Captain Marvel misses the mark

graphic by Amanda Shi Going into Captain Marvel, I had no idea what to expect. Sure, as a die-hard Marvel fan, I had watched all the trailers (multiple times, might I add) and had read posts and reviews all across the board, but the word that kept popping up as I googled Captain Marvel was “mediocre.” Surely, such an important movie — the first film Marvel has put out with a female lead — could not be “mediocre”… could it?Set in the 1990s, the film stars Academy award-winning actress Brie Larson as title character, also known as Carol Danvers, an amnesiac soldier who’s part of an elite warforce called the Starforce, run by an alien race called the Kree. After landing on Earth during a mission gone awry against the Skrulls, another alien race at war with the Kree, forgotten fragments of her past begin resurfacing. Danvers teams up with a digitally de-aged Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury. Though at first she believes the Skrulls to be her enemies, she soon realizes that all is not as it seems, not even herself. In many ways, it was the typical Marvel movie agenda: depicting a lost superhero coming to terms with their true identity. Yet, as I watch the story unfold in the darkened theater, I began to understand where the word “mediocre” came into play. Now, Captain Marvel is no Captain Marvel misses the mark

critically lambasted Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice or Suicide Squad, but it is also no critically acclaimed Captain America: The Winter Soldier or Black Panther. Let’s just say it’s more of a Thor: The Dark World or Doctor Strange — fine, technically, but also easily forgettable. Part of the problem is simply the timing of the movie, because as all Marvel fans know, timing is everything. Whereas Black Panther’s major role in Captain America: Civil War whetted fans’ appetites to see the development of his character in his own movie, Carol Danvers’ brief introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the end credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War was simply not able to achieve a similar effect. Instead, the film feels like a forced cul- de-sac that fans have to drive around before arriving at where they really want to go — Avengers: Endgame. The film attempts to tie together some loose ends in the MCU and to expand it, bringing back into the equation oldies like Fury, Coulson, and even Ronan the Accuser, as well as the backstory of the Tesseract. However, doing this actually opens up more new questions than what it answers. The Tesseract is a major part of the film, but also the most logistically confusing. As it’s been featured in many MCU movies in the past — Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Iron Man 2, Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Thor: Ragnarok, and Avengers: Infinity War — the blue cube of energy would seem like an appropriately understandable object for the movie to center around. Furthermore, fans’ prior understanding of how it works brings up the major plot hole of how Carol Danvers receives her powers. Previous Marvel movies have all shown the power of the Infinity Stones, and the Tesseract is powered by the Space Stone. In Captain America: The First Avenger, when Red Skull attempts to handle the Tesseract, he is transported to the deserted planet of Vormir, where he is reduced to a wraith and handler of the Soul Stone. In Guardians of the Galaxy, it takes all of the Guardians to even hold onto the Power Stone. So how exactly is it that Danvers not only survives the energy blast, but actually gets powers? Despite disappointing timing and confusing plot holes, Captain Marvel does redeem itself in its feminist aspects. Though it’s still a far cry from DC’s Wonder Woman, there are several touching scenes and themes that evoke feminist pride and love. There is the scene in which Danvers recalls falling and falling again and again, put down by men in the army and even her own father for her femininity. She gets up each time, finally escaping from the mental shackles imposed on her by both the Kree and herself. Of course, there is also the scene in which she bests her gaslighting male superior, who reminds her repeatedly that her passion is her weakness, a statement commonly aimed at women. Captain Marvel misses the mark

But perhaps the most powerful, in my opinion, is the phrase she delivers following her victory: “I have nothing to prove to you.” It’s a double-edged sword: Carol Danvers does not have to prove her worth as a hero, and Captain Marvel does not need to prove itself a strong feminist film. This, in junction with its weaknesses, is what makes Captain Marvel a “mediocre” movie — it’s not bad, but doesn’t quite fulfill its promised potential. It’s a good film, just not marvelous.