay. It stars Jessica Alba, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo, Viola Davis, Randall Park, Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou, Oscar Isaac, and Annette Bening. *Captain Marvel: The Enemy Within* was released on July 19, 2013 and grossed $648.5 million off of a $200 million budget, and on a runtime of 112 minutes. The film received praise for its visual effects and performances (particularly those of Alba and Olsen), but was criticized for its story, villain, and pacing.

## Plot

On her spaceship in outer space, Carol Danvers communicates with her brother Steve over video chat. Their talk is interrupted by a danger notice on the planet Danvers is orbiting. She is forced to hang up, suiting up and flying down to the planet. She discovers it is Skrull-inhabited and was a trap to capture her. She awakens with General Talos looking over her arrest. He insinuates she is still working for the Kree, but she reveals she quit after their war three years previous. However, her association still leads to her being transfered to the Skrull mothership, where she escapes, revealing she was just waiting to get onto the ship, and attacks Kl'rt, the Queen's right-hand man and war leader. The two get into a big battle, where Kl'rt shapeshifts into Steve and asks Carol to kill him. She doesn't, but destroys their ship fuel supply before leaving. On Earth, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff train at S.H.I.E.L.D., being watched over by Nick Fury, Bruce Banner, and Maria Rambeau. Their session is interrupted by Danvers, who has come for her monthly check-in. However, suddenly Yon-Rogg, another Kree, arrives and attacks Danvers. The two battle, but their fight injures Pietro. Yon-Rogg reveals himself to be a member of Starforce, implying the group goes deeper in the Kree's roots than she knows.

Danvers realizes she needs to stop Starforce once again, but Wanda asks to come for back-up, while Banner, Rambeau, and Agent Jimmy Woo join along as well. The four travel to Hala, where Danvers talks to the Supreme Intelligance, which reveals that most of the Kree have violent views of the Skrulls, and Mar-Vell only truly held a small faction to fight the Starforce. Danvers becomes disillusioned with the Kree and attempts to leave with her team, but members of the Starforce attack them, and Rambeau is injured. Danvers steals a light-speed ship and goes back to Earth, contacting Fury, but he does not pick up. Instead, they are pulled by a tractor beam onto a satellite, where they meet Abigail Brand and S.W.O.R.D., a space observation agency, and ally of S.H.I.E.L.D. Brand tells them Fury notified her of their situation and gets her doctors to help Rambeau. Banner also reveals he has been able to keep the Hulk under control since the Battle of New York, while Woo is amazed by the base. Meanwhile, Kl'rt and Talos report to Queen Veranke, who has found a new planet to hide out on. Kl'rt wants to go after the Kree, but Veranke forces him to stay put, to not enter a new battle.

At the S.W.O.R.D. base, Danvers learns of an ancient Kree weapon that is seen to be the only thing that can destroy the Supreme Intelligance. She leaves on her own to seek it out, while Brand takes Wanda and Woo to go after Yon-Rogg. They find him orbiting Hala and enter a space shootout, destroying his ship, but he flies after their's on his own and brings it down to Hala. Danvers goes to Ruul, the Kree's first planet, and finds ancient writings of how the Skrulls would flee the Kree, who thought them as a barbaric race that needed to be eliminated due to their (peaceful) power. She is confronted by Talos, who prepares to fight but Danvers reveals her newfound knowledge. Talos reveals that they only ever fought back when the Kree would hit them hard and that Mar-Vell knew this and only went after the Skrulls that were truly as barbaric as they said, like Kl'rt. Danvers apologizes for their battles earlier and wants to help. Together, they find the weapon and travel to Hala. They learn what happened to Brand, Wanda, and Woo, and try to rescue them first, but Yon-Rogg finds them before they can. They fight and Talos nearly sacrifices himself, until more Skrulls are revealed to have been disguised as Kree soldiers and attack Yon-Rogg. Danvers rescues her friends and prepares to destroy the Supreme Intelligance. At the S.W.O.R.D. base, Kl'rt arrives with men and attacks them. Banner transforms into the Hulk and fights them off, while Rambeau awakens and shoots Kl'rt with S.W.O.R.D. alien technology, ending the attack.

On Hala, Danvers and her group are stopped by Yon-Rogg, who has enhanced his body with technology. He and Danvers fight and he manages to overpower her, until the Hulk arrives with Rambeau, and along with Wanda they stop Yon-Rogg. Danvers destroys the Supreme Intelligance, ending its reign over the Kree, while Talos promises to inform Veranke of Danvers' efforts. Danvers promises the Kree she will return and wants to honor Mar-Vell even further and stop the Starforce. The group returns to Earth, which Danvers tells the Skrulls they can use as a refuge any time they need to, and Pietro awakens from his coma. In a mid-credits scene, Kl'rt recovers and reports to Veranke, who reveals she has set her sights on Earth as a potential base, though humans will need to be wiped out. In a post-credits scene, Rambeau returns home to her eighteen-year-old daughter Monica, who has joined the Air Forces under the call sign Photon.

## Cast

* Jessica Alba as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel
* Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
* Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
* Viola Davis as Maria Rambeau
* Randall Park as Jimmy Woo
* Ben Mendelsohn as Talos
* Djimon Hounsou as Yon-Rogg
* Oscar Isaac as Kl'rt/Super-Skrull
* Annette Bening as Abigail Brand

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Matt Bomer, Jessica Chastain, and Samuel L. Jackson each make brief appearances as Pietro Maximoff, Steve Danvers, Veranke, and Nick Fury, respectively, reprising their roles from earlier MCU installments.

## Reception

### **Box office**

*Captain Marvel: The Enemy Within* grossed $217.3 million in North America and $431.1 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $648.5 million. The film grossed $89.3 million in its North American opening weekend, opening to number one at the box office.

### **Critical reception**

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 66% approval rating with an average score of 6.23/10, based on 271 reviews; the lowest rated film in the MCU. The website's consensus reads, "It may not be the finest film to come from the Marvel Universe, but *Captain Marvel: The Enemy Within* still offers plenty of the humor and high-stakes action that fans have come to expect." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 54 out of 100 based on 44 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A−" average, based on a grading scale ranging from A+ to F, up from the B+ the first film received.