Has Captain Marvel been cast in secret? And will we see her sooner than expected?

November 2, 2018 is when we’ll see the Captain Marvel movie – but things may have been getting into gear already. The film, which will feature Marvel Studios’ first lead female superhero, will centre around the titular character, who possesses perhaps the greatest powers among the Avengers she will end up joining. But despite that movie being over three years away, there’s a new rumour in town: Captain Marvel has already been cast, and we’ll be seeing her sooner than expected.

Latino Review’s Umberto Gonzalez – a typically reliable source – posted on Instagram that Captain Marvel has been secretly cast. [WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW FOR SOON-TO-BE-RELEASED MARVEL MOVIES] He says that we will first see the character pop up as early as Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is a shockingly early appearance. That would mean that not only has Captain Marvel been cast, but she’s already shot her footage for the movie; if that is the case, Marvel have kept everything under wraps extremely well.

There is good news, and potentially bad news, that comes with this development. The good news is that being introduced to the character this early on means we’ll be fully invested in her by the time her solo movie comes out, and we’ll be sure to see her again in Avengers: Infinity War – Part 1, which comes out before, and maybe even Captain America: Civil War even earlier. The bad? Not only is Avengers: Age of Ultron stuffed to the gills with characters already, but it’s a massive gamble on the studio’s behalf of instating a character in this way, with no knowledge of how the audience will respond to her. Either way, it’s all part of the exciting, gigantic cinematic tumble-dryer that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe – and we may only have to wait another month before we get our first glimpse at Captain Marvel. But remember, this is all just a rumour for now.

Who do you think will play the superhero? Let us know in the comments section below.