How ENDGAME Poochie-fied Captain Marvel
Writing about entertainment, especially when long-form storytelling is involved, is tricky because it is the intersection of art and commerce, but also of imagination and practicality. Words on a page can create the most incredible spectacle your neurons can fire into existence. But when asked to translate into a different medium, suddenly budget matters, scheduling of talent matters, physics matter; it’s not simply taking a dope scene and transposing it directly onto film. And even if that is done with a perfect recreation, movies like 300 and WATCHMEN have shown that such duplication doesn’t carry with it the same emotional weight as found within the comic book panels.
Brie Larson’s part as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel in AVENGERS: ENDGAME was written and shot before her solo movie, CAPTAIN MARVEL. This presented the ENDGAME filmmakers with the awkward proposition of defining the character first, even though their version would be appearing second. As such, that involves hedging bets and letting the CAPTAIN MARVEL film team fill in the vast majority of the character and story. But it also may have led to some half-measure decisions that tried to make “Captain Marvel” the cool new character without paying attention to previous examples in MCU’s own films of how to accomplish this.
Before I delve further into the topic, this isn’t a post that bashes the CAPTAIN MARVEL movie, the Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers character, Brie Larson, or anything like that. There will not be a reference to “SJWs” or any of that bullshit. This is mainly meant to be a way to look at how, by sidestepping a tried and true tradition of the comic books (and the MCU movies), ENDGAME undercut the impact and engagement of their new (potentially marquee) character, Captain Marvel.
Also, for the purposes of this post, I will refer to the people that crafted the Danvers parts in ENDGAME as “the ENDGAME filmmakers.” This includes directors Anthony & Joe Russo, screenwriters Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely—but there was probably additional input from Kevin Feige, the CAPTAIN MARVEL team, or other members Marvel Studios that form some sort of continuity braintrust. Hence the encompassing term.
In terms of the on-screen narrative, Nick Fury activates some sort of device while he is about to be dusted in the snap at the end of INFINITY WAR. (Actually it probably isn’t Fury, but Talos the Skrull, but that’s another nerd debate for another nerd time) Who was that device for and who can possibly come to save the day in the face of half the universe being wiped out?
New # who dis?
— Brie Larson (@brielarson) August 2, 2018
Turns out that before Carol flies off to help the Skrulls find their new homeworld (at the end of CAPTAIN MARVEL) she gifted with the strange doodad—a pancosmic pager he can activate should things get at their most dire. The end credits scene for CAPTAIN MARVEL features the remaining Earthbound Avengers (Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Bruce Banner) are at Avengers HQ, monitoring the pager they found next to the dust pile formerly known as Nick Fury when Carol suddenly appears and asks where Fury is.
The next time she is seen, she has located Stark and Nebula in the Milano and brings them all back to Earth. After some dramatic tete-a-tete she decides to go off and kill Thanos herself, proving her mettle to folks by not flinching when Thor summons Stormbreaker and it almost hits her. She then completely holds her own and beats up Thanos (a character that took out all of the heroes in the previous film), before going off to take care of the galaxy and eventually showing up in the finale to devastate Thanos’ warship and, again, evenly match the Mad Titan with her own fighting skills and powers. Those are the sequence of events as they unfold to audiences who were watching MCU films unfold as they were released (as opposed to whatever may happen once home media kicks in or there is some revisionist prequel stuff or something).
So what’s wrong with this? As laid out here, it seems fine. Also ENDGAME starts off with Clint losing his family and then Tony dying in space with Nebula, reminding audiences of the pain and tragedy that is beginning this journey. For the high falutin’ types, it’s how each chapter of A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man starts out on a low point for Stephen before rising towards the end, and repeat. And as there has been time (and CAPTAIN MARVEL) since INFINITY WAR, ENDGAME filmmakers need to re-establish the bleak atmosphere of Thanos’ victory. Fair enough! But…it didn’t have to be this way. And it shouldn’t have.
As far back as Marvel Comics have had a shared universe where Spider-Man bumps into that hot new hero Darkhawk, Gravity, or Invincible (yes, that happened), the vast majority of those initial meetings take the form of a fight. Usually both superheroes (or teams or whatever) are at the same place to stop crime, but have a focus on different criminals present and they squabble over who is in charge; or they think the other costumed crimefighter is clearly another villain and the brawling begins. Basically it’s a moment of confusion (or mind control or whatever) that results in the giddiness of seeing who is tougher, even if it almost always ends in a draw and the former opponents team-up to stop the real bad guys.
