Captain Marvel’s Ben Mendelsohn says the Skrulls are just misunderstood

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

After decades of menacing Marvel heroes on the pages of comic-books, it will be a little surreal to finally see them in the flesh in CAPTAIN MARVEL. The upcoming film will find an army of the shape-shifting aliens plotting to invade Earth, forcing Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) to return in order to foil their plans. Ben Mendelsohn (READY PLAYER ONE) has certainly played his share of villains over the years, and his role in CAPTAIN MARVEL will be no different. Mendelsohn will be playing Talos, leader of the Skrull invasion, but the actor won't be buried under prosthetics the entire time, as his human version will be posing as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who happens to be Nick Fury's (Samuel L. Jackson) boss.

Like any good villain, Ben Mendelsohn doesn't see Talos as a straight-up bad guy, in fact, he told Entertainment Weekly that the Skrulls are really just misunderstood. Aw, cute. "I like Skrulls a lot more now that they’ve asked me kindly to come and represent," Mendelsohn said when asked whether he was a comic-book fan before he took the role. "But I was always aware of what punks the Kree were. I mean, why would you try and start a war with the Skrulls? What sort of an idiot is gonna try to start a war with us? Ugh, please. Go get some help from Captain Marvel. You know what I say. They’re just misunderstood. It ain’t easy being green." When Talos is in his human form, Mendelsohn said that he will be using an American accent, but when he's "Skrullin'," the actor will revert to his native Australian accent.

Well, you know, Skrulls sound good. Like, a Skrull sounds tough but friendly, a little bit sexy, kind of warm, but very not-to-be-messed-with-at-all. So strangely enough, we’ve discovered that Skrulls sound a lot like Australians… It was a very lengthy discussion that happened all up and down the echelons of this. I don’t want to paint my whole country like a Skrull, but I guess because there’s a certain je ne sais quoi. There’s a certain kind of earthy correctness to an Australian delivery. So I think that’s probably what tipped it in favor of me. And then my other guy sounds like Don Rumsfeld. Don Rumsfeld’s a good kind of read for my other guy.

Ben Mendelsohn previously worked with CAPTAIN MARVEL directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck on MISSISSIPPI GRIND, and Fleck said that they "had such a great time with him on our last movie that we begged him to do this movie. It’s just so fun to see him really dig into that character of Talos. He’s just so charismatic and dynamic and colorful." For his part, Mendelsohn was thrilled that Boden and Fleck asked him to play Talos and praises their work on what he called a "really beautiful, badass superhero story."

I’ll tell you what Marvel have done really well — and what they’ve done really well from the time they were in print. They always spoke to the issues of the day and the concerns of their audience, which was predominantly a young audience. And what’s great about Captain Marvel is it’s really beautiful. It’s actually a really beautiful, badass superhero story. As people, Ryan and Anna are very sweet, and they’re very switched on. Their sensibilities are delicate and exacting, and I think at the heart of this story… Don’t get me started on it because I’ll get emotional. It really is a beautiful story, and it takes directors with heart and with what I think is a really good B.S. meter for weeding out notes that aren’t going to hit right and true. I think they’re an inspired choice for this.

CAPTAIN MARVEL will hit theaters on March 8, 2019.