The trailer for Captain Marvel just dropped, and it is creating quite a buzz among Marvel fanboys and girls alike. While I really loved Thor: Ragnarok and Dr. Strange, I haven't loved most of the movies in the MCU, but I do really like the series as a whole and am anxiously awaiting the sequel to Infinity War. With the final credit scene showing Nick Fury sending out an urgent signal in his final moments with the Captain Marvel insignia, we know she will play a big role in the next installment of the series. It makes sense then, that Marvel will give us a backstory for this lesser known but powerful hero before she has to save the universe from a fully Infinity Stoned Thanos. So who exactly is Captain Marvel, and where did this character come from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1BCujX3pw8

 Carol Danvers is one of the strongest heroes in the MCU, sort of equivalent to DC's Superman, who is the impetus for this character in the first place. Captain Marvel first appeared in the pages of Whiz Comics, from a publisher called Fawcett, to get in on the market share garnered by Superman. It was 1939, and a year before SUperman had taken the comic word by storm; Fawcett's response was the more-or-less Superman knockoff called Captain Marvel, who went on to outsell Superman for a decade. Eventually, DC sued for copyright infringement and Fawcett stopped making comic books. Though DC never actually won the copyright lawsuit, they kept threatening to take Fawcett to court over and over until the firm went bankrupt.

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Then, in 1972, DC actually licensed the Captain Marvel character from Fawcett, eventually owning the character, but not the name! Two years later, Marvel comics sent DC a cease and desist letter over the right to use the word Marvel in DC marketing campaigns. After this, all Captain Marvel's books and merchandise used the name SHAZAM, though the character keeps the name inside the pages of the comics. Eventually DC dropped the Captain Marvel name altogether and the character is permanently christened 'Shazam", who has a movie of his own in the works.

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Once the name 'Captain Marvel' was available, Marvel brought in a Kree soldier named Mar-Vell. Even though this new Captain Marvel didn't look like Superman anymore or have the same powers, there were other major similarities between the characters. Just like Supe, Mar-Vell is an alien who protects and loves Earth.  DC did try suing Marvel for the title, but as long as Marvel continues to publish a comic under the Captain Marvel title, the rights are theirs. If they stop for a period of time then DC can claim it, so Marvel has kept the title going even though monthly sales are often short of the amount needed to keep any other title going. But we still haven't got to the origins of Carol Danvers, the current Captain Marvel, which dates back to Mar-Vell's original stories.

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Marvel's first rendition of the hero was in the form of an alien soldier, the Kree Mar Vell, who like Superman, defended the people of Earth from a variety of Silver Age monsters. He harnesses the power of Nega-Bands which enhance his strength and speed, and allow him to fly  unprotected in outer space. Eventually the hero gains cosmic awareness, allowing him to detect threats throughout the universe. Originally sent to observe Earth in preparation for a Kree invasion, Mar-Vell eventually rebels and allies himself with against the Kree Empire, to whom he is now a traitor. He acts as an early foil for Thanos before the introduction of Adam Warlock and the Infinity Stones, but is eventually killed off by cancer in 1982.

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Mar-Vell and Carol Danvers


Four more people would pick up the mantle of Captain Marvel after his death, beginning with Monica Rambeau. She is a New Orleans police officer with the power to transform herself into various forms of energy. Her character gives up the Captain Marvel title when the original Mar Vell's son comes on the scene, and eventually takes the name Pulsar. Mar Vell's genetically engineered son Genis-Vell wears the Nega-Bands and has Cosmic Awareness like his father. In a complicated plot, Genis is killed, resurrected, and ultimately destroyed with the help of Baron Zemo. Next in line for the mantle is Genis's younger sister Phyla-Vell, who comes into existence due to anomalies engendered when her brother attempts to re-make the universe in the aforementioned Baron Zemo storyline. Possesing cosmic awareness, super-strength, flight and energy manipulation abilities, she fights alongside the NOVA Corps and joins up with the Guardians of the Galaxy. She is eventually killed trying to save her fellow Guardians from Thanos, who she has mistakenly freed. It is eventually revealed that she is trapped inside the Soul Gem along with Adam Warlock, but is never shown to have escaped.

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Genis-Vell


The fifth Captain Marvel is a Skrull sleeper agent named Khn'nr, who takes on the form of Mar-Vell and has a copy of the Kree Nega-Bands. He eventually proves to be unstable, with Mar-Vell's personality taking control, and is killed fighting the Skrulls. A sixth Captain Marvel is provided briefly by another Kree soldier named Noh-Varr, who first appeared in the comics as Marvel Boy, and eventually becomes The Protector. 

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Finally, in 2012, the character named Carol Danvers takes up the Captain Marvel mantle. She originally was the head of security at a missile base from which Mar-Vell was operating. When an explosion copies Mar-Vell's powers onto her, she became Ms. Marvel, his sidekick and a member of the Avengers. It is probably some version of this story that we will be seeing in the upcoming movie with Brie Larson playing the lead role, and Jude Law as Mar-Vell. The movie is set in the 90's before all the other movies except the first Captain America, and will also feature an age-reversed Samuel L. Jackson as SHIELD agent Nick Fury.  Though it probably won't get too bogged down in the convoluted history of the character to provide for an enjoyable movie, lets hope the latest installment in the MCU can stay true to the character and get us pumped for Captain Marvel's return to save the day in the next Avengers flick.