Captain Marvel - Spoilers Welcome

[A. E. Lowan]

Finally saw Captain Marvel in the theater last night and have to say that I was delighted. Even with a few plot holes, the FMC's journey to hero was very believable and the sense of humor provided welcome relief in a movie that could have been a bit of a grind. We're presented with a movie about war, about friendships, and about learning to find one's own path. Most importantly, we're presented with Carol Danvers, a primary female character who is complex, who is well-rounded, who is doggedly determined, and who is very relatable.

 

[pmmg]

I am probably not the best person to go first, cause I am not really all that enthralled with the marvel movies. I think they have all been excellent movies, with just the best production values of any movie I've seen so far (well, maybe not avatar, cause that 3d was just really really cool). For me, this movie was okay. Not the best from marvel, and not anywhere close to the worst. My critique of the movie would be more along the lines of the same critique I would give to all of them (cause they are all kind of tied together), which is stop running in place and mean something.

Ill pass on a conversation about another female character, but I would like to say, I felt the movie stepped on itself in the very last scene, the one after the credits. They all look at the communicator, and then there she is, and what does she say? Where is Nick Fury? ---Ugh...weak. How about, Where is Thanos?...Or where are the bad guys? You know, something to indicate she is there to solve a problem, not be another worrying about if they are able.

Nick Fury? Heck, that was 30 years ago, he probably died.

I don't know much about Capt. Marvel in the comic, I did not follow the Marvel character. To me, they always seemed like a second or third string character, and while I am told there are many renditions, the only one I remember was male.

Some comments on the industry. Interesting that Shazam comes out at the same time, which I DC's Capt. Marvel, and interesting that they named her Carol Danvers, which I almost directly the same a Cara Deavers...AKA Supergirl. I am sure that is not an accident.

 

[Devor]

It took me a little to adjust to the Bourne route they took with it, but I otherwise thought the movie was pretty great. I'm glad they took the direction they did with the Skrulls because I was afraid it would be closer to a weaker version of Winter Soldier's epic plot. X-Men and Fantastic Four included the bulk of Marvel's space properties, and now that Disney has them back, Captain Marvel has a huge amount of material to work with going forward.

So far as the "female superhero" thing goes, I think it does warrant one comparison to Wonder Woman: Carol is a normal person with a normal personality. Wonder Woman is closer to DC's version of Thor with weird views on relationships and human behavior. That's why I think Captain Marvel counts for more.

I do have to say one more thing about the female superhero thing. I think all the emphasis on that has had some negative effects as well. Watching the movie, whenever she made a joke it felt like they were trying to give her the same kind of joking personality as the other heroes, and I am fairly sure I only felt that way because I've seen too many discussions about it.

...and interesting that they named her Carol Danvers, which I almost directly the same a Cara Deavers...AKA Supergirl. I am sure that is not an accident.

Huh, apparently it is.

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-a-coincidence-that-Captain-Marvel-and-Supergirl-have-the-same-last-name

First came DC's Supergirl, known as Kara Zor-el or as Linda Danvers. Marvel's Carol Danvers was created second as a side-character to the first Captain Marvel and went for decades without getting superpowers. Then she became the second Captain Marvel with supergirl-like powers. Only decades later, with the more recent media, Supergirl became "Cara Danvers," keeping her Kryptonian first name.

 

[pmmg]

So far as the "female superhero" thing goes, I think it does warrant one comparison to Wonder Woman: Carol is a normal person with a normal personality. Wonder Woman is closer to DC's version of Thor with weird views on relationships and human behavior. That's why I think Captain Marvel counts for more.

Uh...I hate to say it, but I saw Capt Marvel a while ago and already I have forgotten most of it. I think Wonder Woman was a better movie. Its stronger scenes have stuck with me longer. I am not sure the Hero matches up well to Wonder Woman, I am not really sure what Capt Marvel's powers really are. I think she is more of a Super Girl clone, but I am not sure about that either. Super Girl, I suspect, is way more powerful (being Kryptonian and all). I thought movie would have been better if Mrs. Danvers was not from Earth, but instead a Kree herself. That way, it would have been more of a siding against her own people, when she comes to realize the truth about them. But, if that does not match up to the comics, then I would rather they stayed in the Comic origin of the character.

It does seem to me, though, that Marvel and DC are very quick to mimic each others work, which is why I point out the similarity of the names. I am often surprised they have such similarity when it is not necessary. Linda was a fine name.

I most recently saw Shazam, the other (Original) Capt Marvel, and Meh....it was okay too. But not quite one that will make my buy list either. Marvel's movie was the better of the two.

Ah well, perhaps I just don't follow this Marvel character enough to have informed opinions on her. To me, this is just one more in the marvel line, which I kind of take as a whole and not individual parts.

 

[Devor]

pmmg, I wasn't really comparing the quality of the two movies. Both were good. Captain Marvel had the bigger budget and it shows. WW fell hard into the "origin story movie formula." I couldn't care less who would win in a fight. The two characters are pretty different so far as heroes go and you can like either or both or neither. Whatever.

I thought movie would have been better if Mrs. Danvers was not from Earth, but instead a Kree herself. That way, it would have been more of a siding against her own people, when she comes to realize the truth about them. But, if that does not match up to the comics, then I would rather they stayed in the Comic origin of the character.

In the original comics the first Captain Marvel was a Kree named Mar-Vell, and a crazy weapon hit him and Carol at the same time, infusing his DNA into hers. It's really not a great origin. She was more interesting than the original because she was human, and the original kind of faded into obscurity.

What they did in the movie, with a gender swapped Mar-Vell's machine running on the tesseract, was about as close to the comic as you could want the movie to be, making her one of several characters to get their powers from the infinity stones.

 

[Futhark]

I found the character of Carol Danvers to be far more likeable than I expected from the trailers. I also was very impressed on how they delved into the flashbacks, with the Skrulls digging about in her memory, rewinding and fast forwarding. The twist on the Skrulls themselves, always the epitome of the evil alien in the comics to refugees seeking sanctuary in the movie, worked very well for me. Probably the biggest negative for me was that it felt a little anticlimactic. Suddenly, she had all the power, and then some, to wrap everything up in a couple of minutes.

Oh, and Marvel and DC often stole characters from each other, my favourite being Marvel’s Deadpool (Wade Wilson), who was supposed to be a laugh at DC’s Deathstroke (Slade Wilson), but ended up becoming far more popular.

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I think my favorite character may actually be Goose.

 

[Futhark]

One of my favourite scenes was when Goose scratched Fury’s eye, and he claims ‘it’s just a scratch’ and Talos gives that little look and shakes his head.