I want to be very clear about one thing. Katheryn Winnick would have been my choice to play Captain Marvel. I’ve never watched an episode of Vikings. I can’t speak for her performance in that series, the one that made her famous. I’m basing my opinion on everything I saw in Big Sky, where she, along with Kylie Bunbury, seemed to dominate every scene.  Katheryn Winnick seems to have a powerhouse presence. You’d think she was six feet tall. Katee Sackoff and Yvonne Strahovski were also fan favourites. People talk about these actors as having presence, but I’m not sure what that really means. They are not all six feet tall. Not even close. Apparently, for what it’s worth, the Marvel comic book character is listed at almost six feet tall, five foot eleven. Does it matter?

Does Brie Larson, who was cast as Captain Marvel, have the same kind of presence? Would we be asking this if we were talking about anything other than a Comic Book Movie? There seems to be some big hang ups that people have about who gets the part when it comes to playing an iconic character. I think it’s because fans want the character to come right off the page and into real life. Try and imagine a blonde Superman, a blue Hulk, a ridiculously buffed Spiderman, a trans Wonder Woman, a trans Captain America, an overtly camp Batman.

Actually, that last one has been done in the Sixties. And the others I’ve probably seen being cosplayed at a comic con. But, people don’t want that in their comic book movies. They don’t want Michael B. Jordan as Johnny Storm the Human Torch, Jessica Alba as Sue Storm the Invisible Woman, Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin, Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, Zendaya as MJ in Spiderman, Keanu Reeves as John Constantine or Sasha Calle as Supergirl. Wrong ethnicity, wrong gender, wrong Nationality, not a natural blonde, not even blonde at all!

People thought Michael Keaton was wrong for Batman. Ben Affleck was wrong for Batman. Christian Bale wasn’t right either. George Clooney was stuck in the middle of an awful film and never had a chance to be any kind of Batman. Personally, I don’t think Robert Pattinson is my type of Batman.  That means Val Kilmer IS Batman?

And yet Samuel L Jackson was so well liked as Nick Fury, so too Jason Momoa as Aquaman, that no one wanted to point out that they look nothing like the comic book characters that they are based on. I can’t help but feel that it has something to do with messing with our perceptions of what is normal. No one, other than comic book fans had heard of Nick Fury. No one cared that the comic book character was some cliched crusty old white army general type. Equally, no one would want to see Jason Momoa play the Arthur Curry that you’d see in the 1940s Aquaman comic. Arthur Curry? The King of Atlantis is called Arther Curry? Sounds like a bank manager to me. He looked like one too. He did not look like Jason Mamoa, not one bit. He looked like a blonde-haired Caucasian middle aged male riding on a couple of fish, as though he were water skiing. No one needs to see that in live action.

In short, the film versions were better than the original source material and the comics changed to fit what seemed popular. So, now, in the comic books, Fury looks like Samuel L Jackson and Aquaman has a much rougher look about him. And those changes were made with little to no uproar.

As an aside, Melissa Benoist in the CW Supergirl TV series is the best Superhero casting ever. For me. She is exactly what I think of when I think of Supergirl. Although strangely, I much prefer Sasha Calle’s performance as the character in the Flash movie. It isn’t always only about how they look.

Which brings me to Captain Marvel. The MCU Carol Danvers looked nothing like the Carol Danvers I grew up with. Where’s the classic black outfit with the black thigh high boots, long black gloves and red sash tied around her waist? Huh? That’s the Carol Danvers that they probably wouldn’t make a film about. That would be Carol as Ms Marvel, before growing into the mantel of Captain Marvel. I never really saw her as a major character in the Marvel comic books. In recent times I’ve read some of the graphic novels. They’re ok. With that in mind, if they did ruin Captain Marvel, I can’t imagine masses of folks falling to their knees proclaiming, “They’ve ruined Captain Marvel.” True fans would be upset but your average film goer isn’t going to think anything of it. You certainly wouldn’t expect them to be online complaining about any of it.

It's important to factor that in when you take into consideration the negative noise with regards to Brie Larson being cast in the role of Captain Marvel. It’s too easy to strip away every argument until all you’re left with is nothing but a specific bias towards Brie Larson because she promotes equality and inclusion and because she’s a woman.

I’m not exactly going out on a limb when I say that. Much has been written about the online trolls that have been on her case. It’s clear she’s aware of all the negative noise. When asked in a red-carpet interview when she’s next going to play Captain Marvel again, she responded by saying, “I don’t know. Does anyone want me to do it again?” On seeing this I thought, “Wow. She needs a hug.” I don’t want to come off as patronising there. I genuinely felt an urge to offer the woman a hug.

It doesn’t take much research to find online accusations of her flat performance in Captain Marvel. “Bland and not in line with the comic book character” was another complaint. Jeez, you’d think that they’d watched a Batman film with an out of character Batman attending kid’s birthday parties. “I thought Batman was out of character. In the comic books he’d never perform at any kid’s birthday party with a party hat on.” What characteristics from the comic books were missing that you wanted to see in an MCU Captain Marvel?

Bad casting? Such accusations are the building blocks of review bombing.

