For you newcomers I’m getting this out of my system, but fast for you long-time readers. I’m still convinced that the reason Marvel Studios is giving us a Captain Marvel movie isn’t because they’re finally giving their lady heroes some overdue coverage, or even the Wonder Woman movie that hadn’t come out when this was announced if memory serves. No, I think they were trying to make sure that the Shazam! movie that was still fighting to escape development hell at the time couldn’t give Billy Batson the right superhero name. If you don’t think they could be that petty look over the history of Marvel’s swiping of the name and the failures to make a Captain Marvel work, and how they made sure Jim Shooter couldn’t start Defiant comics (which was a huge financial loss for him mind you) by rushing out a comic with a close enough name to the launch title he had planned. Marvel can be a bunch of jerks without Comicsgate ever coming into the picture.
Even Carol Danvers can’t produce a long-running Captain Marvel series, and Marvel has tried for decades, starting all the way back with the original Captain Mar-Vell, a Kree warrior who protected Earth from his own people because he realized we’re not so bad. Carol was his girlfriend who (short version) ends up getting her DNA fused with Kree DNA, making her half-human/half-Kree and giving her superpowers. Calling herself Ms. Marvel (the name now used by Kamala Khan because she was a huge fan) she protected the planet with her lover until he was killed. She’s undergone several name changes since then, Warbird being my favorite (and my favorite costume). But determined not to let DC allow fans of the original Captain Marvel to call their hero by his proper name, they turned Carol into the new Captain Marvel and hoping for once they found one that worked after so many tries, including one with no Kree connection at all. Carol is the source of the new movie, but how does it look?
If you want to find all the Easter Eggs and whatever there are plenty of people on YouTube and the blogosphere doing breakdowns. I’m only interested in the movie itself.
If you couldn’t tell from the Blockbuster Video this movie is set in the 1980s, which means a retcon of sorts. While Captain Marvel is still the first superhero (since he appeared in World War II) it was Iron Man that set up the whole super thing in the MCU, depending on when Bruce Banner first became the Hulk in this universe. Now it’s actually Carol, which means this movie has to answer where she was during the various Avengers stories if not some of the events of other characters. You’d think with Fury so intent on starting the Avengers (possibly based on his experience with Carol) she’d be one of the first people there.
I’m also wondering if this is going to be more about Nick Fury’s backstory than Carol’s, which wouldn’t sit well with anybody. It seems Mar-Vell is out of the picture, or at least he won’t be here in the same capacity if at all. From the trailer it appears Carol was an Air Force pilot (which she was in the comics prior to becoming Ms. Marvel) that might have been abducted and her memories messed with. I’m guessing the plan was to send someone who could pass as an Earthling as part of their invasion plan. Not a bad concept mind you but it does show a lack of interest in the legacy of the character and name. Although given Marvel Comics’ actions as of late that’s nothing new with the Marvel brand as of late.
I do like the way her costume looks, although they suspiciously kept the camera off of the areas that were allegedly photoshopped in recent promotional pictures. (Some folks pointed out that Bree Larson’s hips look strangely off on the cover of Entertainment Weekly for example, which features her in full Marvel uniform.) The special effects look cool but I want to know more about the story. Captain Not Billy Batson…I mean Captain Marvel makes her retroactive inclusion into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in March of 2019 and for their sake it better be good. They really haven’t done much with their female heroes and I’m still not convinced Black Widow could helm her own movie. This is their best opening shot.
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