#Magnitron

[sineala]

What are your thoughts on the run that completely rewrote Tony’s origin so that he wasn’t Howard and Maria’s biological son? Is that still the current origin story they’re going with?

Thanks for asking! This is still Tony's current origin story and I hate it. I think it was poorly thought-out and that every subsequent thing Marvel has done to attempt to address it has somehow made it worse. I think they've managed to tell an incredibly upsetting and unpleasant story, portraying adoption in an extremely negative light, that has pretty much only made life worse for Tony and not even in a way that's narratively interesting.

I have some salt about this, yes.

I'm not against adoption retcons in general, and I'm not against retconning character backgrounds. I get the impression it was unpopular but I really liked the retcon of Carol's background a couple years ago in the Life of Captain Marvel miniseries by Margaret Stohl -- instead of her being a human given powers by the Psyche-Magnitron, she was revealed to have been secretly half-Kree, and the device merely catalyzed her latent powers. Her mother was secretly Kree and Carol never knew. The miniseries actually had a really nice scene of her and Tony talking about families, because understandably Carol (also now Car-Ell because, yes, she has a Kree name) now had a lot of complicated feelings. Kelly Thompson's Captain Marvel run continued to explore the implications of this, as Carol found out that she actually had Kree relatives. So Carol's got a new half-sister, Lauri-Ell, and they were immediately thrown into a situation where Carol had to defend her and believe in her and it was great and also now they're friends. Well, family. Friendly family. I think Lauri-Ell was probably the best thing about Thompson's Captain Marvel run and I'm honestly really glad Marvel went there.

Tony didn't get anything like that.

As far as I know, the way Kieron Gillen approached his Iron Man run was by not doing the reading and then completely winging it. And while winging it isn't inherently bad, it did mean that not only did he not know where he was going, he didn't know what had come before. That, combined with the fact that a lot of comics writers want to "make their mark" on a famous character meant that he was probably wanting to go for something big. Hence, adoption. Which, again, isn't inherently a bad idea; it can definitely give characters a lot to explore. It's a little odd as a choice for Tony who as far as we know is Howard and Maria's biological son in every other universe in the multiverse; there's no motivation given for why 616 should be different, and off the top of my head I can't name any other characters who only differ cross-universe in adoption status, although now that I think about it I bet there are probably some universes where other people raised Peter Parker.

Also "Arno" is a really odd name choice for Tony's brother. I get that Gillen was pulling the name of a future relative from the original Iron Man 2020 issues, which if you're gonna read one thing is a deeply weird thing to pick. I remember people asking him why he didn't name Tony's brother Greg. Ultimates is a universe where Tony in fact has a brother named Greg. That would have at least made some sort of multiversal sense. Apparently Gillen just… hadn't known Greg existed. Great.

Okay. So you're gonna tell a story about adoption. You're going to reveal that a beloved character has been secretly adopted all along and no one knew. What are you going to get out of it? What are you going to accomplish? Here are some possible choices. You could tell a story that's inspirational and representational to fans who are themselves adopted or have adopted children, because now their hero is just like them. You could tell a story about how Howard and Maria adopting Tony meant he was very much loved and wanted, because they consciously chose him and made him a part of their family. You could tell a story about how Tony, who has been an orphan for a very long time, has suddenly discovered that he has living family -- a brother, as well as his biological parents. You'd be giving him more people in his story, more people who could care about him, and I think you could tell a lot of interesting stories about Tony's new family dynamics. He could have had family who loved him, or at least hung around to interact with him -- Tony's only other relative we've ever seen, his cousin Morgan, hasn't been in an Iron Man comic in years, and also usually tries to kill him. But they could have taken this opportunity to make some changes. Imagine! Tony with a bigger family! Who cares about him.

That's not what Marvel did.

The reason Howard and Maria adopted Tony was that they needed a decoy son who was not their biological son (Arno) so that the alien who had genetically modified Arno wouldn't realize that Howard had undone his work. So that's why they adopted Tony. It wasn't because they wanted him specifically, loved him, wanted to give him a family, any of that -- they just needed a decoy. And in that light, the fact that Howard didn't love Tony looks even worse. Now it's not just "I never loved you," it's "I never loved you and I only ever wanted you to fulfill this weird plan I had going with an alien." Now you're telling the story "of course I never loved you, Tony; you're adopted." (And then he tries to sell Tony to Dracula.)

And that's… not a great look. Sure, not all stories have to be positive, but superheroes usually have some kind of relatable backstory, and it's easy for people to want to relate to them, and I feel like maybe you want to think a little harder before writing Tony as adopted when his childhood was already terrible and his family hated him. It could have been a really nice story about families of choice and how much Tony's adoptive family loved and wanted Tony. And it wasn't. Because Howard had been established for years as having been abusive. A story about a toxic adoptive family is not really great representation. "I never loved you" was pretty bad but "you're adopted and I never loved you," I think, sounds a lot worse.

You do also lose some plot elements by retconning Tony as adopted, namely anything having to do with him having a genetic relationship to Howard and Maria. And for the most part this isn't going to be relevant, but now you can't really easily tell a story about Tony inheriting alcoholism or general addiction or depression or whatever from his father. (I mean, you still can if you really want to; you'd just have to establish this as being true of his biological parents. But Marvel has not done that and does not really seem all that likely to start, because that would require putting them in comics and they're not doing that anymore.)

After Kieron Gillen left the book, Bendis came on. And I know Bendis' kids are adopted so I can understand why he'd want to tackle the adoption plot and really flesh out Tony's family. So a large portion of Bendis' IM run was about Tony's quest for, and eventual discovery of, his biological family. At the time, I figured this might actually be a good plot -- if they're not going to retcon out the adoption, they might as well lean in. I was looking forward to having Tony meet his family. The guy could definitely use more family, and I thought it would be great to see him interacting with them and developing new relationships.

That also didn't happen.

So what about all his new family members? His adoptive brother Arno? His biological mother and father?

Well, actually, they hate him too. All of them!

Arno went evil, is currently evil, tried to take down Tony, and is now trapped in VR or something. (To be fair, this wasn't Bendis' fault; Dan Slott did this in the subsequent run.)

Jude, Tony's biological father, is a Hydra agent who tried to kill Tony's mother. He met Tony once. He also tried to kill him. (This one was Bendis' fault.)

Amanda, Tony's biological mother, is a rock star and SHIELD agent who decided that now that Tony was living in a constructed, non-original body… he was no longer her son. And she wanted nothing else to do with him. She hasn't been back; yes, this was also Dan Slott's work. This is both cruel and bizarre because this is definitely not Tony's first brand-new body. If he's going to be dead to her because this isn't his original body, then he's been dead since at least Onslaught. If this was going to be a problem for her, it should already have been a problem as soon as she met him.

