This article contains SPOILERS for Captain Marvel, so turn back if you haven’t yet blasted off with the high-flying hero in theaters yet.
The MCU’s latest movie, Captain Marvel, unveiled Carol Danvers' origin story and introduced quite a few other crucial comic book characters to screen, such as with Lashana Lynch and Akira Akbar as mother-daughter pair Maria and Monica Rambeau. As fans of the source material may know, Monica also has gone by “Photon," “Pulsar," “Spectrum” and, at one time, “Captain Marvel” – the leader of the Avengers.
During the Captain Marvel press junket in Los Angeles, I asked Lashana Lynch how she thinks her character might take Monica’s crime-fighting future, assuming that the MCU decides to embrace her story past Captain Marvel. Here’s what she said:
I think she’d be really cool. She in my eyes is a superhero anyway. She doesn’t have the usual superhero powers, but in being a fighter pilot, in being a mother and someone who represents a real woman in her society, she is almost like raising Monica to be a superhero anyway. I feel like when we see Monica in the future, we’re going to be like “Of course she turns out this way” because she brought her up well! She just had a good mother.
There you have it! In Lashana Lynch’s eyes, Maria’s daughter becoming “Photon” or the next Captain Marvel wouldn’t even phase her because it makes sense within Monica’s character arc. In the movie, Monica looks to be single-handedly raised by her fighter pilot mother, who may have “lost” her best friend for some time, but it didn’t stop her from raising her kid to be strong, disciplined and… well, like a hero.
In the few scenes we see Monica Rambeau, she’s definitely comes off as fearless, takes an interest to the circumstances of the film and seems to look up to her mother and Carol Danvers, along with being unafraid of the intergalactic stakes in front of her.
Following the previous answer, I asked Lashana if she thinks we might see Maria join in with Monica on the action, since her character fits right in as a superhero as well. In her words:
There’s a moment when Maria and Monica have to have a conversation about what’s going to happen next and Monica is the adult in the situation and is like ‘Mom, I’m going to take care of this, you go do your thing.’ So I feel like Maria would be like, ‘I trust you, you’re my daughter, I brought you up well, I’m going to let you live in your truth and do your own thing.’
There’s nothing like having a trusting mother, and per Lashana’s answer, she thinks once it comes time for Monica to suit up, Maria will step back and let her do her thing – even if she’s a badass fighter pilot who can totally kick some ass too!
If you’d like to take a look at the short discussion for yourself, you can watch a clip from the interview below:
Lashana Lynch certainly gives an empowering answer about her character being a superhero already and raising up her daughter touch and strong, so she can later trust her to potentially save the world. While it’s unclear if and how their storylines will expand in future MCU stories, Lynch certainly seems to enjoy playing with the idea.
With Monica being introduced as a kid in the ‘90s, the present-day timeline would see her as a 30-something-year-old woman who belongs among the other Avengers. What do you think? Would you like to see Monica Rambeau grow into her origin story on the big screen? Let us know in the comments below.
