Captain Marvel. My Hero and the trolls that can’t touch her.
March 10, 2019
Now I’ll begin this post about the MCU’s latest standalone hero flick with a disclaimer. I’m a HUGE Captain Marvel fan, and that means I went into the theater knowing I’d cry for one of two reasons, either I’d love it or I’d hate it and I assumed there’d be little room for gray areas about one of the most important fictional characters of my nerdy lifetime. The biggest thing that I assumed would make me cry was if they made Madarin level changes to a hero whose origin story I hold dear. I definitely cried… a lot.
Now when I say I’m a huge fan, it’s because (in case anyone feels like gatekeeping) I’ve collected her comics for years, I’ve waited a decade for decent merch to come out so I can tell stores like Hot Topic to shut up and take my money, and last fall I spoke to an audience of 900 (more, if you count the livestream and youtube video) explaining why her origin and her character are important to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHmYAJ7EOEU
With my bias clearly out in front let me say I loved the movie and I loved how they kept enough of her origin the same, while making reasonable changes. Did I love everything? No, there were a few genuine criticisms and like my bias, I’d like to get them out and up front.
The first of which is, I thought some parts of the film were slow. There I said it. That being said, when the movie ended I remember thinking: Wow! That went fast! So even with some slow parts, the movie never felt long. Second as much as I enjoyed the fact that they kept Carol Danvers cheeky, some of the dialogue wasn’t as great as some of our most recent Marvel films. That being said, our most recent three have been Ant-Man and the Wasp, Infinity War and Thor: Ragnarok. And let’s be honest, Paul Rudd is hilarious, Infinity War could practically do no wrong with all its Chrises and Thor: Ragnarok is one of the funniest Marvel films. Period. (Also, no, I did not forget Black Panther, but I loved that movie for reasons other than dialogue).
Additionally, I had a couple of character related disappointments. I say disappointments, because there were some character development aspects that I expected that never materialized. Since those however were related to how the movie ended, I’ll save them for later.
So what did I love? Most of the movie and all of Carol Danvers. What makes her my favorite superhero was that she was a brave and driven woman who acted like a hero before she was ever super. The movie kept that consistent with the comics. I also loved, that despite a name change from Chewie to Goose, that everything about her feline friend remained the same.
Now for a couple things I didn’t really love. I thought that at the end of the movie Carol was still too idealistic and Fury was still so green. As much as I thought his eye loss was humorous it makes his line in Civil War “The last time I trusted someone I lost an eye” somewhat less dramatic. Part of what makes Carol Danvers such an amazing human (and by extension hero) is that there are many times she faces loss and it results in a healthy cynicism. The film ended with her having an almost Steve Rogers like attitude about fairness and teamwork. However, I prefer this movie’s ending to Captain America’s where he pointlessly crashes a plain just for tears.
My tears for this film, however felt well spent. I cried when Carol got her powers, making what she thought was a heroic sacrifice, only to become a better version of herself. Then (despite being quite a deviation from the comics) I cried when she set herself free (which if you think about the manipulation she endured during a particularly lousy Avengers arc) seeing her move past what held her back in this film was still a fantastic triumph.
Finally, one thing that I surprisingly loved was the soundtrack. When I initially found out that this movie would take place in the 90’s I was a tad annoyed. Her character was such a feminist and so important in the 70’s. The decade change seemed pointless. However, I enjoyed that the time shift meant we could enjoy Fury in ways we hadn’t before. Additionally the soundtrack was phenomenal and I’ve been on a 90’s kick since.
To all the trolls who tried to take down this movie and this character before it even premiered, there are genuine things you can dislike about the movie or character development, and I’m fine with that. But if you don’t like the movie because something about it needlessly upsets you I have a few things to say. Which honestly shouldn’t need to be said, the box office speaks for itself.
When it comes to the people who said they’d boycott the movie over some of Larson’s comments, to them I say get over it. To those who didn’t like that she wasn’t enough like Wonder Woman, I say grow up and stop expecting women to conform to your expectations. There are enough possible personalities and journeys for women that it would insulting if they all looked the same. To folks who wrote bad reviews before the movie was ever out, because they couldn’t stand to see a female superhero movie succeed, I say what Danvers said near the end of the film “I don’t have to prove anything to you”. She’s my hero and you can’t touch her.
