Marvel Comics has a lot of heroes and villains in their lengthy history in the industry. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has done its best at bringing them to life on the big screen and this has worked out tremendously well for Disney over the past decade. Every film has been part of a bigger picture which finally came to a breaking point in Avengers: Infinity War. After Thanos has decimated a great deal of the population across the universe the end credits gave a slight tease at what was to come in the form of a pager left behind after Nick Fury also met his end. Many fans of the comic book already knew what it was eluding to.
Captain Marvel is the next chapter in the MCU although it fits into the timeline of films a bit earlier than most of the others. Instead the movie is set during 1995 and doesn’t even start on Earth but instead takes viewers to Hala which is the capital planet of the Kree Empire. It is here we find Vers (Brie Larson) about to embark on a mission to take on the Skrull Empire but she is capture by Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) who has specifically been seeking her out. This leads them to Earth where they crash in Los Angeles, a place that Vers suddenly sees as very familiar but she’s uncertain as to why. It has also brought her to the attention of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and rookie SHIELD agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg.) They son find themselves tied up in the ongoing conflict between the Kree and the Skrull but Vers begins to realize that the memories she’s having are part of something much bigger. Despite what she has been led to believe, she isn’t Kree at all but actually human. Once she was known as Carol Danvers but those memories have been suppressed as has the power that lies within her which could turn the tides of war, but to whose favor?
If you’ve been following that has been going on with the MCU in terms of each of its phases, there has been a great deal of preplanning to make certain that the storylines are resolved. This may not necessarily apply to each of the standalone films but these have also each led into the various Avengers films and fans have been very aware that everything was going to culminate with the inevitable meeting and battle with Thanos. Since the MCU does have to separate itself from the comic books given the amount of story and film that would be required, there obviously was a need to bring in at least one hero who could assist in reversing the snap when it became necessary.
This is where things begin to diverge greatly from the comic book storyline. In the original Infinity Gauntlet story, Captain Marvel isn’t even present and in fact Carol Danvers isn’t even the one assuming the name. The movie does reference Captain Mar-vel, a person that Carol knew as Dr. Wendy Lawson (Annette Benning) prior to her death but this also differs from the comic book as Mar-vel was actually male and later was died due to complications from cancer which was a very big event in the Marvel Universe. That has all been overlooked here and it wasn’t the Danvers then assumed the name and powers of Mar-vel and in fact is actually the seventh person to take on the identity. The second Marvel was actually Monica Rambeau (Akira Akbar in the film) who appears as an eleven-year-old girl and the daughter of Carol’s friend Maria (Lashana Lynch.) I know in the past films in the MCU the content has diverged from the source material but I don’t think nearly as greatly as it has here.
I wasn’t even certain I was going to initially review Captain Marvel let alone see it. It’s not that I have a problem with the character and having followed the MCU from the beginning, having another film added into the catalog is always great. However, when you have an actress such as Brie Larson who made the press rounds and took just about every opportunity to bash men and male reviewers, it doesn’t seem that she’s really interested in having men attend her movies at all. It’s almost as bad as the new Lucasarts producer Kathleen Kennedy stating how the new Star Wars movies really aren’t for the fans while she as well as others involved in the new franchise has taken shot after shot of anyone who dares to criticize the film.
Brie’s comments aside, Captain Marvel isn’t a bad movie but it’s certainly not one of the best that has been added into the MCU. It does however bring in some very important things outside of just the character and that is namely the Skrulls. They have been a long time favorite for Marvel fans and their shapeshifting abilities bring something new to the MCU and provides the opportunity to possibly feature some of the more important, Skrull-themed storyline in the films. The movie also brings back a villain with Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace) who was seen in Guardians of the Galaxy. Nick Fury made his first appearance in Iron Man and since Captain Marvel is set prior to that movie, both he and Coulson had to be digitally de-aged for this film. The overall effect doesn’t come off too badly for the most part although there are a few spots here and there where the effect doesn’t stand up as well as it could.
4K releases still haven’t seen the bonus material included on the disc and as the case has been thus far, these are all found on the blu-ray copy that is included. As per the press release the extras include:
- Intro
- Becoming a Super Hero
- Big Hero Moment
- The Origin of Nicky Fury
- The Dream Team
- The Skrulls and the Kree
- Hiss-Sterical Cat-Titude
- Deleted Scenes
- Commentary
There is also a digital copy of the film.
Captain Marvel was necessary to be included as part of the MCU considering her role in Endgame and of course having a backstory is also very important. You can’t just have some human who has lived on an alien planet show up out of nowhere. Anyone who knows comics understands the importance of giving more personality and history to a character. I can’t say that Captain Marvel is the worst movie in the MCU but is certainly isn’t the shining star that it could have been.
Mike is the resident reviewer for Couponing to Disney and his own site Underland Online. He has a young daughter and is obsessed with Haunted Mansion and all things Disney. You can read Mike’s complete bio here.