Captain Marvel: 10 Best Moments
7. The Skrull Twist
The biggest and most pleasant surprise in Captain Marvel is the revelation that Skrull leader Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) isn't quite the one-dimensional villain everyone expected him to be.
Rather, he's actually a refugee seeking out a new home after the Kree annihilated his home planet, and he simply wishes to be reunited with his family.
It's a great twist built on the audience's expectation that Ben Mendelsohn always plays hammy bad guys, so to see that subverted rather ingeniously here was a nice touch.
But Talos is far from a squeaky-clean good guy, as he notes there being plenty of blood on his hands and forms only a most tenuous partnership with Carol and co.
The film does a great job making him sympathetic and unexpectedly likeable, especially during some of his banter with the heroes. "Why would I become a filing cabinet?"
It might disappoint some that this effectively puts the kibosh on any immediate Secret Invasion storyline in the MCU, but it was certainly a refreshing change from just making the Skrull another generic alien army.