If you spent any time on the Internet this past Tuesday, I’m sure you noticed the veritable buttload of Marvel news dominating your social media feeds. The studio held an event to announce a bunch of release dates and new movies — including Captain Marvel.
What’s so special about Captain Marvel, you might ask? This Captain Marvel won’t be just any Captain Marvel. This Captain Marvel will be Carol Danvers — a woman.
Yep, Marvel’s finally releasing its first female-led superhero movie. The sound of fans clamoring for a superheroine-heavy film finally became deafening enough for Marvel to do something about it.
Sure, we’ll have to wait another four years before we see Captain Marvel, but the character is rumored to pop up in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Even if she doesn’t, we’re sure to see her in a post-credits scene somewhere down the road.
So, who exactly is Carol Danvers?
Hailing from a blue collar, Bostonian family, Carol is actually not the first Marvel character to hold the title of Captain Marvel. The original Cap was a male Kree warrior named — wait for it — Mar-Vell, and sometime after the two met, a mishap led to her absorbing Kree genes and powers. She then became Ms. Marvel, but later took on the moniker of Captain Marvel herself.
Yet another reason this is a big deal is Marvel could have gone with the dude version of Captain Marvel, but chose to go with Carol instead. (They might have also felt weird having to hear the name Mar-Vell over and over, but hey, we’ll take what we can get.)
According to Marvel prez Kevin Feige, Carol’s “adventures are very earthbound, but her powers are based in the cosmic realm.”
Those powers include “flight, enhanced strength, durability and the ability to shoot concussive energy bursts from her hands,” as well as a resistance to most poisons. Superhumanity aside, she’s also a skilled fighter and pilot.
In other words, she could probably take on Superman and kick his ass.
As far as the current ladies of the MCU go, Carol finds herself in good company. If the big-screen version of the characters is as badass as Black Widow, Gamora, and Peggy Carter, we have a lot of strong-female-protagonist action to look forward to.
Sidenote: Does anyone else think it’s more than a coincidence that Marvel announced Captain Marvel the same day Amy Poehler released her book, Yes Please, in which she casually mentions Hollywood’s disinterest in female superheroes? No? Just me? All right.
