WARNING: Spoilers for Captain Marvel ahead.

Captain Marvel introduces a new, powerful team into the Marvel Cinematic Universe: the elite Kree military unit known as Starforce. This is a remarkably deep cut for the MCU, given that Starforce originated in 1992 and have only made a handful of appearances since.

In the comics, Starforce is a group created to serve the Supreme Intelligence, the absolute ruler of the Kree. Although they didn’t know it, Starforce were pawns in a desperate game by the Supreme Intelligence. This monstrous being believed that the Kree had stopped evolving, and were doomed as a race. In order to kick-start evolution, it triggered a galactic war between the Kree and the rival Shi’ar Empire. The Shi’ar ultimately dropped a genetic bomb on the Kree homeworld of Hala, killing millions but forcing the survivors to evolve or die. As for the Starforce unit, they were subsumed into the Shi’ar military.

The Starforce in Captain Marvel are a little bit different and serve essentially as Carol Danvers’ squad while on Hala. According to Jude Law, the 6 member team has been together for 15 years, although “Vers” only joined six years ago. While the various members of Starforce don’t get much screentime in the movie, we know a fair bit about them thanks to the comics and other Captain Marvel material.

Last Updated: March 7, 2019

Mar-Vell or Yon-Rogg (Jude Law)

First up is the Starforce unit’s enigmatic leader, played by Jude Law. Marvel was especially mysterious about the identity of his character, with Law only going as far as describing him as a “religious fanatic” with a “particular relationship with the Supreme Intelligence.”

As many fans suspected, Law is playing Yon-Rogg. In the comics, Yon-Rogg is a Kree military commander who ultimately becomes one of Carol Danvers’ foes. His role in the movie is fairly accurate to the one in the comics, with a malicious connection to Captain Marvel’s origin and attempt to use Carol Danvers’ abilities for his own use. In the MCU, his mission is to retrieve the Tesseract from Earth where scientist Mar-Vell hid it, with goals to create new weapons and wipe out the Skrulls (who want the Space Stone to build a lightspeed engine to escape the Kree).

Vers (Brie Larson)

Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers begins Captain Marvel on the Kree homeworld of Hala believing she is really the Starforce member Vers (coined from a fragment of her dogtag). She is one of the most powerful members of Starforce, with photon blasts that can effortlessly take down enemies (normally the Skrulls), although Captain Marvel’s full powers are being limited by Yon-Rogg.

During the course of Captain Marvel, Vers teams up with a younger Nick Fury, at first to take down the Skrulls but later fight against Starforce. This is more fitting of the charcater in the comics: Starforce are typically villains, with Carol never having worked with them in the past.

Korath the Pursuer (Djimon Hounsou)

At the time of Captain Marvel, Korath is second in command of Starforce. In the comics, Korath was a Kree cyber-geneticist who experimented upon himself in order to play a part in the Kree-Skrull War. This villain possesses basic superhuman strength, stamina, and durability, but his greatest skill is a low-level telepathic power that allows him to track his prey.

Like Ronan the Accuser, we know what the future has in store for Korath; Djimon Hounsou played the character in Guardians of the Galaxy, having defected from Starforce to join the more fantical warrior. In the coming two decades, his weapons also change from dual plasma swords to a big gun.

Read More: All The MCU Characters Who Return In Captain Marvel

Att-Lass (Algenis Perez Soto)

Algenis Perez Soto plays Att-Lass, a Kree villain who’s sometimes referred to as “Captain Atlas” in the comics. A ruthless and physically powerful warrior, Att-Lass is one of the few Kree warriors to briefly wield Mar-Vell’s Nega-Bands, powerful gauntlets that tap into interdimensional energy. He became disillusioned with Starforce when he learned the team was being manipulated by the Supreme Intelligence, and became a warlord in his own right, even attempting an invasion of Earth on one occasion. In Captain Marvel, Att-Lass is one of the team’s snipers and a weapons specialist.

Bron-Char (Rune Temte)

You can be forgiven for not having heard of Bron-Char. He was a Kree warrior introduced in the 1998 event “Live Kree or Die.” Bron-Char has the curious distinction of being one of the few people to successfully destroy one of Captain America’s shields; Cap had lost his traditional shield a while ago, and was using a replica from the Smithsonian Institution. The character has only appeared in a handful of issues, described by Jude Law as simply “a blue giant,” Rune Temte can essentially portray him however he wishes.

Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan)

Sometimes known as Doctor Minerva, this Kree geneticist is one of Captain Marvel’s lesser-known villains. In the comics, she’s a ruthless scientist with no qualms about experimenting upon “lesser races” such as humans, and possesses basic energy manipulation powers that seem analogous to Carol Danvers’ own abilities. Minerva was part of Strikeforce in the comics, but afterward went rogue. She’s faded into the background in recent years, popping up every now and again as an infrequent foe who simply wishes to conduct dangerous, unsanctioned experiments; Minerva’s sole motivation nowadays appears to be the fact she quite enjoys her work. Gemma Chan is playing Minn-Erva, and her role in Starforce will be as the team’s main sniper and long-range specialist.

More: Captain Marvel’s End-Credits Scenes Explained

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