By Danielle Bettendorf, Living & Arts Editor
Ever since the Marvel Cinematic Universe began with “Iron Man” 11 years ago, its superheroes have been predominantly white (minus “Black Panther”) and predominantly male (minus “Captain Marvel”). While there have been talks of a Black Widow movie since 2010, it wasn’t until the success of “Wonder Woman” in 2017 that the MCU really decided women weren’t going to tank their brand any more than their few flops already had. As with “Black Panther,” Marvel finally took the step to include more diverse superheroes, albeit within the confines of the universe they had already set up.
“Captain Marvel” is currently the highest-grossing film of 2019 and doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. While Brie Larson does a fantastic job as the titular character, “Captain Marvel” does fall into MCU’s formulaic tropes and predictability. It isn’t any less heartwarming but does echo what we’ve seen before.
The movie follows a nonlinear timeline and often switches between the alien planet Hala and Earth. While we are introduced to the titular character as Kree fighter “Vers,” it is later revealed that “Vers” is shortened from her full name Carol Danvers––the name she had during her life on Earth.
The basis of the film draws on refuting audience assumptions, which plays into the political themes throughout. Though it’s a trope that has been used before, “Captain Marvel” will have you questioning who are the “good guys”and “bad guys.”
It is impossible to watch the movie and not think of the political state today, especially in terms of immigration and xenophobia. Comics have always been political, but one of the biggest strengths of “Captain Marvel” is that the movie doesn’t try to exist in a bubble. It acknowledges greater prejudices, especially those that have stalled Carol in her pilot career and, in real life, kept Marvel from headlining female superheroes until 2019.
“Captain Marvel” has so many small moments that will appeal to the 90s generation, and while awkwardly incorporated, still come off with good intentions. Anyone who remembers dial-up or pagers will flash back to a simpler time, humorously juxtaposing “Captain Marvel” with the predominately 21st century setting.
The soundtrack is also made up of 90s music and while it wasn’t incorporated as seamless as in “Guardians of the Galaxy,” it was sweet to see action scenes play out to No Doubt. My personal bias is that there should have been more than one TLC song.
“Captain Marvel” hits all of the notes that Marvel movies typically do – you get witty one-liners, fast action scenes in traffic and touching character scenes. Multiple fans have talked about what this could open up for future iterations of the character – Kamala Khan has been big since her debut in 2013 and with Monica Rambeau making an appearance in the movie, there are opportunities for women of color to step into the role.
This leads to the movie’s biggest setback – as empowering as “Captain Marvel” can be for women, it still pushes women of color to the side. Monica and her mother, Maria, feature in the movie as supporting characters to help Carol remember her life on Earth but only exist in relation to Carol. It is so great that Lashana Lynch, who plays Maria, was in the movie, having emphasized her desire to represent the black community positively and accurately in a Marvel movie. The only question this leads to is: when will Lynch and other women of color be given the spotlight? Hopefully, it won’t take another 11 years.