The end of Avengers: Infinity War left its audience in utter disbelief as Nick Fury called on Captain Marvel a mere second before disintegrating in the heart-pounding post-credit scene. Viewers everywhere left the theater, their jaws on the floor, wondering aloud: “Who exactly is Captain Marvel? What does she do? How will she play into the larger picture of this story?” Well, with the worldwide release of the Captain Marvel trailer on September 18, 2018, we have finally started to find our answers to these questions!
While the standalone trailer hints at Captain Marvel’s high military-rank status and amazing fists of fury, her comic book persona also boasts superhuman strength, flight, speed, and the ability to absorb and reflect energy using beam-like blasts through her fists. Captain Marvel has one of the most fiery personalities out of the heroes in the Marvel comic universe, and when knocked down she always stands back up, allowing no battle opponent knock her over.
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While the comic was originally created in the 1970’s, the film has been re-imagined to take place during the 90’s, and does not appear to involve other Marvel avengers. Her connection to the avengers at the end of Infinity War may further be explored in the Avengers 4, set to release May 3, 2019.
So, we’ve established that Captain Marvel is a kick-butt superhero with unmatched abilities that make her a major contender in the MCU. But why exactly do her crazy-amazing superpowers matter, aside from the fact she could save us all from Thanos, and how does this re-imagine the definition of female representation?
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Captain Marvel is important, and simply groundbreaking, because it is the first solo MCU trailer to reach over one million likes (according to screenrant.com). It is a possible sequel to the intense and extremely successful movie Infinity War, which ranked as the 4th largest grossing film to date (according to Wikipedia.com). More importantly, it’s a new on-screen superhero that children, teenagers, and adults can look up to and be inspired by.
And Captain Marvel is a woman!
Although the “glass ceiling” had already been broken by the release of DC’s Wonder Woman back in 2017, the Marvel Cinematic Universe had yet to create and release a solo feature on a superwoman-like-character themselves, and to have said character be tied to the ending of Infinity War makes it extremely relevant to the comic universe. Not only is Captain Marvel featured on screen in a solo film, her role is significant to the Marvel universe and is something other than a run-of-the-mill, or unimpressionable character. The point is representation, meaningful representation, is extremely important to movie-goers everywhere, and is socially significant. As for its success, the proof is in the pudding; the trailer has already climbed over 39 million* views and is steadily increasing with immense support and excitement for her character throughout the comments section.
Women deserve to be seen as strong, independent people who never back down from a challenge or stop fighting. We have the right to be portrayed as someone other than a sidekick, or a supportive wife, or just another member of a team. Being illustrated as an individual with unique powers and circumstances is of utmost importance, especially in a society where women’s achievements have historically been undermined, downplayed, or straight up forgotten.
Captain Marvel is not your average cute, well-mannered, and reserved character usually depicted throughout Hollywood. She is here to fight, take names, come for heads, and win. She isn’t created to appease an audience, she is created to fight for humanity and justice throughout her movie! She reminds the audience: women were not made to appease anyone, and we are independent and strong, carrying our team whether or not we’re lucky enough to have our own glowing fists of fury!
Photo courtesy of Instagram
Audiences everywhere eagerly await Captain Marvel to take the big screen and are counting down to her release date of March 8, 2019.
*number recorded as of September 29, 2018 on Youtube.com . All media courtesy of the official Marvel Entertainment instagram, at @Marvel.