(That was one of the big issues for me with Slott's entire run in that a lot of it was about Tony having a crisis that he maybe wasn't really Tony because he had a new body. I was just like, dude, where have you been? Why is this only a problem now?)

So now Tony, who was already abused by his adoptive father, has discovered three new members of his family, all of whom also hate him!

Anyway, basically the only family Tony had who loved him was Maria. At least he had her, I guess.

So what's the point, really? He has more people to hate him. If you're going to give him new family, couldn't you give him one person who at least likes him? Carol has a retconned half-sister now, who loves her. Why couldn't Tony have something like that?

It's not even interesting pain, for Tony. This isn't anything different than what he already had. It just involves more characters now. They had the chance to use the adoption arc to really transform Tony's life and give him a whole new family to interact with and tell a story about choice and family and being loved and wanted. Instead, he has three new family members who hate him and who probably won't be appearing again anytime soon anyway. What did this even accomplish? What do we get? A story about how, once again, none of Tony's family loves him, that even more of them exist and they hate him too, that his adoptive family abused him, that's probably going to make adopted kids reading these comics feel pretty bad. I don't think this is really an accomplishment.

In conclusion… uh… this is me complaining about the adoption retcon to @blossomsinthemist while I was trying to figure out how to write this post:

Sineala: they never loved him but now they REALLY never loved him and also here's his biological family who never loved him either Sineala: i mean, i'm not opposed to giving tony more family but maybe they could… not hate him Sineala: i feel like tony should marry into a large and affectionate family Sineala: …actually, this is basically the avengers Sineala: never mind, he already did Sineala: if you don't have your own loving family, store-bought is fine

So, yeah. That's where I stand.

[pacmangamemaster]

Carol Danvers - Ms. Marvel / Captain Marvel

Background:

Carol Danvers is a former U.S. Air Force pilot and intelligence agent. She became Ms. Marvel after an explosion involving a Kree device called the Psyche-Magnitron.

Powers:

Superhuman Strength: Enhanced strength beyond human limits. Flight: Ability to fly at high speeds. Energy Absorption: Can absorb various forms of energy and use it to enhance her physical attributes or project energy blasts. Durability: Highly resistant to physical damage. Regenerative Healing Factor: Can heal from injuries faster than a normal human. Binary Form: Temporarily gains cosmic powers, allowing her to generate and control any form of radiation or gravity.

Origin:

Carol’s powers were activated when she was exposed to the Psyche-Magnitron, which rewrote her DNA to make her a human-Kree hybrid. She initially took on the mantle of Ms. Marvel and later became Captain Marvel to honor her mentor, Mar-Vell.

Notable Traits:

Carol is known for her resilience, leadership, and determination to protect Earth and its inhabitants. She has been a member of the Avengers and has led the Alpha Flight Space Program.

[ennmaximof4]

CAPITÃO ATLAS

Att-Lass

Kree

• Fisiologia Kree: Voo, durabilidade e super força.

HISTÓRIA:

O capitão Atlas era um dos soldados mais condecorados do mundo-mãe. Ele conheceu a Doutora Minerva quando foi enviado à Terra para recuperá-la depois que ela sinalizou ao Império Kree que havia desbloqueado com sucesso o potencial genético de seu corpo. Minerva gostou de Atlas e compartilhou o processo Psyche-Magnitron com ele, fazendo com que ele se transformasse em um super ser que ela considerava seu companheiro ideal eugenicamente. Enquanto se preparavam para deixar a Terra, Atlas viu imagens das Bandas Quânticas usadas por Quasar e acreditou que elas poderiam ser as lendárias Bandas de Poder de Rinn.

Posando como "Sr. Atlas" e "Dr. Minerva" da Xenotech, os dois Kree compareceram à primeira exposição internacional de armas realizada pela A.I.M. e se ofereceu para pagar a eles $ 100 milhões por pulseira se seus técnicos pudessem adquirir réplicas funcionais das Bandas Quânticas. MIRAR., enviou M.O.D.A.M. para tirá-los de Quasar, mas ele a derrotou.

Enquanto em um deserto do Novo México, Atlas e Minerva observaram secretamente como Quaser encontrou e capturou Halflife. Aparentemente obtendo a assinatura de energia específica das bandas naquela época, os dois Kree conseguiram rastreá-lo até sua casa em Connecticut e, assim que ele adormeceu, eles usaram um disruptor sináptico para garantir que ele permanecesse inconsciente enquanto o sequestravam. No entanto, quando a tentativa de Minerva de obter as bandas a levou a tentar usar um laser para cortar seu braço esquerdo, fez com que Quasar despertasse, ele rapidamente derrotou os dois e ordenou que ficassem longe da Terra no futuro.

O Capitão Atlas mais tarde trabalhou com a Doutora Minerva novamente durante o conflito Kree/Shi'ar conhecido na Terra como Operação: Tempestade Galáctica e recuperou as Nega-Bands do Capitão Mar-Vell. Atlas usou as Nega-Bands por um curto período de tempo e as usou para trocar de lugar com Rick Jones. Atlas lutou contra os Vingadores e os Shi'ar, mas quando descobriu que a guerra havia sido instigada pela Inteligência Suprema para irradiar e iniciar a evolução dos Kree, Atlas ficou desiludido e alegou que havia ativado o autocontrole de seu traje de batalha. Doutora Minerva tentou impedir seu suicídio, mas aparentemente foi vaporizada junto com ele.

Anos depois, o Capitão Atlas partiu para invadir a Terra em nome dos Kree. Para este fim, ele recrutou os serviços do Spymaster para roubar várias armaduras do Homem de Ferro para fortalecer seu exército. Adotando a identidade de Homem Titânio, At-Lass se juntou ao time de supervilões reunido pelo Spymaster para completar sua missão. A equipe realizou um assalto na Torre dos Vingadores, e o Spymaster usou teletransportadores em miniatura para enviar vários trajes do Homem de Ferro para a nave de Atlas, e se teletransportou para longe também. A fim de amarrar as pontas soltas, Lass se ofereceu para teletransportar o resto dos vilões para o comprador do Spymaster, levando-os consigo e revelando sua verdadeira identidade somente após neutralizá-los. Depois que os vilões se libertaram, a nave do Capitão Atlas foi atacada pelo Homem de Ferro, que ficou alarmado com o roubo.

-> MCU:

[rosieloki]

Yon-Rogg from over the years appreciation post lmao. 

Hope ppl appreciate this, his expression at the end sums up my thoughts exactly

Part of me hopes he comes back as Magnitron, just so I can see that costume in the MCU

[creatures-such-as-me]

Countdown to the End, Day of Eternity: Yon-Rogg

[dailymarvelcharacter]

Magnitron

Yon-Rogg

Powers: possesses the natural attributes of the Kree race including increased strength and durability as well as resistance to disease and toxins. Can also fire photon blats from his hands.

