Captain Marvel Vs. ...Captain Marvel?

I am big enough to admit when I'm wrong. 

In this case, not wrong exactly, just less than right.

I was unconvinced by the casting of Brie Larson as Captain Marvel and generally "meh" on the film itself.  I grew up with two Marvel versions of Captain Marvel and was never especially a fan of either.  My "Captain Marvel" was the character we now call "Shazam" and always will be.  So there.

That's Captain Marvel on the left, the wizard "Shazam" on the right. 

As it should be.

Still, once all the copyright dust settled, my "Captain Marvel" was no more and Stan Lee's juggernaut owned the name and used it on several characters over the decades.

First, predictably, a white man was Captain Marvel.

Dead is dead.  Really.

Amazingly for a comic book hero, he not only died of cancer, but for as long as I was a regular consumer of comic books he never came back from the dead.

In the 70's, Marvel did what was then progressive and named his successor "Ms. Marvel".

And promptly put her in a progressively long sleeved bikini...

I can't imagine why, but this is my favourite version of the character.

Since then, there have been several other incarnations, either "Ms." or "Captain" at various times, including an African American Captain, Monica Rambeau who appears as a young girl in the movie.

Yeah, nothing to like here.

Not sure about the outfit, but I hope they get around to this verison.

And hire a decent stylist...

Brie Larson has expressed interest in having the Kamala Khan version show up.

So, what was I wrong about?  Well, as I looked at the local theater listing for tickets to go see "Shazam", I see that "Captain Marvel" is still playing in my local movie house.  So, Captain Marvel is literally competing with Captain Marvel.  Go figure.

While I may have been "meh" on Brie Larson and Captain Marvel in general, I was obviously, totally, wrong.  Captain Marvel is now the 7th Marvel film to pass a BILLION dollars worldwide.  So much for my opinion. 

I would have cast either Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck, Battlestar Galactica) or Katheryn Winnick (Lagertha, Vikings) as the Carol Danvers Captain Marvel.  While I still say that either of them would have been superior in the role, I have to admit, Brie Larson has done such a great job with the character, she's become one of the most recognizable female super heroes in the world.

 

 

But you don't need to take my word for it...



 





Brie Larson and an adorable "Carol Corps" at Disneyland.

Oh and I'll also turn out to be wrong about another thing, I'm sure.  I personally have always preferred the original Fawcett Comics (now DC Comics) version of Captain Marvel, that one we now call "Shazam" to avoid confusion.  If you'd asked me a few years ago who would win in the box office head to head showdown that's playing out now, I'd have picked Shazam, hands down.

Like I say, I'm big enough to admit my mistakes...