Marveling At The Marvels

 

Well, that was fantastic. What the heck is wrong with people?

Due to their success, Marvel films and shows have reached the current point of a huge shared universe. That means stories where aliens on earth are a surprise and the appearance of super powered individuals is unexpected are no longer viable.

It also means threads from several sources can now mix and match without a need for extensive explanation and can build on what came before in exciting and fun ways.

First let me have a private moment of happiness. Monica Rambeau (then Captain Marvel) was a new superhero introduced to Marvel just before I got into the Role Playing Game and regularly collecting comics. I always thought she was cool. Her power set is interesting and has a great deal of variability. It was a lot of fun to see her on the big screen.

This movie presented three classic types of superheroes and allowed their interactions to grow all three of their character arcs.

Kamala- the overly enthusiastic and new hero building her confidence and learning her place in the world.

Monica- the reluctant hero, accepting her powers, and the responsibility and accolades that go with them.

Carol- the professional hero who's starting to feel the weight of responsibility, being able to recapture the wonder of what she can do through the eyes of the other two.

Honestly, with the constant flood of superhero films and shows now, using Kamala to remind not only Carol, but all of us in the audience how awesome and fun superpowers are was a great beat to have in the film.

The relationship between the three heroes is what the film was built on, and the strongest emotional moments came out of that. The story balanced some really dark and heavy moments with lightness and comedy to make it both a fun and fulfilling ride.

A prime example is the "he's bilingual" reveal. The gag make me fall out of my chair, but it also worked as a perfect way to allow the tone shift needed at the time.

The Marvel Universe is now huge and crazy, allowing the story to head to multiple distant worlds, building not only on the past Captain Marvel film, but also the Thor and Guardians mythology.

Nice to see Sam Jackson back to his full "Nick Fury Awesomeness" after whatever Secret Invasion was.

The film really showed how world building can add to the Marvel Universe. 

One character came from a hugely successful film, and continued her story arc with the consequences of her actions. (Carol)

One character was a minor part of that film, given some expansion as a side character in a series, and now allowed to bloom and expand to a main character in this go around. (Monica)

And one character led one of the smaller scope (but still excellently executed) series, and is now growing to take a place in the main narrative of the MCU. (Kamala)

The villain was relatable, but still clearly evil.

The story came to a satisfying conclusion...

But enough threads were left for both small scale character and large scale cosmic follow ups.

Bonus points for Kamala's family still being a hoot, yet imparting a realism to the proceedings allowing the audience to connect to normal feelings in the insane situations.

Extra bonus points for "Memories" almost killing my daughter and niece with laughter.