Captain Marvel: New Feminist Icon

Arguably more than any hero Marvel Studios has brought to the screen before, Carol Danvers, was in the most difficult position in terms of finding a way to make sense of her history and the numerous changes she’d undergone, in order to entice audiences consisting of both comic and non-comic readers. Rather than being intimidated by the question of Carol Danvers, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, alongside screenwriters, Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Nicole Perlman, and Meg LeFauve, embraced it and made that question the central thesis of the movie. So who is Carol Danvers? As the film conveys, there’s no simple answer.

Speaking of origin story, in addition to traveling into the past, the movie adds a fresh spin by opening the story in the middle of a hero’s journey.  Living in Planet Hala, Brie Larson is Vers, a noble warrior of a humanoid alien race Kree.  She’s a part of an elite squad Starforce, led by Commander Yon-Rogg (Jude Law, “Sherlock Holmes”).  The Krees have been locked in battles against shape-shifting aliens, Skrulls, with Talos (Ben Mendelshon) as their leader.  The Skrulls appear to have been gallivanting across galaxies, taking the forms of native inhabitants and invading planets.