You can’t trust anything you read on the internet nowadays, especially if it’s a headline written specifically to be misread while people are scrolling. This little “trick” is why recently, a few accounts on Twitter and Reddit have been claiming Brie Larson has been replaced as Captain Marvel in the MCU by Emilia Clarke. However, this is simply untrue, as many outlets (including us) have previously pointed out.
With that said, there have been plenty of rumors that Clarke will be joining the MCU, which all began when the first trailer for Marvel’s upcoming television series Secret Invasion dropped last September. In it, the Game of Thrones star was shown as a human (or creature with a human-like appearance) holding a gun and generally looking awesome.
The show follows Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as he tries to thwart a conspiracy that’s trying to install Skrulls into powerful positions around the world. Skrulls are shape-shifters, able to perfectly morph into any human at will, turning what should be a simple hunt into something more complicated. Some factions of the alien race, led by Fury’s friend Talos, have broken away from diplomacy and are the ones in charge of the plot, meaning there aren’t just action scenes and espionage in Secret Invasion, but political intrigue, too.
After a Marvel account tweeted a gif of Clarke alongside the name Abigail Brand, fans became certain the Brit would be playing the character who was born on Axus to an alien father and woman from Earth, the latter of whom she inherited the X-Gene from. Brand eventually joins S.W.O.R.D., a subdivision of S.H.I.E.L.D., at the incredibly young age of 28, which is only a bit younger than Clarke — which meant that for fans who loved following clues, it all seemed to fit.
However, in a sweeping overview of Secret Invasion in Vanity Fair, this theory was shown to be untrue. The magazine piece revealed that Clarke will be playing a character named G’iah (pronounced Guy-ah).
For G’iah, the fight against the Skrulls isn’t just about her job. In the Vanity Fair article, Jackson points out Clarke’s character and the alien race are closer than it would appear at first glance. Citing a scene in 2019s Captain Marvel, the Nick Fury actor stated:
“Remember when Ben was there with his wife and daughter? She’s the little Skrull girl grown up. She’s his daughter.”
So, the character Clarke plays has appeared before, albeit as a child. Clarke herself has delved into G’iah’s backstory to shape her performance. In that same Vanity Fair piece, she discussed her process.
“It’s [not having her dad around] hardened her, for sure. There’s a kind of punk feeling that you get from this girl. She’s a refugee kid who’s had Talos for a dad, you know what I mean? Maybe the fact that we didn’t know he had a kid up until this point tells you everything you need to know about their relationship. These people promised a lot of stuff a long time ago, and not a lot has happened. So understandably, a certain amount of resentment has been built. There’s a lot of emotions that live within her, and there’s a lot of confrontational aspects to her character that have come from circumstance. You understand why she has the feelings that she does.”
In the comics, G’iah is a relative newcomer. Her first appearance was in the 2019 comic Meet the Skrulls #1, where she is a Skrull general who has shapeshifted into a woman named Gloria Warner. As we can see from Clarke’s comments, the way the character is going to be portrayed could be anything from anti-hero to out-and-out villain.
All of this speculation has led to a lot of hype for the upcoming series, too. Add in the fact that the rest of the cast includes some absolutely astounding names (Olivia Colman, Martin Freeman, Don Cheadle) and the tight six episodes of the miniseries (so it can’t be criticized for packing too much in like some Marvel content is), and you have the recipe for a breakout bit of content that might appeal to those who have never been huge fans of the MCU. We’re sure that Clarke will be a vital cog in such an interesting story.
