Marvel Changes Captain Marvel’s Origin Ahead of Upcoming Movie

Marvel Studios is getting ready to change the superhero game next spring with the release of their first female-led film, Captain Marvel. With that film on the horizon, and set to feature such a cornerstone character when it comes to female empowerment, THR reports that Marvel has decided to makes some tweaks to the origin story of one Carol Danvers.

Before we dive into the changes, it’s important that we note it is unclear whether or not this alteration will impact the movie. We don’t know what the origin story will be yet for the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Captain Marvel. This change was simply made within the pages of a comic book.

The original explanation for Carol Danvers’ transformation into Ms. Marvel, and eventually Captain Marvel, involved an explosion that fused her DNA with the Kree hero Mar-Vell AKA the original Captain Marvel.

The new origin, told in the fourth issue of the new Life of Captain Marvel series, doesn’t rely (as much) on Mar-Vell. Instead, Danvers’ mother is a Kree soldier, making Carol a Kree-human hybrid. That means her powers were actually inside of her all along and were simply activated by the accident involving Mar-Vell.

The change even impacts the name of the character. With her mother being changed from Marie Danvers to the more traditionally Kree Mari-Ell, Carol’s real name is revealed to be Car-Ell.

This new origin story fits with Marvel’s recent push of strong female characters, removing the reliance on a male character to provide Carol’s powers. This trend has seen an increase in popularity for characters like Spider-Gwen, Squirrel Girl and the newest Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan. We have also seen a recent increase in female-centric Marvel products on the screen with Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors, the reported female superhero TV series in development for ABC and of course the addition of Captain Marvel to the MCU.

If you would like to purchase The Life of Captain Marvel Issue #4, it is available here. Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel hits theaters March 8, 2019.

Mike Mack
Mack is the Editorial Director for Marvel and ESPN content and he has covered comic cons, theme park events, video game showcases and other fun events. He is a fan of theme parks, sports, movies, Marvel Comics and is a self-proclaimed "nerd."