{"id":138515,"date":"2019-04-01T09:38:11","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T15:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=138515"},"modified":"2019-04-01T09:38:11","modified_gmt":"2019-04-01T15:38:11","slug":"on-captain-marvel-and-the-future-of-the-marvel-cinematic-universe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/01\/on-captain-marvel-and-the-future-of-the-marvel-cinematic-universe.html","title":{"rendered":"On “Captain Marvel” and the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Possible spoilers for\u00a0Captain Marvel,<\/em> but, really, you should have seen it by now.]<\/p>\n

As the movie approaches the $1 billion box office level, Marvel’s\u00a0Captain Marvel<\/em> is, along with\u00a0Black Panther,<\/em> demonstrating that the MCU’s films (and, perhaps, movies in general) don’t need to primarily focus on white guys as heroes.<\/p>\n

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Which, honestly, I have no problem with, and in fact, applaud. There are a lot of characters in the Marvel Universe who are not-white and\/or not-male, and this only frees up the opportunity to see more of them center screen, too. I would prefer not to see white guys disappear totally from the MCU — but that hardly seems likely. Heck, even the Snap didn’t do that.<\/p>\n

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I’m not actually worried about running out of white guys in the MCU.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(And, yes, there’s even the possibility that some characters might be cast with people who don’t align with their complexion or even gender in the original comics. Nick Fury’s a kinda-good example of that being workable, as are changes with Mar-Vell. If done well, in a way that doesn’t significantly change something essential about the character, I don’t have a problem there.)<\/p>\n

Beyond that, it’s noted that the success of these two heroes that are slated for prominence in the post-Avengers “Phase 4” movies, along with the movies already slated, indicates that Marvel need be in no big hurry to incorporate the massive properties they just inherited with the Fox deal: the X-Men and the Fantastic Four.<\/p>\n

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FF and X-Men — They’ve both been around for a while.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I mean, I’m as anxious as anyone else to see a decent film rendition of the FF, but I’m totally cool with both properties, esp. the X-Men, getting a few years of rest and reset, and then potentially centerpiece another phase down the line. Aside from the risk of super-hero flicks going out of style (which has been predicted multiple times over the last decade) before they circle around to those sagas, a break makes a lot of sense.\u00a0Though in the meantime we can get some “hints” (news stories about mutations on the rise due to cosmic radiation or Infinity Stone leftovers; a NASA representative name-dropping Reed Richards; weird shenanigans on the news going on in the Sokovian neighbor nation of Latveria, etc.) to help tee up some excitement.<\/p>\n

Another interesting thread of discussion that’s come up lately, viz Captain Marvel, is the question of Carol Danvers sexual orientation. It’s a little weird that it’s being brought up in large part because the character doesn’t have the traditional “boyfriend” in her origin movie, which is supposed to be a\u00a0good<\/em> thing because not every woman’s story has to be focused on her relationship with a man — but that’s, in turn, made people wonder if Carol’s relationship with Maria Rambeau or (and this would be an interesting twist) Mar-Vell might be more than just friendship.<\/p>\n

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I’m, honestly, non-committal. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there’s nothing particularly compelling about it, either. To be sure, I don’t have a personal stake in that particular representation, and I agree that getting some LGBTQ folk into the MCU picture (a million unofficial memes about Steve\/Bucky notwithstanding) would be a positive thing in principle. I may just be a bit concerned at a meta level about the amount of heavy-eyerolling-See-it-was<\/span>-all-a-feminist-plot<\/em> that would ensue if it turned out that Captain Marvel was a lesbian, or even bi, but that seems inevitable no matter what happens with the character.<\/p>\n

Honestly, the question of any<\/em> sort of relationship for Carol is a more interesting one to me: a highly duty-driven person, whose memories have been messed up, who’s been betrayed by her closest friends, who’s just spent a few decades in deep space (has it actually been that long for her, or 3sd-are we talking some light-speed time contract compressing the interval for her?) … trust issues and understanding how to relate to people at all<\/em> might be a serious uphill road for her, regardless of which way(s) she swings.<\/p>\n

In short, on this as with other things, I’m more interested in good story than in particular agendas. If they want to have Capt. Marvel and Valkyrie as the hottest gay lovers in space-time, great. If she ends up in domestic bliss with Doctor Strange, well, that might be interesting. Heck, if she decides that Rocket Raccoon is her type, I’m cool with that, too. Just give me a good story about it.<\/p>\n

Do you want to know more? <\/em><\/p>\n