A member of the Imperial Kree Army, Yon-Rogg was the second in command of the Pama. When on a mission to find the Kree military hero Devros, Yon-Rogg became jealous of a young and idealistic Kree solider called Mar-Vell.

When Yon-Rogg was sent on a mission to Earth by the Supreme Intelligence he sent Mar-Vell on the lone mission to the planet with the hopes that he would die on the primitive planet. His hatred for Mar-Vell growing even stronger, Yon-Rogg reactivated a Kree Sentry in the hopes that it would fight and kill him.

When Yon-Rogg kidnapped Carol Danvers to use a hostage against Rick Jones he was stopped by Mar-Vell. In the course of the battle Carol was irradiated by a Kree Psyche-Magnitron granting her powers and Yon-Rogg seemingly died when the device exploded. Yon-Rogg later resurfaced having survived the explosion and gaining enhanced powers similar to that of Carol Danvers.

[docgold13]

365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

September 14th - Captain Marvel

Carol Danvers joined the Air Force at a young age and proved herself a promising cadet.  Being a woman, she often had to work twice as hard as her male peers yet this helped motivate her to rise to greatness.  She earned the rank of Major as assigned to an intelligence agent where she was ultimately tasked to be a head of security at NASA.

It was during Danvers time at NASA that the space agency was infiltrated by the Kree operative, Captain Mar-Vell, who was posing as an engineer named Walter Lawson.  Danvers discovered Mar-Vell’s true identity and also discovered his nobel intentions, leading the pair to team up against the villainous Kree, Yon-Rog.  In a battle with Yon-Rog, Danvers was accidentally exposed to the transformative properties of the Psyche-Magnitron machine.  This caused her to be imprinted with energy from Mar-Vell's Kree Nega-Bands, thus changing her on a genetic level and bestowing her tremendous super powers.  

These powers included flight, super strength and durability and the capacity to absorb energy and redirect it in the form of photon blasts.  Danvers used these powers to become the super hero known as Ms. Marvel.  She would later join the Avengers.  

Although Ms. Marvel proved a highly capable and valued member of The Avengers, her life was marred by three successive traumas.  First was the death of her one-time love, Mar-Vell; next she was manipulated and used by a deplorable villain named Marcus, and lastly she was attacked and nearly killed by Rogue of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.   Rogue’s power-aborning Mutant abilities had an unforeseen effect when combined with Danver’s Kree physiology.  Rogue absorbed all of Danvers’ powers aa well as much of her psyche and personality, leaving Danvers in a near comatose state.  

In a very lengthy process, Danvers recovered her abilities and returned to super heroics.  She would go on to have many adventures both on earth and throughout the cosmos, teaming up with the X-Men, The Starjammers, The Avengers and the Guardians of the Galaxy.  Danvers would go on to adopt the mantle of Captain Marvel for herself.

More recently, Danvers has learned about her true heritage as the daughter of a Kree supersoldier named Mari-Ell.  Since then she has been struggling to cope with and come to terms with her being a woman from two worlds.  

Actress Brie Larson has potray Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The heroine first appeared in the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes #13 (1967).

[omniversecomicsguide]

MS MARVEL READING ORDER: Carol Danvers (1968-1982)

NASA Security Chief Carol Danvers gains half-Kree physiology when she’s exposed to the Psyche-Magnitron. As Ms Marvel, Carol joins the Avengers, but a series of harrowing events leads to the loss of her powers...

MORE: Ms Marvel 1968-1982

[scarlet--wiccan]

i enjoy life of captain marvel retconning the carol backstory because my god it was easier to explain but for america, i was infuriated because i had loved the dimension hopping bit and also this new origin makes no fucking sense, at least Life kept the Psyche Magnitron in as what awaked her powers.

Yeah, if you’re going to stage a retcon like this, you should at least try to make it fit into the pre-existing story in a semi-believable manner. 

[moontours]

What’s Carol’s origin?

like how she got her powers? she was knocked into the psyche-magnitron which altered her dna or whatever n gave her powers!! or if u look at it post-the life of captain marvel, she’s been half kree this entire time but her powers were dormant until she knocked into the psyche-magnitron which unlocked her powers

[elite4steffi]

I’ve been thinking about why Carol Danvers is one of my all time favorite characters in comics but she comes off as kinda boring in the MCU and I think I’ve figured it out.

In the comics, we see Carol grow from a spin-off side character into her own hero. When her character is first introduced, she is, essentially, a love interest/damsel in distress for the original Captain Marvel, Mar Vell. (Yes, that is his actual name). She gets her powers after Mar Vell’s showdown with Yon Rogg goes badly and a big machine called the “Psyche-Magnitron” blows up. In the explosion, Carol basically wishes she were strong enough to save those she loves, which grants her powers.

Let’s skip ahead a few decades. Mar Vell has been out of the picture for a while, and Carol is now a B-list superhero, going by the name of Ms. Marvel. She gets to hang out with the Avengers, and she sees all these super powerful people like Captain America and she knows she’s good but she thinks she’s not as good as the crazy powerful people around her.

Until House of M happens. I’m not gonna explain House of M, but basically Carol gets shown an alternate universe where she’s the number 1 superhero. And when everything’s sorted out and back to normal she realizes could be that hero if she wanted to.

So, she becomes that person, changes her name from Ms. Marvel to Captain Marvel, and that’s where she is today.

Anyway, the point is, when you’re reading about Carol’s journey in the comics, you get to see her grow from a (while admittedly awesome) normal person to an A-list superhero and it’s exciting and fun because it makes you, the audience member, feel like you could do that too! “Hey, Carol likes Star Wars and cats! I like Star Wars and cats! She became an amazing superhero by admitting how good she is, so maybe if I admit how good I am, I could be the best at my thing too??” Where as in the movies, we start at the end of her journey. And while we get to see some of her journey through flashbacks/glimpses in the Captain Marvel movie, we don’t get the full scoop. We don’t get to grow with her. We only ever know her as already being the best, which personally, I find less relatable.

I don’t know if any of this was coherent, but the TL;DR is comic Carol is fun because she’s treated like a person who grows and movie Carol is boring ‘cause she’s really good at everything and therefore not relatable.

[comickergirl]

Alright. Let’s give this a shot.

SPOILER-Y DISCUSSION OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, INCOMING:

I figure the best way to do this is chronological; my prior attempts have not been chronological, which might account for their feeling a little...all over the place and unorganized.

This will also be a good test to see how much of the film I remember.