This same trope has extended into the Marvel Cinematic Universe; while it isn’t necessarily the “first” time two heroes meet, almost every instance of multiple heroes in a movie results in a fight between them.
THE AVENGERS - Iron Man vs Thor (and then Captain America), and Hulk vs. Black Widow/Hulk vs. Thor, and Hawkeye vs. all of them.
IRON MAN 2 - War Machine and Iron Man duke it out at a party.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY - Star Lord and Gamora fight, Rocket & Groot trap Gamora and Star Lord, Drax tries to kill Gamora, Rocket threatens Drax.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON - Hulk vs Iron Man, Quicksilver & Scarlet Witch vs. The Avengers, Vision waking up and suddenly fighting everyone.
ANT-MAN - Ant-Man fights The Falcon.
CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR - Black Panther fights Captain America/Bucky/Falcon, tarmac fight between everyone.
THOR: RAGNAROK - oh hey, it’s Thor vs. Hulk again.
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR - Dr. Strange, Iron Man, and Spider-Man vs. Guardians Of The Galaxy.
I can feel people rolling their eyes at suggesting that the already formulaic, corporate superhero movies should resort even more to a formula. Not in every instance, no. But if ENDGAME opened with Captain Marvel showing up and a fight breaks loose before she goes to find and save Tony and Nebula, it would be an excellent way of establishing character.
Even though Marvel does a less than great job with action sequences (specifically hand-to-hand combat), they are smart enough to reveal character through these melee scenes. The arrogance of Tony or Drax is on display when they think they can easily dispatch of their foes. Steve Rogers rushes into every fight, as is his way, but he also uses his peak human skills in strategic ways learned from his scrawny days and he had to take on bigger and tougher opponents. Wanda doesn’t want to fight so always seems reluctant and holds back. Scott learned how to fight from Hope and so he copies her moves, although not as well.
These face-offs not only visually define character for the audiences, but they also create a sense of relationship between the characters in the film itself. How someone fights tends to speak to who they are, what they’ve done, and more. In CIVIL WAR, Clint introduces himself to Black Panther only for T’Challa to say “I don’t care.” The Wakandan prince is not the quippy scrappy type like most of the other Avengers and takes the battle seriously in the name of justice for his father’s murder.
In an alternate version of ENDGAME, Carol Danvers arrives on Earth after Fury activated the cosmic beeper. She finds a world in complete chaos as people are losing their shit (something that was never really discussed in ENDGAME but shown in some of the Disney+ shows) at this very sudden and dramatic change. Meanwhile, the remaining Earthbound Avengers just got their ass whupped, don’t know who is around and who isn’t or what’s really going on, but they are alerted that some sort of extraterrestrial creature with massive power readings just showed up. Rocket recognizes that Danvers’ outfit is a Kree uniform but with a new paint job, informing the others that the Kree are an Empire that likes to take over other planets. Thor is itching for a fight to exorcise his anger, War Machine goes into soldier mode and is ready to take her on, Natasha is hesitant, and Steve is ready to fight but tries diplomacy.
Danvers would point out that Captain America died in World War II. And besides, where’s his uniform and his shield (remember he’s in his faded dark costume and Tony has the shield back in the garage somewhere)? Why is he bearded? The inevitable fight ensues with Danvers easily handling most of them, but Thor and Rocket’s gadgets proving to create problems for her. Eventually cooler heads prevail and they stop. They recognize they all have this anger and confusion and sense of defeat and don’t know where to put it and so they’re just fighting instead of dealing with it. Rocket laments being stuck on earth with these dipshits, but they figure out how to find the Milano, with Danvers off to go rescue whoever is on the ship.
Instead, this is the only time we see the other Avengers speak with Danvers:
She acts cocky (the Marvel hero staple) but hasn’t shown anything in terms of fighting yet. They distrust her but then are okay once it’s establish she either has nerves of steel or simply lacks the necessary peripheral vision to see Stormbreaker coming at her. There is no relationship set except the characters audiences already know and love underestimate her and she’s way more powerful than they are. And that, dear friends and loved ones, is a Poochie.
