Captain Marvel (4 Stars)

This is the 21st film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, released in March 2019. Yes, that's now. I watched the film in the Cineworld Broad Street cinema in Birmingham on March 10th while I was on holiday, and I'm now writing about it on March 21st after returning home. Don't worry, I've backdated my post to make it appear in the right place.

As far as Marvel continuity goes, this film is a mess. In the film Carol Danvers gains super-powers after being exposed to the Tesseract, one of the Infinity Stones. In the comics she gains her powers after being caught in an explosion with the Kree warrior Mar-Vell, who called himself Captain Marvel. She gave herself the name Ms. Marvel. (I would have preferred Marvel Girl, but that name was already taken). It wasn't until 35 years later, in 2012, that she changed her name to Captain Marvel after Mar-Vell's death.

The film takes place in 1995. It starts with Captain Marvel training on the Kree homeworld Hala. She thinks she's a Kree, but she's having nightmares about a previous life. While on a mission for the Kree she crash lands on Earth, and she slowly realises that this is the planet where she was born. She battles with a party of Skrulls, shape-shifting creatures who are the arch-enemies of the Kree. She allies herself with Nick Fury, who's a disillusioned SHIELD operative who is considering quitting.

My initial impression is that this is the weakest MCU film since "The Incredible Hulk" in 2008. I'll retain my final judgement until I've seen it again, preferably another twice. What I like about the film most is that Carol Danvers is a very powerful character. Almost all of the Marvel heroes have been made weaker than in the comics, but the film's Carol Danvers has the full power of the comics' Ms. Marvel. She's almost as powerful as Drax ought to be. She's probably the most powerful character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU needs a heavily powered being to battle Thanos. Let's see what happens next month.