RIGHT THEN: First and foremost, (and we gleaned this from the trailers, obviously) MEMORY-LOSS PLOT. Which is Classic Carol™. She’s lost her memory like. Four times.

(her poor brain D:)

All of this to say: The premise of the movie, a kind of reverse origin story in which Carol figures out who she is, in a very literal but also figurative sense, was a great way to go, IMO.

Love all the moments from Carol’s past. I was admittedly surprised that we didn’t get more of that? But what was there was effective and given the amount of ground the movie had to cover, I think it was sufficient.

So after the dreams** we get the early morning fight with Yon-Rogg (who I was absolutely certain was Yon-Rogg, in spite of all the back and forth speculation and Marvel attempting to ‘hide’ his identity) and there’s exposition, obviously, and the set up of Carol’s struggle with Yon-Rogg’s forced Kree values clashing with Carol’s humanity but MORE importantly...

PHOTON BLASTS.

Love the way they render the energy pulsing just below the surface of her skin. Looks so cool. 

Then: Chit Chat Time with The Great Intelligence!

I thought for sure it was gonna be Helen Cobb.

BOY WAS I MISTAKEN. (More on that in a sec.)

Favorite Visual #1: The slow pan of Starforce and the excellent shot of Carol’s helmet as they swim to shore on Torfa.

The whole rescue mission sequence/Carol’s kidnapping is...Truly a Highlight, in my opinion.

I mean!

She’s running around the enemy ship! Without her boots! Pummeling the Skrulls with unwieldy metal shackles! And growling in their faces!

#BOSSOFSPACE

Also, comic connection alert: Carol was kidnapped and experimented on by the Brood, which resulted in her stint as Binary.

So, back to the movie:

Talos man.

TALOS.

We’ll get to him later.

Okay what month of 1995 does Captain Marvel take place in? Because I was honestly offended that no one, and I mean NO ONE made a Buzz Lightyear joke re: Carol’s outfit and being a member of STARCOMMANDFORCE who checks her wrist communicator to try and make contact.

(Toy Story came out in November so if this takes place in the summer I GUESS I will let it slide.)

But otherwise dug all of the 90s references.

The little Gameboy sound when she calls Yon-Rogg!

(Also, train chase was great but I’m trying to save time though I do feel inclined to mention Kelly Sue DeConnick! Bringing some quality side eye! Very nice.)

Young Fury + Carol = excellent buddy cop combo, 14/10 would take an entire spinoff of their wacky 90s road trip adventures.

‘You look like someone’s disaffected niece’ might be favorite line in the film.

Let’s pause for a moment and appreciate the score, shall we? Pinar Toprak CRUSHES IT; the Captain Marvel theme feels like something out of The Rocketeer but with about 400% more sci-fi synth and I LOVE IT.

**Love the piece of score played when Carol wakes up. (Appropriately titled “Waking Up” I think, on the soundtrack.)

I also like the songs they picked for the movie? This is probably the complaint I’ve seen most often, that they feel obvious and easy, but. I dunno. I was never expecting something like Guardians of the Galaxy? So I wasn’t mad about it. 

(In related news, I’ve been listening to “Connection” on repeat ever since the special look trailer dropped.) 

Anyways.

GOOSE.

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE.

MY GOOD FLERKEN GIRL.

(So, yes, breezing past the bar interrogation--though I do like the ghostly images of Carol’s past that crop up--as well as the trip to Pegasus, again in the interest of time.)

(WAIT. NO. THE TAPE JOKE.)

(Okay for real. Moving on.)

So then. THEN.

The Rambeaus. And the feelings.

Unpopular(?) opinion: I love that this big budget action movie focuses on female friendships and platonic relationships instead of romance THERE I SAID IT

ALSO LIEUTENANT TROUBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spelled Lieutenant right on the first try. Just sayin’.

But in all seriousness, I love the time we spend in Louisiana. We get a lot of good stuff. Carol getting answers from Maria, Talos arriving with his soda (milkshake?) The standoff with Goose.

(Oh, and how could I forget Maria bidding farewell to the neighbor, shutting the front door as Carol continues to glower???)

‘What’s happening?’ ‘It’s loading.’ XD

Favorite Visual #2 (Chronologically, but actually the one I like best in the movie) The Pysche-Magnitron Light Speed Engine explosion.

(Thank you, Marvel, for changing it to ‘light speed engine,’ which is much easier to spell than Psyche-Magnitron)

But yeah, that was the visual that sold me, in the earliest trailer. I wish I had some profound reason for that, but the truth is I just love blue-glow-y stuff.

BUT ALSO

(And, okay, an additional spoiler- warning because this is a big one. Like. Big.)

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Seriously, go away if you haven’t seen the movie yet.

................................................................................................................................

MAR-VELL iS A WOMAN

LIKE THIS WHOLE TIME. EVERYONE WAS SO FOCUSED ON JUDE LAW. And then there was that blip, right before the release, when Annette Bening revealed she was the Great Intelligence, again after months of secrecy so we were all like, HA we know the TWIST.

BUT NO. NO WE DID NOT.

Well played, Marvel. Well played.

This was something I was thinking about before the film came out; I just kind of assumed, because of the lack of an apparent ‘Mar-Vell,’ that Carol would be the first and only Captain Marvel in the MCU. And she basically is, b/c we have no indication that Dr. Larson was moonlighting as a superhero, but regardless this is SO COOL. SUCH A GOOD TWIST.

(A quick Google search on how many ‘L’s are in Mar-Vell led to a serendipitous discovery: an article on the gender swap decision, and apparently it came very late in the game. Like. ‘Already looking at guys to play Mar-Vell’ late in the game. *insert themoreyouknow.gif here*) 

Right, okay, back to Feelings:

When Carol’s like: You don’t know who I am! I don’t know who I am!

I was. Emotional.

(Brie Larson is perfectly cast and does a wonderful job.)

Maria’s pep talk? Also caused emotions.

And Maria got to come on the mission! I was pleasantly surprised, and really glad that the visit there wasn’t like. Just a pit stop, you know?

RIP Science Guy, we hardly knew ye.

Again, jumping ahead, but may I just say: It was truly an Experience, watching this movie with folks who had no idea what a ‘Flerken’ was.

Both my friends at the first screening I attended, and then like. Half the theater at the second one. XD

The whole row was like: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT when the tentacles came out.  

So yeah, Talos and the 180 on the REAL villains: Nice. The enduring complaint leveled at the MCU is a lack of compelling villains. (I guess Talos technically doesn’t count as a villain by the end of this, but. We’re going with it.) And Carol’s commitment to helping the Skrull refugees lifts plot elements from my favorite portion of the DeConnick run, so. YEP. LOVED IT.