In The Simpsons, Itchy & Scratchy introduce Poochie (voiced by Homer) as a cool new addition to the gang that will revitalize the show and bring a fresh attitude. He says all the right buzzwords and rocks all the hip trends. He is constantly met with cries of awe and delight from Itchy and Scratchy as they are trying to convince viewers that Poochie IS cool and everyone should love him. This plan does not work out.
The ENDGAME filmmakers force Danvers into this role by not grounding her in the usual Marvel Comics tradition and letting actions reveal character and situations develop dynamics with fellow heroes. Instead she carries something big, bringing the Avengers (and therefore the audience) back their beloved Tony Stark, and then shows off a bunch of bravado before going off and beating up Thanos in ways that none of the other heroes in INFINITY WAR could (except maybe Scarlet Witch).
Each move here is a forced attempt to underscore how Captain Marvel is the most badass—instead of a mixture that she’s badass that holds her own against characters whose abilities we know, while also showing vulnerability in being confused by the situation or realizing she doesn’t fit in on Earth anymore…again. She could have been with the Avengers the whole time and found people that understood her and her situation in life. But instead we just get a weak allusion to her as an angel and that she doesn’t think the himbo is going to decapitate her in front of everyone.
This is worsened when she comes back for the climactic fight. The ENDGAME filmmakers run into a common problem writers have with Superman where they never properly figure out the level of power and abilities. So Danvers destroys Thanos’ massive ship, the Sanctuary II, after withstanding all manner of laser cannons or whatever. But now she needs the girl squad to help her get through all of the monsters and get to the van. (Not knocking that A-Force reference, by the way, though I know some felt it grossly manipulative and pandering)
Again, rather than completely eradicating the ship, Danvers could draw its fire while taking out all of the various little Sakaaran fighter ships or Chitauri gliders or something. Then work with Scarlet Witch and Rescue (Pepper Potts) or others to dismantle Sanctuary II. Because it creates a weirdly dissonant moment to blow up the whole ship but then struggle arm wrestling with Thanos a few moments later.
And to further cement the Poochie status is the reaction to Danvers’ actions:
Not only is her awesome might framed dwarfing the badass first avenger, even when armed with Mjolnir, but Danvers trashing Sanctuary II, but it also leads to the character least likely to ever give anyone a compliment ever and usually just sarcastic to cheer for her:
None of this is inherently bad of course. And it’s unfortunate that it coincides with the character from the first solo-female led Marvel film and played by an actress who rightfully speaks up and against gender inequality (amongst other progressive issues). But there’s an awkward forced nature to these elements where Danvers is treated differently and constantly meant to display that “the characters you think are cool think she’s cool. Soooo…..”
To contrast with another last minute appearance to turn the tide, Hulk shows up with his “I’m always angry” scene in 2012’s THE AVENGERS.
It’s a dramatic and badass moment, but it’s preceded by scenes where the characters have interacted with longer conversations, have fought each other, and aren’t certain about the outcome.
It is also immediately followed by the villains being annoyed while the team coalesces around each other—Hulk took out a Leviathan that pissed off the Chitauri, but now the Avengers are unified in that iconic circular shot. Danvers lacks the amount of screen time and relationship dynamics to make the moment sell, and is constantly kept apart as something to admire and point out how cool she is.
All of this is aggravating because Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel is actually really cool. She has many of the traits from Captain America (soldier, apart from others, humanist), Iron Man (alcoholic, cocky, surprising set of abilities), and Thor (extremely powerful, godlike, burdened by leadership) but melded into something unique that sets her as a bold yet quasi-tragic figure.
Captain Marvel is badass—but when someone constantly insists that something is cool and that you should really be impressed by it, the tendency is to see through the forced machinations and find it all a bit to cloying. Hopefully with the sequel, THE MARVELS, along with other subsequent appearances, the MCU recognizes that they can’t just Rastify her by 10% or so and make the character work as well as it should. Carol Danvers, Brie Larson, the Carol Corps, and audiences deserve better than to eagerly await the day that “Captain Marvel” died on the way back to her home planet.
