Warning: SPOILERS for The Life of Captain Marvel #4
The Captain Marvel movie is making major changes to the comic book version, which just might include getting rid of the Kree hero Mar-Vell who gives Carol her powers - and having her MOTHER fill the role instead.
Believe it or not, that would actually make the Captain Marvel trailers a bit easier to decipher. It’s speculation on our part, but the theory shouldn’t surprise anyone when they learn about the changes Marvel Comics just made to Carol Danvers’ origin story. And it shouldn’t worry too many fans either, since it helps smooth over one of the hardest-to-sell origin stories Marvel could adapt. While making it an even stronger story for its title heroine, and the audience demanding more women of power in the MCU.
They just didn’t know that Captain Marvel’s mom would be one of the most powerful Kree warriors of all.
- This Page: Yes, Captain Marvel’s Mom Gives Carol Her Powers Page 2: Why Captain Marvel’s Mom, Mar-Vell Makes Sense
Marvel Just Made Carol’s Mom a Kree Warrior
We’ll get to the previous, classic comic book origin of Captain Marvel shortly, but fans should first know about the recent changes made in the comics. When it was announced that a new Captain Marvel origin would precede the movie, we knew it would be no coincidence - giving movie fans a recent “fresh start” comic to buy after seeing the movie is a common practice. And since Marvel has rebooted its heroes closer and closer to their movie versions of late, it was presumed that writer Margaret Stohl’s new Life of Captain Marvel and its new, canonical origin would give some insight into the film.
But nobody was ready for the bombshell twist, revealing Captain Marvel’s mother was secretly Kree, the super-strong, flying race of alien warriors (to which Guardians of the Galaxy’s Ronan belongs). Now Marvel has confirmed it was no false reveal, with The Life of Captain Marvel #4 telling the new origins of Marie Danvers. Raised and trained to be one of the Kree’s best and brightest, and sent to Earth to blend into the crowd. But she did more than just blend in.
She met Carol’s father, fell in love, and decided to start a family. When it became clear that their daughter Car-Ell (or Carol, meaning “Champion” in Kree) had inherited her mother’s super-strength and not much else due to her half-human genes, Marie decided to cut her ties to the Kree, and make a home on Earth. And so the secrets and lies began, until this comic flashback - and a Kree attacker - forced Marie to unveil herself, and tell Carol the whole truth.
And if fans have been trying to figure out what kind of origin story is being teased in the Captain Marvel trailers thus far… this new origin may be a perfect fit.
Captain Marvel Trailers Hint at This New Origin
It would be an understatement to say that the first Captain Marvel trailer wasn’t what many fans expected. The filmmakers had been clear that the movie wouldn’t be an origin story, and the story focusing heavily on Carol as a member of the Kree military alone proves their claim. But it raises questions about the glimpses of that classic Captain Marvel origin, one of which is shown above. How does the explosion that gave Carol her powers fit - without even the slightest glimpse of Mar-Vell, the missing ingredient in the birth of her powers?
To get those answers means weighing the evidence, and seeing how it fits this new Marvel origin based on Carol’s mother. Especially since we know the actress playing her… and now, why Marvel may be keeping her role as the origin of Carol’s powers a secret.
Page 2 of 2: Why Captain Marvel’s Mom as Mar-Vell Works
Captain Marvel’s Comic Origin is a Problem For MCU
There are sure to be many comic book fans ready to petition Captain Marvel’s theatrical release if it makes any changes to the comics - such is the reality of superhero filmmaking. But it’s possible to hold the classic story in high esteem… and acknowledge that adapting it to a modern movie in Marvel’s formula raises some problems. The most significant of them being that Carol Danvers becomes a superhero because an alien soldier got between her and an alien explosion.
Mar-Vell, the original Kree superhero named Captain Marvel (another hero the movie would have to introduce somehow) was caught up in a catastrophic explosion involving vague alien technology (which the movie would have to make plausible and clear to the audience), and gained powers of the Kree when Mar-Vell’s body was blasted through Carol’s somehow transferring genetic “stuff” (again, all of which would need to be sold to the audience in a clear, believable way). And all of that is just to cover the first chapter of Carol’s origin story… which Marvel has made clear the Captain Marvel movie will not be covering.
The limits of 1980s comic book logic and a modern superhero movie may not be too different, but The Life of Captain Marvel shows that even in the comics, that story is one Marvel would prefer be streamlined. By having a half-Kree mother, Carol’s genetic uniqueness speaks for itself. When Carol asks her mother what the explosion that “gave her powers” actually did, if anything, Marie confirms that the alien energy essentially activated her Kree half, enough to awaken all of her Kree abilities (overcoming the limitations caused by her human half).
And if we’re using this new comic book origin as the new, canon origin Marvel has come up with, then we know why they sought out an actress like Annette Bening to play Carol’s mother - or as she may soon be known, the closest thing the MCU gets to the original Mar-Vell.
Captain Marvel is Better as a Mother-Daughter Story
It should be easy to see why Margaret Stohl’s story is the one Marvel would want to show to the world, as the first solo movie in the MCU with a woman in the title role. A story between a mother and daughter, driven apart by secrets kept out of love, not a lack of it. A story of Carol realizing her powers are not an accident but her own, passed from mother to daughter. A story of a daughter carrying on her mother’s rank, mission, and legacy like so many men in the MCU. And if the movie decides to fully change Marie’s Kree name from Mari-Ell to Marv-Ell, then Carol will be carrying on her mother’s name as the one known across the Marvel movie universe.
That’s a story that Annette Bening and Brie Larson could make one of the most emotional and powerful in the MCU so far, and helping fans forget just how long it took to make women a key part of the Marvel movie universe.
It’s still just our theory, but for reasons clear to every Marvel fan, not just the mothers and daughters, it’s one we hope Captain Marvel will bring to the movies, and not just the comics.
MORE: How Captain Marvel Made The Entire MCU Possible
- captain marvel Release Date: 2019-03-08