(I was also trying to determine if Talos’ daughter was perhaps meant to be like. a Tic expy. Did it say ‘Tic’ on the pinball machine? Or ‘Tig’? Or something else entirely?)

Loved the...mind prison? sequence. All of it. “Come as You Are,” the Great Intelligence rockin’ out in the jacket, Carol’s Big Damn Hero moment. Brilliant. Spectacular. Amazing.

“My name is Carol.” 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSS

(Or does she say her full name? I can’t remember.)

And then the subsequent fight scene where Carol’s like. Simultaneously kicking butt but also enjoying all this newfound power/strength? A+++++

Favorite Visual #3: Carol sitting on the railing with the lunchbox.

Sad to see Minn-Erva go, but. Was so cool that Maria gets her own hero moment.

And then this big ol’ fight scene where Carol DESTROYS SPACESHIPS WITH HER BARE HANDS. 

Favorite Visual #4: Carol going Binary in the red, blue, and yellow suit with the helmet FLYING THROUGH SPACE, LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

All of the visuals from this portion are so on point it’s like they’re pulled straight from the comics.

Favorite Visual #5: When Carol’s staring down Ronan and she like. Does that thing, where you hit your palm with your fist? (IDK the technical term there) And there’s this awesome energy burst and AGAIN, BLUE GLOW-Y THINGS. I love.

I’m pretty sure there’s an interview where Brie Larson talked about watching Indiana Jones? And wanting to be the female equivalent of that.

WELL, that’s the movie I immediately thought of when Carol blasted Yon-Rogg into a boulder, mid-goading.

(Y’know, like the scene in Raiders where Harrison Ford was too sick/tired to do the fight choreography, so he just. Shot the bad guy.)

ALSO, when she drags his sorry butt across the desert? I was IMMEDIATELY reminded of Kara dragging Astra into the DEO.

DANVERS GIIIIRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLS

*ahem*

THE FAMILY DINNER AT THE END?????

LITERAL FOUND FAMILY OF ALIENS AND SOLDIERS AND SUPERHEROES JUST. HAVING DINNER. PLAYING UNO. WASHING DISHES AND SINGING "PLEASE MR. POSTMAN”?

Thank you, Marvel, for this beautiful gen fic material.

 WHOOPS I forgot the costume colors bit. (Admittedly confused it with the ending wherein Monica gives Carol her jacket back. Sans ketchup stain.)

So backtracking ever-so-slightly...

Let’s see if I remember this right: We get

Red and gold (Binary send-up, possibly? Or maybe the original Ms. Marvel costume?)

IDK what to call it....Lite-Brite? (♪ makin’ thi-ings with lii-iii-ight ♫) 

Black and Gold (bathing suit costume?)

White and Green (original Mar-Vel/Kree colors) 

That last one’s the only one that’s like. Obvious and deliberate. I’m just guessing with the others.

BUT CLEARLY I am ABSOLUTELY ONTO SOMETHING with the Lite-Brite.

BACK TO THE ENDING Lt. Trouble gives Carol her jacket and that’s my fav look, out of all the costume variations we see in the movie. I mean. I love the black and green, admittedly, and the helmet looks SO GOOD for being something that should be ridiculous, but my go-to answer for superhero costume design is: add a leather jacket.

Favorite Visual #6: Carol in the suit and flight jacket, floating above Earth, ready to go save the day.

AND THEN SHE’S OFF.

Ooooh, ooooooooh, but we can’t forget the scene. The scene that I’m certain ticked off The Continuity Police. (You know the types.)

See, remember when Marvel was like, ‘Carol’s the first Avenger!’ and haters were like, ‘UH HELLO IT’S STEVE????!????’ 

And then Marvel was like, oh ho ho ho, we meant LITERALLY the ENTIRE INITIATIVE IS NAMED AFTER HER CALL SIGN AND SHIELD STARTS LOOKING FOR SUPERHEROES BECAUSE OF HER ERGO SHE IS THE FIRST die mad about it.

That was so very, very satisfying to see.

(Also I guess she’s a literal Captain in the air force? If the rank on the jet is legit. Pretty sure she’s a Major in the comics, though. But I assume this change is to help sell the ‘Captain Marvel’ name.)

And then, friends. And then.

I was fully prepared to leave the theater, uncertain of when we’d next see Carol.

EVEN AS THE MID CREDITS SCENE PLAYED. I was like. ‘Well, they’re gonna cut it off before we can see anythINOHMaNTHERESHEIS!!!!!!’

‘Where’s Fury.’

*insert aesthetically pleasing keyboard smash here*

BRING ON ENDGAME.

And before we wrap up here, one final note:

The Space Stone, sought after by Trickster Gods and Mad Titans alike, was for a brief time, nothing more than a glorified furball.

FIN

(Nope, wait. One little anecdote before we go: of my core group of buddies, I am the Comics Nerd, and thus I am often consulted after we’ve watched a Marvel movie. So I had to explain that YES, Kara Danvers had the last name Danvers first, but she was adopted, and her GIVEN fake name was Linda Lee, so in all fairness, the same-name thing is a little less plagiarize-y, b/c ‘Linda Lee Danvers’ does not necessarily match up as well as ‘Kara Danvers’--which wasn’t even used until really recently--to ‘Carol Danvers’. ...Honestly, I was just really happy they called out the connection MY WORK HAS NOT BEEN IN VAIN XD )

Also, I sometimes get replies on posts like this which is totally fine BUT, I would ask that folks keep really spoiler-y stuff out of ‘em. At least for a little while.

[legendaryspvcebro]

( brie larson / 30 (physically) / she/her ) – hey, have you noticed [ CAPTAIN MARVEL ] around lately? rumor is they’re from [ NEW YORK CITY / OUTER SPACE ]. out of costume, i think they go by [ CAROL DANVERS ] !! their [ MASTER PILOT & COMBATANT / KREE PHYSIOLOGY, FLIGHT, AND ENERGY MANIPULATION ] make them a perfect fit for [ THE AVENGERS ]. // mipsy. 28. she/her.

hiyah dudes ! i’m mipsy, and tbh this my ump-tenth time coming back to rp after awhile. so i’m going to try to make this short and sweet with my girl carol, since i don’t really have much to say right now because, again, this is rough start. so look and listen and enjoy !

⭐~ carol will be primarily based on her comics, earth-616, headcanons, and inspired by the mcu’s captain marvel. there’s some from the comics i’ll use, some i won’t, because of the different timelines and versions. i’ll let everybody know when i set up a bio for her, but it’s gonna be awhile. but carol will not be / become binary in this rpg. i think things would get a little confusing and op if she was.

⭐~ chewie is carol’s flerken cat. it’s not really a cat, it’s an alien. she named her after the star wars character, chewbacca, because she loves star wars and chewie reminded carol of him.

