19 movies we’re definitely looking forward to in 2019

3. Captain Marvel

At long last, Marvel is releasing a superhero movie with a female lead, and so far it looks pretty awesome. Brie Larson bleeds blue, is part alien, has some seriously cinematic superpowers, and most importantly, has a mohawk. Okay, maybe that’s not strictly the most important part, but you can’t say it isn’t cool.

The first and last we saw of Captain Marvel in the MCU was a rather esoteric teaser at the very end of Infinity War. It will be interesting to see how (or if) the new movie will tie into Infinity War; at the moment it seems that Captain Marvel will mostly establish the character before her actions in Avengers: Endgame. Still, maybe we’ll get a little flash forward at the end, to tie the different plotlines together.

In another age of this Earth—or at least, back in 2012—it seemed natural that Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie would be Black Widow. But for various reasons it hasn’t happened yet, and now the honor (or burden) of being the MCU’s first female-led superhero standalone falls to Captain Marvel. Now is certainly the era for firsts, and after Black Panther smashed box office records as the first Marvel movie with a predominantly-black main cast, it’s hopeful that the studio is going to continue seeking out diversity in its offerings once Phase 4 gets kicked off.

Whether or not Captain Marvel will be the first of many more female-led superhero movies to come remains to be seen, but if it does well at the box office, the outlook is certainly hopeful.