We get a look on how the Marvel Universe’s new movie character came to be…..
More than a decade after the Marvel Cinematic Universe launched, we finally get to see its first solo film led by a female character. “Captain Marvel,” starring Brie Larson, premieres Friday and will tell the story of how Carol Danvers became the titular hero for the first time on-screen.
Brie Larson stars as Carol Danvers, who takes on the mantle of Captain Marvel. (Marvel Studios)
But Captain Marvel’s legacy extends far beyond the movie world. Carol Danvers, the most recent character to take up the name, has a rich and varied history that often reflects the highs and lows many female superheroes have gone through in their comic book portrayals. From the feminist to the not-so-feminist, here’s how Carol Danvers went from a supporting character to the most powerful hero in the MCU.
STARTING OFF AS THE HERO’S GIRLFRIEND
Carol Danvers initially appeared as a love interest, not the titular hero, in 1968’s “Captain Marvel” series. The original superhero was a male alien named Mar-Vell who posed undercover on Earth as a human scientist.
Mar-Vell was a member of the Kree, which had been locked in a multi-thousand-year war with another alien race: the Skrulls. (Both will be prominently featured in the movie.) Carol Danvers, a former Air Force officer turned NASA security chief, remained a secondary character in the series for almost a decade.
Left: Captain Marvel flies through space in issue 37 of his solo series. Right: Mar-Vell, undercover as Dr. Walter Lawson, meets Danvers for the first time in issue 13 of “Marvel Super-Heroes.” (Courtesy of Marvel Comics)
But as the ’70s feminist movement grew, so too did Danvers’s role as a character…..