EW’s extensive coverage of Captain Marvel, which landed yesterday, revealed many juicy details about the upcoming solo outing for Brie Larson’s superheroine. One of the most intriguing was that the film will dispense with comic book movie law and not take the form of a conventional origins story. When Captain Marvel begins, Carol Danvers will already possess her powers and be a part of Starforce, an elite squad of Kree warriors.
However, a couple of those EW exclusive promo images do suggest that her pre-powered life will be documented in some form, most likely via flashback. As per the comics, one of the photos sees Captain Danvers in her plane as part of the US Air Force. Another image, meanwhile, features an MCU original character, Lashana Lynch’s Maria Rambeau, who’s described as Carol’s best friend and the single mother to a young daughter.
Pulling these facts together, Screen Greek has developed a pretty convincing theory about what Carol’s origin story could be, presumably as told by flashbacks in Captain Marvel. Here’s how contributor Vince Hoover sees the narrative going:
“In those flashbacks, I suspect that we will see both Danvers and Rambeau on some routine maneuvers when a Kree battleship chasing a Skrull ship enters our atmosphere. They report the incident to their command, who order them to retreat. However, Danvers, in all of her hotheaded glory, insists that she and Rambeau pursue the alien crafts. Rambeau reluctantly joins her friend in the pursuit.”
It would be faithful to the comics to exhibit Carol’s hotheadedness, plus it’s been a trusty MCU trope for the future superhero to be a little cocky when we first meet them (see: Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Thor, etc.). As you can probably guess, Hoover suggests that this encounter doesn’t end well for the ace pilots, though Danvers is able to come out of it with enhanced abilities.
“During the ensuing battle, Rambeau’s plane is shot down and explodes and Danvers is also hit, but she is saved by the Kree and given her powers. While Rambeau dies instantly, Danvers becomes Captain Marvel, but at the cost of her friend, and the mother of a now orphaned child.”
There’s always a tragic element to superhero origins, the personal loss that makes them treat their great powers with great responsibility, so the death of Maria’s very believable. This would also set up her daughter up to be inspired by her own tragedy in future films. After all, Maria’s daughter surely has to be Monica Rambeau, the superheroine usually known as Photon in the comics.
All the pieces fit here to make an effective backstory for Carol Danvers, but Screen Greek makes clear that this is just conjecture on their part and not based on any leaked info. As such, we’ll have to see how close – or far away – from the truth they are when Captain Marvel soars into cinemas next March.
