Changes in the comics don't always reflect what's happening on the big screen for major superhero movies. For instance, a female Thor in your weekly issue of the Asgardian comic doesn't mean that Chris Hemsworth's being recast any time soon. However, a new change to Captain Marvel in the latest Marvel issues does seem to reflect something we bet they're setting up for the Captain Marvel movie.
Brie Larson is poised to begin playing Carol Danvers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe next year. (Her movie, Captain Marvel, drop March 8, 2019.) And new issues of a Captain Marvel run of comics, The Life of Captain Marvel, is making drastic changes to the character's classic origin... and if we had to project forward, we can basically see how it would fit into the narrative of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's origin movie.
Carol traditionally receives her powers when she encounters a Kree device that explodes, "blessing" her with the powers of Captain Marvel. In the comics, Carol is trying to get close to Dr. Walter Lawson, the human alias of the Kree hero Captain Marvel, or Mar-Vell. The Life of Captain Marvel's latest issue, according to io9, introduces a new Mar-Vell, though... and it's Carol's mother.
Wait, what?
According to this tweaked origin, Carol's Kree exposure thanks to the blast was not an accident. Instead, it awakened something that was in her already, passed down from her mother, who was the original Mar-Vell (well, actually, Mari-Ell). This makes Carol Car-Ell. And it lends more of a birthright to her powers, strengthening an emotional tie to her origin story.
Carol's mom is a Kree. Carol is a half-human, half-Kree from birth. The explosion from the Kree device triggered something that already was inside of her. The origin has been shifted, and it's major.
How might this spin forward into the Captain Marvel movie? This is ALL speculation, but bear with me as I try to connect a few dots. Marvel Studios has said that when the movie starts, Carol will already be Captain Marvel, and when she lands on Earth, she'll begin to remember her past, but vaguely.
We know that Jude Law plays the combo role of Mar-Vell and Walter Lawson in the upcoming movie, and he will be mentoring Carol in how to be a devout Kree warrior.
But there's a role that has NOT been confirmed in the movie, and it's for a major Hollywood icon. Who is Annette Bening playing in Captain Marvel? Could it be Carol's mom... the original Captain Marvel? Trades, at the time of Bening's casting, made that connection already, though nothing has been confirmed. Now that Marvel Comics is elevating the status of Carol's mother to superhero status, it makes more sense that you would be casting this four-time Academy Award nominee. Why cast Bening if it's for a meaningless supporting part?
What do you guys think? Are the Marvel Comics altering Carol Danvers' origin to fit what the movie is about to do? Will Brie Larson's version of the character be born from a Kree mother, and will that Kree mom be played by Annette Bening? It makes too much sense to us not to be true.
We will know for sure once Captain Marvel arrives in theaters on March 8, 2019. For more on all of the Upcoming Marvel Movies, bookmark our guide and check it often!
