With filming already under way on Marvel Studios' highly-anticipated Captain Marvel, another key character has been cast, with Gemma Chan (Humans) signing on to play Minn-Erva, a Kree scientist and spy also known as Doctor Minerva. While Marvel hasn't released an official synopsis for Captain Marvel, it has been confirmed that this story will be set in the 1990s and that the iconic Kree-Skrull war from the comics will be prominently featured, along with other notable comic book characters like Mar-Vell (Jude Law). While it isn't known how Minn-Erva will be used in the story, she does have a history with Mar-Vell in the comics.

Minn-Erva was introduced in the Marvel Comics in Captain Marvel #50 (May 1977), created by Scott Edelman and Al Migrom. The character was born on Edelix on the planet of Kree-Lar, who ultimately became a geneticist working for the Kree Empire. She was an enemy to rogue Kree agent Captain Mar-Vell (Jude Law). She was altered by the Kree Psyche-Magnetron, which gave her superhuman strength and durability, along with the ability to fly, which she does so through the manipulation of gravitons. During the Kree/Shi'ar War, she was part of the Kree Starforce and she was once partners with Captain Atlas before being banished from Earth.

With no concrete story details to go off of, it remains unclear if any of these details from the comics will ring true in this movie adaptation, or if Marvel Studios will take a different approach to this character. Regardless, she joins a cast that is lead by Brie Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Jude Law as Richard Lawson/Mar-Vell along with Ben Mendelsohn, rumored to be playing the main villain Yon-Rogg, and DeWanda Wise, rumored to be playing Monica Rambeau, and Samuel L. Jackson as a de-aged Nick Fury. There has been talk that this movie will finally reveal just how Nick Fury lost his left eye, but that has yet to be confirmed.

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Mississippi Grind) are directing Captain Marvel from a script that was most recently worked on by Geneva Robertson-Dworet (Tomb Raider), with Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) previously working on the script, and Kevin Feige producing. Marvel has set a March 8, 2019 release date, putting it between this summer's Avengers: Infinity War (May 4), Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6) and the final Phase 3 movie, Avengers 4 (May 3, 2019). As of now, Captain Marvel is the only movie slated for release on March 8, 2019, falling between 20th Century Fox's The Force, Lionsgate's Chaos Walking and Universal's i0jHow to Train Your Dragon 3 on March 1, 2019, and Paramount's Amusement Park and Universal's untitled Jordan Peele movie on March 15, 2019.

Gemma Chan is best known for playing Mia in AMC's Humans, which returns with its third season later this year. On the big screen, she portrayed Madam Ya Zhou in Warner Bros.' Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Quintessa in last year's Transformers: The Last Knight. She will next be seen in Crazy Rich Asians, Mary Queen of Scots and London Fields. Deadline broke the news on this Captain Marvel casting earlier today.