⭐~ carol is half-kree by birth. her mother, mari-ell, was the champion or captain of the kree. though young carol hadn’t seemed to share her mother’s abilities, yet. the explosion of the kree psyche-magnitron, caused her body to absorb the cosmic energy within it, and instead of killing her, awakened her latent kree abilities. all of the powers she has are even more heightened now, because of her kree blood.

⭐~ car-ell is her birth name. means “champion” in kree language, but her parents changed it to “carol” so she could fit in on earth. carol has learned this by now.

⭐~ carol struggles with her kree lineage. she doesn’t agree with them and butts heads with them a lot, but her mother is kree. and she loves her mother, so she is the exception. very few others are too

⭐~ carol is a lesbian icon™️ because she’s been influenced by powerful women of all different types. women have only built her up, while men in her life have tried to tear her down. It all started from her sh*t dad. but she doesn’t hate men. she’s befriended some and isn’t afraid to befriend more, ex. nick fury. it’s men who believe she can’t do something because she’s a woman, that piss her off. ( i realize in the comics, carol’s not lesbian *shocker* so, at the same time, depending on who she really connects with, i’m not against making her bisexual. bisexual / lesbian, as long as she’s not straight. carol danvers is not 100% straight, fight me. )

⭐~ i love both marvel / dc, so i am here to mix carol with characters from both. plots and all. of coarse, she can have established relationships for some characters if they are a marvel character and are from the comics too, but that can be hashed out in plotting. enemies? she’s temperamental, perfect. friends? hell yeah. family like relationships? psh YES. broships? PSH bring it. ships? yeah. frienemies? let’s do it, man.

⭐~ i also love carol with short hair, so i imagine that’s how she looks, even tho i’ll be using brie gifs with longer hair. her hair is short like her comic icons i have ( avatar + sidebar icons )

⭐~ text for my replies will be normal size since my laptop doesn’t allow me to make my text small. but you are more than welcome to fix the size of my text after i reply! idm!

okay, that’s all i got, lovely stars. i cannot wait to rp with you all! i am excited to be here and pls, if you’d like to rp / plot with carol ms. temperament danvers, lmk in dms, discord, messages / asks, send a pigeon for all i care, i am here to rp and develop my bb. anyway don’t mind carol and her flerken cat.

[marvelloussynergy]

COMIC BOOK REFERENCES & EASTER EGGS - Captain Marvel (2019)

Carol Danvers has a long and complicated history in the comics, much of which would be very difficult to adapt for the big screen. Thankfully, though, for comic book fans, there are many allusions to the source material instead. The following is a guide to all the ones I’ve spotted along with any deviations from the source material (I will update this as more come to light). Note that owing to the convoluted and complex nature of comic books, I’ve tried to include only the most essential information regarding a character’s history and backstories.

Though not a direct adaptation, the general story of the “Kree/Skrull War” (The Avengers #89-97, 1971-72) is used as the basis for the film—the Kree and the Skrulls fighting each other with Earth caught in between.

A former US Air Force pilot, Carol Danvers gained her initial powers of flight and enhanced strength after being caught in the explosion of a damaged Kree Psyche-Magnitron. This was amidst a fight between the Kree warriors Mar-Vell/Captain Marvel and Yon-Rogg (Captain Marvel #18, 1969). The Psyche-Magnitron—a machine that converts thoughts into reality—alters her genes and turns her into a human/Kree hybrid, granting her the abilities possessed by Mar-Vell. Danvers would later develop the ability to absorb energy and fire them as blasts from her body. A slight retcon to her origins would occur in The Life of Captain Marvel #4 (2018), in which it is revealed that Danvers is in fact half Kree, and that the Kree Psyche-Magnitron merely activated her latent powers. Originally going by the code name Ms Marvel, Danvers would also go on to use the names Binary and Warbird, before taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel in Captain Marvel #1 (2012). 

In the film we briefly see Carol’s father (Joseph Danvers) and brother (Steve Danvers), though in the comics she has an additional sibling, Joseph Danvers Jr. At one point in the film Carol says “Higher, further, faster, baby,” a nod to the Captain Marvel comic arc titled “Higher, further, faster, more,” as well as being words Carol’s mentor, Helen Cobb, wrote to her to describe their similar mindsets and desire to push boundaries.  

While Maria Rambeau is a character taken from the comics, it is her daughter—Monica Rambeau—who is friends with Carol in the source material. A hero in her own right, Rambeau has the ability to convert her body into various types of energy. Monica has also used various code names throughout her career, including Captain Marvel, Pulsar, and Photon (Maria’s call sign in the film is a nod to this). Carol affectionately calls Monica “Lieutenant Trouble,” which in the comic books is a nickname she gives to a young friend and fan, Katherine Renner.

Carol and Maria not being allowed to fly in combat missions bears a resemblance to Helen Cobb’s situation from the comics. In 1961, Helen is told that she and her fellow female pilots are not permitted to become astronauts as they lack military jet experience, experience they cannot obtain as women were barred from flying jets.

Early on in the movie we see Starforce dispatched on a mission to Torfa. The planet is a relatively minor one in the comics, known for its poisonous atmosphere resulting from vibranium extraction.

The Kree are an alien race known for their military prowess and advanced technology. Their home planet is Hala, which is located in the Greater Magellanic Cloud Galaxy. The Kree have blue skin, but breeding with other alien races has resulted in pink skinned (also referred to as white) Kree.

In the comics, Starforce are a group of Kree warriors tasked with protecting the Kree Empire. Formed by the Supreme Intelligence, the initial comic lineup consisted of Att-Lass/Captain Atlas (a soldier trained in many forms of combat), Minn-Erva/Doctor Minerva (a pilot and gifted bio-geneticist; in the film she’s Starforce’s sniper), Korath the Pursuer (a cyber-geneticist; he was previously in Guardians of the Galaxy), Shatterax (cybernetically enhanced warrior; not present in the film), Supremor (an android housing the Supreme Intelligence’s consciousness; doesn’t appear in the film), and Ultimus (has the ability to manipulate cosmic energy; not present in the film).

The comic book incarnation of Bron Char (rendered as Bron-Char in the film) is a member of the Lunatic Legion, a group whose goal is to destroy the human race. Though a scout in the movie, in the comics Soh-Larr was a Kree warrior who fell in love with a Skrull, Ryga’a, with whom he had a child, Dorrek Supreme.

Yon-Rogg was a Colonel in the Kree army, unlike his cinematic counterpart who is the commander of Starforce. His antagonistic relationship with Mar-Vell from the source material has been carried over to the film.

