Come, I will conceal nothing from you: I barely know who Captain Marvel is – or who Brie Larson is, either. In fact, what I know about Captain Marvel is wrong, because I’m confusing her with someone from DC’s Marvel family. This is kind of deliberate, in fact, because (I looked it up) the ‘Captain Marvel’ trademark has been the subject of a war between DC and Marvel for decades. This character exists largely because of that war.
But it doesn’t really goram matter, now does it? I mean… I never read Ant-Man. Didn’t matter. Didn’t really read the Avengers. Didn’t matter. I’ve read precisely one issue of Guardians of the Galaxy. DID. NOT. MATTER. And when Doctor Strange comes out later this year, it won’t matter that I’ve never read his comic book, either. Marvel owns my eyeballs at this point, and I don’t even blipping mind.
Now, if they would just get the Fantastic Four back into the MCU where they belong, that would be swell…
So Rogue no longer has super strength, invulnerability, or the ability to fly?
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Or was that all just handwaved away?
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(And the DC version of Captain Marvel–sometimes called Shazam!–is the only true Captain Marvel.)
Well, kinda.
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Rogue lost her powers at one point, including the Kree powers. She had Sunfire’s powers for a bit, but right now she’s got Wonder Man’s powers, which are… mostly the same FISS powers that Danvers had.
No, not handwaved away. Rogue doesn’t exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Remember, Disney (through Marvel) still doesn’t hold the rights to a handful of the top-shelf Marvel characters, including Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, and the entire set of X-Men related properties.* That includes characters like Magneto, Mystique, Wolverine, Cyclops, and of course, Rogue.
Marvel Studios has now, of course, licensed Spiderman back from Sony to participate in the MCU on a limited basis…a deal made easier because the Spidey reboot films with Andrew Garfield weren’t such a much. But with the continued success of the X-Men films, and the surprise breakout of Deadpool, I would expect 20th-Century Fox to milk the X-Men and the Fantastic Four for as long as they possibly can. So don’t expect to see a Mississippi mutant draining Brie Larson of her powers anytime in the near future.
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(* In some cases, characters are available for use in multiple properties. Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are both mutants, and very prominently associated with the X-Men, as they were both original members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants — and of course, his kids. But they appear across a wide range of properties, and so they’re not tied to Fox’s rights exclusively. Watch Age of Ultron again, and notice how the movie goes out of its way to avoid discussing the past of Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, and makes their powers the result of some evil HYDRA experiments so they never have to breathe the word “mutant” — which they can’t do, because that word is part of Fox’s X-Men property rights.)
I can live with Fox keeping the X-Men, but they aren’t catching fire with FF. So surely it doesn’t make financial sense for them to keep that property?
Honestly, at this point, I think it’s just pride. They’ve had three big-screen cracks at the Fantastic Four with two different groups of actors, and they’ve failed miserably each time — first too stupid, and then too dark. Does Fox really want to let Disney get their hands on the Fantastic Four so they can make a fantastic movie? Probably not.
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Marvel, for their part, is not innocent in this whole thing. They have downgraded the X-Men and the Fantastic Four in the comics/collectibles businesses they control, likely in a bid to make the characters less popular. Which really sucks for me, because the X-Men were my gateway drug to the whole world of superheroes, and they’ve got a magnificently rich set of characters and stories. Seeing Marvel treat them like the red-headed stepchild of the comics world just because they don’t own every dollar of profit those characters make is profoundly disappointing.
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Ah, well. At least they got Daredevil and the Punisher back, which has been awesome for me and my streaming Netflix. Though they just refuse to cross characters between the movies, Agents of SHIELD, and the Netflix Defenders universe. Which…why? C’mon, I want to see that!
Because at some point somebody’s gonna mention “Hey, Agent Coulson’s actually alive” to the wrong person, and then the excrement is gonna hit the oscillating blade.
Meh. Those sorts of plot twists are what have kept the comics going for decades. As it is, probably the most crossed-over characters right now are Nick Fury, Coulson himself, and Peggy Carter (her TV show, a couple guest spots on Agents of SHIELD, and three movies — four if you count her “appearance” in Civil War).
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And that’s cool and all, but I want to see Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man do a guest spot on the second season of Jessica Jones, or Daredevil in the Spiderman movie. Or Coulson’s team interacting with anyone other than Lady Sif. Seriously. I know they can’t afford Robert Downey Jr, but can’t they at least spring for Royce Johnson’s Sgt. Mahoney the next time the characters are in New York?
I thought Captain Marvel in … Marvel was a man. And died of cancer? I seem to vaguely remember he was one of the heroes that Rick Jones hung out with?
Am I completely wrong here?
No, that’s the first Captain Marvel. (Second if you count Billy Batson. And you should.) Mar-Vell is still dead, although he’s been briefly alive from time to time because Marvel can’t stop playing with dead things.
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Brie is playing the third Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, who’s an Air Force Captain who got her powers from, basically a transporter accident with Mar-Vell. Marvel (the company) has been pushing Danvers as “The greatest female heroine of the Marvel Universe or possibly ever” for about a decade now and she’s got a rather vocal fan base, albeit a possibly undeserved one as Carol has been written well over the years, but she’s also been written horribly as well.
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The in-between Captain Marvel was around in the late 80s and throughout the 90s.(Mar-Vell was dead and Danvers was called Binary at the time.) That Marvel was Monica Rambeau, who was a Harbor Rescue Captain, based on Pam Grier, and had energy manipulation powers. She was an awesome character who Marvel just kinda threw aside in the early 2000s to bring back Danvers. Rambeau’s popped up again from time to time (She was awesome in Nextwave) but Marvel seems to alternate between poking her into continuity and then hiding her like she’s Turner D. Century.
This summary misses a handful of characters that carried the moniker for a while in the 00s, FWIW.
No, you’re right. Captain Marvel was a man.
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As Compund mentions below, Brie Larson will be playing Carol Danvers. She is better known to traditionalists as Ms. Marvel. The comics gave her character the Captain Marvel title for good in 2012, probably in an attempt to avoid allegations of sexism or something like that. She had held it before, though…but I think it was in the House of M universe.
That should have been “as *Compound* mentions ABOVE.” Stupid comments, being stuck where they’re not written. And stupid O key, failing me the one time I needed it most.
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(It tried to fail when I was writing “most,” too. But I caught it in time.)
And when Doctor Strange comes out later this year, it won’t matter that I’ve never read his comic book, either.
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Hm. I may have to help you with that. I have the miniseries that JMS wrote a while back. It’s quite good.
As my actual last name is Marvel, I have to say it’s a really good time to have it. But everyone keeps asking if I’m related and I really wish my answer could be an emphatic “YES” but since I have no relation, I can’t. Dang it……
And yes, the movies have me glued just like everyone else apparently….even the ones I don’t have as much familiarity with.
However, Captain Marvel for me will also be the guy with the bands that died from cancer. I know there was always a girl with that name, but she never seemed to really take off as it were. And I don’t admit that Shazam even exists Thank you.
I’m very excited by this news. Brie Larson was dynamite in Room, and totally deserved her Best Actress Oscar. Marvel continues to pull seriously good actors into their Cinematic Universe. Can’t wait to see her as Carol Danvers…though she probably won’t be wearing the classic outfit. Pity.