Carol Danvers: Captain Marvel in the MCU

Carol Danvers is a human pilot who became the MCU's Captain Marvel after absorbing the energy of an exploding engine, and Brie Larson plays her in Captain Marvel (2019), Avengers: Endgame and The Marvels. In Captain Marvel (2019), directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, she begins as Vers, a member of the Kree military team Starforce on the capital world Hala. She has no memory of her past and keeps dreaming of an older woman. The credits use several names for her, including "Carol Danvers / Vers / Captain Marvel" in her own film and "Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel" in Avengers: Endgame and The Marvels. Mckenna Grace plays Young Carol at 13 years old.

Are Carol Danvers and Captain Marvel the same person? Yes: Carol Danvers is her real name, Vers is the name she carries while her memory is gone, and Captain Marvel is the hero name. Ms. Marvel is a different character in the films. Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani, holds that name in The Marvels, where she is a young fan turned hero.

Why is Carol Danvers so powerful? Her abilities came from an accident rather than from training. She destroyed an engine built by Dr. Wendy Lawson, absorbed its energy and gained her powers, and the Kree later fitted her with an implant that suppressed them. Was she a Kree? No. Her commander Yon-Rogg mentors her in Starforce on Hala, but she is human, and Fury and Vers learn she was a pilot presumed dead in 1989 while testing that engine.

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Carol's most important bond is with Nick Fury, and her second is with the Rambeau family. Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, becomes her partner in Captain Marvel (2019). He names his later initiative Avenger after her Air Force call sign, and the pager she leaves him is how she is called back. You can read more about him on the nick fury page.

Maria Rambeau, played by Lashana Lynch, is Carol's old friend, and her daughter Monica was 11 in 1995 (Akira Akbar plays her at that age). Teyonah Parris plays the adult Monica Rambeau in The Marvels, where she is introduced as Carol's former ally. At the end of that film Monica is stranded on the far side of a tear between realities, and Carol moves into Monica's house.

Yon-Rogg, played by Jude Law, is her Kree commander and mentor, and he proves to be the man who killed Mar-Vell. Annette Bening plays both the Supreme Intelligence and Dr. Wendy Lawson. Talos, played by Ben Mendelsohn, begins as her enemy and turns into an ally when she learns that the Skrulls are refugees. Goose is revealed to be an alien Flerken, swallows the Tesseract and injures Fury's left eye.

In The Marvels, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), a young fan turned hero, teams up with her. The new Kree leader Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) rises on Hala after Carol destroyed the Supreme Intelligence and a civil war followed.

In my opinion, Carol's best moment is the one where she stops being a soldier who follows orders she does not understand. When Starforce captures her in Captain Marvel (2019), she removes the implant that was suppressing her powers, and the film shifts from a mystery into a superhero set piece. It also makes sense in the story: the powers were always hers, and the implant was the only thing between her and them.

A close second, perhaps, is the quieter beat of her sending Yon-Rogg back to Hala with a warning rather than finishing him. It tells you what kind of hero she wants to be.

The lighter pick is Goose coughing up the Tesseract in the post credits scene, a small joke that pays off the cat's reveal as an alien Flerken. And it could be argued that the Shang-Chi mid credits cameo is her most economical appearance, since Wong introduces her to Shang-Chi and Katy and places her in the wider saga without a fight.

That being said, The Marvels does something her solo film could not. Because Carol, Monica and Kamala swap places whenever they use their powers together, it turns her from a lone figure into part of an ensemble, which suits the coming team ups.