In the comics, the Supreme Intelligence is an organic computer created by the Kree Science Council, initially designed to help the alien race create a Cosmic Cube. Upon gaining sentience, however, the Supremor refused, knowing the danger such an object posed. Composed of the brightest Kree minds, it served as the leader of the Kree Empire for many years. In the source material it’s depicted as a large green floating head, it’s true form in the film, however, has yet to be revealed.

Mar-Vell has been changed from a male to a female for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The comic book incarnation of Mar-Vell was sent to Earth to spy on humanity. Adopting the identity of Dr Walter Lawson (the name of a scientist Mar-Vell encountered who had passed away; changed to Wendy Lawson in the film) he began working at the Cape Canaveral military base, where he would meet the facility’s security chief, Carol Danvers. Mar-Vell would go on to defend humanity many times despite his mission, before dying of cancer as depicted in the graphic novel The Death of Captain Marvel (1982).

The aircraft Wendy Lawson designs is called the Asis. This is a reference to the Asis program from the Ultimate Universe. Mahr Vehl (the Ultimate Universe version of Mar-Vell) joins the program in an effort to help humanity with interstellar travel.

In both the comic books and the film, Skrulls are a green-skinned reptilian alien race with the ability to shape-shift. Originating from the planet Skrullos, Skrulls have a warrior culture and, like the Kree, have conquered many worlds throughout the galaxy.

Unlike his cinematic counterpart, Talos wasn’t born with the ability to shape-shift in the comics. A skilled combatant, parts of his body have been cybernetically enhanced giving him super strength.

Nick Fury tells Carol that he was born in Huntsville, Alabama, though in the source material he hails from New York City. His middle name of Joseph, however, is something both incarnations share. The comic book version of Fury loses the ability to see with his left eye as a result of a grenade blast, whereas his film counterpart has the misfortune of losing it after Goose scratches it.

In the comics, Carol calls her pet Chewie (named after the Star Wars character Chewbacca, since Danvers is a fan of the franchise), whilst in the movie the cat is named Goose (referring to the character of the same name from the 1986 film Top Gun). Both Goose and Chewie aren’t real house cats, but rather an alien species known as Flerken (Rocket Raccoon reveals this to Carol in Captain Marvel #7, 2014) that look like domestic felines. Flerkens possess tentacles that are released from their mouths, lay eggs to reproduce, and contain pocket dimensions within their bodies.

Carol’s call sign in the MCU is “Avenger,” though her comic book counterpart has the decidedly less cool call sign of “Cheeseburger” (she got the name after vomiting during a g-force simulator exercise). 

The various costume colours Carol cycles through are references to costumes she’s worn in the comics. The black, red, and yellow combination allude to Carol’s Ms Marvel outfit; the black and silver colour scheme could refer to the Warbird costume; while the green and white one is a nod to the classic Kree uniform.

Being set in the past, it comes as no surprise that there are many nods to the MCU. The space-jumps through honeycomb-shaped portals is a design first established in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. S.H.I.E.L.D. once again has a presence in a Marvel movie, although a slight continuity error sees the organisation’s name pronounced as it appears, despite Coulson saying the full acronym in Iron Man, only shortening it towards the end of the film. At one point Carol flies a Quadjet, a precursor to the Quinjet. We see an early version of Project Pegasus, the facility where it’s held making appearances in Thor and The Avengers, and in turn, the Tesseract is seen on screen once again. Carol Danvers gives Fury a modified pager to contact her with, a device we see him use at the end of Avengers: Infinity War. Fury puts into motion his “Avenger Initiative,” originally naming it the “Protector Initiative.” Lastly, for the mid-credits scene, we get a sequence depicting Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner, and James Rhodes monitoring the pager, culminating in Carol’s arrival back on Earth, which appears to be taken from Avengers: Endgame.

[galaxy-blob-blog]

Captain Marvel's abilities -

Superhuman Strength: Carol is superhumanly strong, though her specific level of strength has varied over the years. She is currently listed at a normal level of roughly Class 50, half her original strength as Binary. However, since she is able to absorb and manipulate various types of energy, she can use this redirected energy to temporarily increase her physical strength to near-Binary levels, or Class 100+. Currently, her strength level at its resting rate allows her to support well over 100 tons, as she was able to support the weight of dead Celestial's as one fell to Earth.

Superhuman Stamina: Carol's musculature produces considerably fewer fatigue toxins during physical activity than an ordinary human. As Binary, she could physically exert herself at peak capacity for about 24 hours before fatigue began to impair her. She was reduced to roughly half this capacity after losing her Binary powers. However, she is capable of channeling absorbed energy to further increase her stamina to higher levels.

Superhuman Durability: The tissues of her body are considerably harder and more resistant to physical injury than those of an ordinary human. She is capable of withstanding high caliber bullets, great impact forces, falls from great heights, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining any injury. While channeling the energy she has absorbed, her body's resilience is extended to an even greater degree.

Superhuman Agility: As Binary, Carol's agility, balance, and bodily coordination were enhanced to levels significantly beyond the natural limits of the human body.[89] At her current power levels, she is presumably roughly half as agile, with the potential to regain Binary levels through energy absorption.

Superhuman Reflexes: As Binary, Carol's reflexes were heightened to the point of being virtually instantaneous. At her current power levels, she presumably has reflex time of roughly twice that, with the potential to regain Binary levels through energy absorption.

Flight: Carol is capable of propelling herself through the air and the vacuum of space at tremendous speeds. Although her top speed is unknown, she flew at three times the speed of sound for several hours, so it is likely she can go much faster.

Space Flight: As Binary, Carol was capable of surviving unaided in the vacuum of space for indefinite periods of time. After first losing her Binary powers, Carol proved incapable of achieving orbit or surviving unaided in space. However, she was highly intoxicated when she attempted to do so, which may have hampered her progress. She has since proved capable of surviving and fighting in the vacuum of space, only requiring an air supply to do so.

Flash Precognition (a.k.a. Cosmic Awareness/Hyper-Cosmic Awareness): As Ms. Marvel, Carol was subconsciously able to anticipate the moves of her opponents, though this power activated randomly, making it unreliable. After Rogue robbed her of her powers, she was subsequently transformed into Binary. After her Binary powers faded, it seems that Carol's Seventh Sense returned. T'challa theorized that when the Kree Psychi-Magnitron gave Carol her powers, she inherited some of Captain Mar-Vell's abilities during exposure to it. In that sense her travels across Exospace and the like bolstered this aspect of her powers to see the cage outside of reality that's binding The Marvel Universe.

