Comic book characters are steeped in history, and Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, is no exception. Sometimes it can be hard to keep up with what’s going on as, between the comics and the movie adaptation, interpretations can slur and change a story’s canonical history and give it a new spin each time. Thankfully, there aren’t too many variations of Danvers’ story, although she does take on a variety of aliases and her powers are tweaked here and there. So, what is the history behind this long-awaited character?
Where did she come from?
Aside from being the most powerful Avenger in the universe, Danvers had a pretty standard background. She was born in and around Boston – although exactly where has been altered twice. If we’re following the 2019 movie adaptation, then she was a former air force pilot, who was doing pretty successfully until her accident involving the crashing of a one-of-a-kind aircraft that was powered with an energy core which harnessed the tesseract’s power. This aircraft was created by Mar-Vell, who adopted the alias of Dr. Lawson so that she could be hidden from the Kree threat; her own people. Yon-Rogg, played by Jude Law, is the Kree warrior who shoots the aircraft down and kidnaps Danvers, taking her to the Kree homeworld.
A slight adaptation
In the comic books, while this is reasonably close to what happens, the story has been altered. In the current MCU universe, Danvers got a blood transfusion on the Kree planet, so that they could save, and attempt to harness, the power within her. In the original story, she got her powers working at NASA with Dr. Lawson. It happened when a machine exploded, and Lawson’s blood was transfused with Danvers’. This resulted in Danvers taking on some characteristics of Mar-Vell’s powers.
She wasn’t originally Captain Marvel
When Carol Danvers dons the alias and form of Captain Marvel, she wasn’t actually the first. Her original powers included agility, super strength, and the ability to fly aided by a suit, but later on, she gained the ability to absorb vast amounts of energy and control gravity. It’s a long road to becoming the world’s most powerful avenger, but the movies seem to sum it up fairly quickly. Her original alias was Ms. Marvel, before moving on to being called Binary. However, it was later on, when she joined with the Avengers she was called War Bird until eventually being called Captain Marvel. That’s a fair few aliases.
She is a feminist icon
Considering the comics were created several decades ago in 1967, Marvel was groundbreaking. Although she was initially more of a sideline character one comic writer brought her story to for forefront, molding her to be the stereotype-defying character we see today, and how grateful we are. Carol Danvers is known for being impulsive and independent, defying her father’s ideas of her as he did not think her activities were suitable for a female. Hence, she joined the airforce, go Carol!
Captain Marvel is a wonderful, rich, multi-faceted story with a lot to offer, and we’re looking forward to seeing her next appearance in Avengers: End Game.