Regenerative Manipulation: Captain Marvel boasts a healing ability which she can consciously push to an extant, boasting a healing factor supplemented by absorbed energy. A facet of which was gifted unto her when part of the central nucleus of a techno-organic alien named Cru had physically merged with her. This facility also bolsters the potency of her metabolism, allowing her to quickly regenerate from catastrophic wounds such as nuclear detonation, genetic disruption even brood infection. Her newfound recovery abilities had the added bonus of restoring lost biophysical facilities; like her ability to shift between Binary and Carol at will.[52]

Contaminant Immunity: Carol's regenerative powers coupled with her human/alien Kree physiology are so potent that she has a greater degree of immunity to toxins, diseases and/or poisons. Even being able to resist embryonic infection by the brood after a second attempt by one of their queens.

Decelerated Aging/Conventional Immortality: Dr. McCoy brought up how these new healing abilities put those of Wolverine to shame. Stating that her regen powers would keep Ms. Danvers in her prime forever.

Healing: Like her accelerated healing factor, Carol is able to rapidly heal others by focusing different forms of energy into their body, thereby greatly boosting their healing processes.

Energy Manipulation: Much like her namesake predecessor, Captain Marvel can control, absorb, and manipulate various types of energy to be discharged however she sees fit. Over the years, Carol has become an expert at modulating the various aspects of repurposed energy at her disposal, even learning some new tricks from her alt. counterparts during her life as a superheroine.

Energy Absorption: Her body is capable of absorbing various types of energy for the purpose of temporarily enhancing her own physical attributes. She can augment her strength and energy projection up to the force of an exploding nuclear weapon. If empowered by enough energy, she can assume her Binary form again temporarily.

Photonic Blasts: Carol can fire powerful concussion blasts of photon and stellar light energy from her hands and fingertips. As with a doppelganger of hers, Ms. Marvel can potentially discharge her energy from the eyes as well.

Molecular Manipulation: By channeling the absorbed energy, Carol is able to manipulate and alter matter and energy on a molecular level. She can use absorbed energy to transform her regular clothing into her costume and vice-versa. (This is an ability she once possessed as Ms. Marvel. Carol did not demonstrate the ability as Binary, it only resurfaced after her powers were reduced and she began going by Warbird.)

Matter Transmutation: By using her molecular manipulation, She is able to alter and reform matter and energy around her. This allows her to create and absorb matter and energy, shape, and rebuild it into anything of her choosing.

Energy-Construct Creation: As Captain Marvel, Carol has used her energy powers in more creative ways: She was able to create an energy barrier around a blast cannon which choked up the works until its internal structure violently ruptured from the inside out. She can even shape her stored energy into more practical shapes, like razor blades of pure energy to slice and sear with.

Self Sustenance: Captain Marvel proved time and again she can survive without need for eat, sleep, breath or rest by thriving the ambient energies within her surroundings. Capable of thriving perfectly within the cold recesses of deep space with little to no discomfort at all.

• Photon Belch: When enough energy is stored within her massive gut, Carol can release a powerful barrage of belches. These blast of air help her fly, control her photon energy and even be used as a beam similar to that of a dragon's breath.

• Photon Fart: Utilizing this ability, Carol can project herself in the air similar to that of a rocket or Iron Man. She may also use this power to fly manually.

[themyskira]

I haven't read the Life of Captain Marvel (and I'm sure not planning to, it does look like a trainwreck) but how would you be able to salvage it? Make it better?

I was actually just about to write something about this! Because while it’s hard to find anything worth salvaging from this cesspit of a comic, I do think it touches on some themes and ideas that are worth exploring. And timed as it was to capitalise on the interest in Captain Marvel in the lead-up to the movie, it could have been a great opportunity to introduce Carol as a character to new readers while also offering something for long-term fans.

The creative team may have been utterly misguided in their attempt to reshape Carol’s origin, but it’s true that her origin as written leaves a lot to be desired. A hasty retcon to what was originally (for Carol) a straight damsel-in-distress story, it gives her no agency, and there’s an argument to be made that it’s time for a rewrite.

I’ve mentioned some of the ways I think this could be improved upon: Carol could be reimagined as Mar-Vell’s equal ally, who uncovers his true identity rather than simply suspecting his alter ego of duplicity without ever managing to prove anything. She could work with him to fight Yon-Rogg, bringing vital skills and experience.

And rather than Carol being kidnapped and then shot by Yon-Rogg to fuel Mar-Vell’s anguish, you could flip the script — Mar-Vell is the one who gets shot, and Carol is left alone to stand against Yon-Rogg. She’s injured, exhausted and outmatched, and she stubbornly refuses to back down. So when the Psyche-Magnitron overloads, it doesn’t just accidentally empower an unconscious Carol — it responds to the force of her willpower and gives her the strength she needs to stop Yon-Rogg and save Mar-Vell.

But that on its own isn’t enough to warrant a five-issue mini, so how do we incorporate it into a larger story?

One option would be to write a mini that genuinely takes us on a journey through the life of Carol Danvers — from her rise through the military, to her gaining of powers and becoming Ms Marvel, to her space adventures as Binary, to her eventual ascent to a leadership position in the Avengers and her mentorship of young heroes (Anya Corazon, Kamala Khan).

You could use a similar framing device — something happening in the present-day that causes Carol to revisit her past, prompting flashbacks. Maybe Kamala’s tagging along with her for the day? Despite their shared legacy, we very rarely see the two interact. A story in which they follow the trail of a villain together, while Kamala seeks to learn from Carol and asks her about her past exploits, could have a lot of potential.

Legacy is something else Stohl touches on. She fixates on this idea that because Carol’s powers, name and costume are associated with the male Mar-Vell, Carol is being subordinated, and that by reframing her legacy around the female (sigh) Captain Mari-Ell, Carol can therefore be empowered.

But the Captain Marvel legacy is not solely a white, male, heterosexual one. It includes Monica Rambeau (a Black woman, and the first woman to take the name), Phyla-Vell (a queer woman) and Teddy Altman (aka Hulkling, Mar-Vell’s half-Skull son and a gay man).

So rather than simplistically reducing Carol’s superhero identity to the legacy of a single person, why not have a miniseries highlighting the various characters connected to the Captain Marvel name, how they relate to one another and their shared legacy? Perhaps in the wake of the destruction of Hala, Carol encounters some mysterious occurrence or threat that appears to be connected to Mar-Vell, prompting her to seek out and team up with these characters.

You could loop in Monica, Phyla-Vell (she’s dead currently but fuck it, this is comics), Noh-Varr and Teddy. Potentially incorporate some flashbacks to Carol’s history with Mar-Vell, including her retooled origin. Make the whole book a tribute to the legacy of Captain Marvel and the many characters who have worn or are connected to the mantle. Maybe call it The Lives of Captain Marvel.

There are other directions you could go — building on the family angle, for example, exploring how Carol’s family relationships have shaped her and fleshing out her mother as a character — but I think these two stories would have worked really well in the five-issue miniseries format.