As has been well reported, a lot of the review bombing, a lot of the trolling, a lot of the hating, was seemingly in response to the lead actor promoting Captain Marvel as a cinematic feminist event. The DCEU had already released their Wonder Woman film and didn’t seem to face the same kind of backlash. It did receive negative reactions relating to the lead having previously served in the Israeli army, but Gal Gadot looked amazing as Wonder Woman, the film was a critical and commercial success, and the feminist debate was somewhat diluted. There is an argument that no one involved in the Patty Jenkins directed Wonder Woman made such a big deal out of being the first Superhero film with a female lead. But Marvel and Brie Larson made Captain Marvel all about feminism.

And here comes the trolls.

My intention was not to add to the masses that is already written about Brie Larson, diversity, review bombing, misogyny and feminism. It is however very difficult to not play the game, to not pick holes in the arguments and accusations regarding how good or bad Captain Marvel is, as a film and as a character.

If your criticism of the film is fuelled by bad feelings towards an actor for being pro-feminism, pro inclusion and pro diversity, then there is little point in explaining that the characterization, acting, plot, dialogue and look and feel of both Captain Marvel and The Marvels, are all actually not terrible at all. In fact, it might all be pretty darn good. But just for the fun of it, before I’m done writing, let me explain what is so hard about what Brie Larson has done with Captain Marvel.

First off, the character in the comic book doesn’t give us much to go on, not as a guide to how to play her on screen. Carol Danvers was, for a lot of her existence, a secondary character in Marvel comic books. There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s plenty of them. No one was braying for a Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Moon Knight wasn’t exactly the first character that came to mind in need of a TV series. Antman didn’t seem to be in high demand. Winter Soldier and Falcon? Hawkeye? To non-comic book readers, they’d be coming to the films with little to no idea of what to expect. To say that Brie Larson isn’t right for the role implies that you have specific idea what that character is. The most basic information that your average cinema goer might have had in the run up to a Captain Marvel film is that she’s a powerhouse of a Superhero. How do you play that? And how do you write that?

She wasn’t always a powerhouse. Carol Danvers started in the comic books with no superpowers. She was an action hero, pilot turned, NASA security chief, then unexpectedly a novelist and editor, before becoming a sidekick to the very manly hunk of Captain Mar-Vel. I’m buying into the whole idea that Mar-Vel is a very normal name in the Kree Empire, where he comes from, and not just an excuse to ram home that he’s a Marvel comic book hero.

Calling a character Ms Marvel was a sign of the times. I’d always associated “Ms” with being neither a Miss or a Mrs but also highlighting that no one wants to be referred to according to their marital status. In the late Sixties and early Seventies, a time of Civil rights and Women’s liberation, “Ms” seemed appropriate. In those early comic book stories there was focus on what it meant to be a woman in a man’s world. The intentions were seemingly all positive, albeit in a superficial way. And then, in the Eighties, they had a story line where she was brainwashed, kidnapped and raped and all her male counterparts seemed fine with this. What the hell? What next? Make her an alcoholic? Yep. They did that too.

None of the above gives any guidance on how you play this character.

It's easy to see Carol Danvers being defined by a list of things that happened to her. Her story was a catalogue of issues that women have always had to deal with. Male superhero air force pilot, a Hal Jordan/Green Lantern type character? Not a problem. Not even newsworthy. A female superhero air force pilot, in the Nineteen Seventies? That’s pushing the limits of believability right there. Brie Larson’s struggles? It’s more than that. Larson was spot on in highlighting that this was all about feminism and continues to be so. Marvel films were huge at the time of the release of Captain Marvel, and it was a big deal to be putting out the first MCU film with a female lead. Maybe fans felt that Scarlett Johansson, having already been established in the Marvel films as Black Widow, should have been given the honour of being the first female lead in a Superhero film. Everyone wanted a Black Widow film. Who was this Captain Marvel character? Who was this Brie actor woman, right out of nowhere?

I do think that any investigation into the character, any engaging with accusations of Brie Larson’s portrayal of the character being flat or nothing like the source material, is somewhat pointless. We all know that when we hear, “Errrr, she shouldn’t be allowed to be Captain Marvel because she doesn’t have the same presence as Katee Sackoff and she’s so wrong for the part and her acting is no way good enough,” it’s really just a reaction to the film and its star pushing a feminist agenda and an excuse to go review bombing and trolling.

Cinematic Carol Danvers is Captain Marvel, not Ms Marvel and in the Comic Books Carol’s change from Ms to Captain made her something more. She powered up and eventually became an important part of the Marvel comic book Universe. There was something of a passing of the baton, as the previous Captain Marvel, being your typical Superman style, all flying, super strong, musclebound man, to whom Ms Marvel had been a sidekick to, was killed off. I’m not sure the original Captain Marvel is well known in the same way that Spiderman or Hulk or Wolverine or Iron Man or Thor are all well known. The biggest comic book Captain Marvel event, for the old Captain Marvel, was the “Death of Captain Marvel.” Probably not a good sign when a character is best known for dying. He died of cancer, which always strikes me as a weird choice by the writers.

Carol becoming Captain Marvel was not a promotion. It was an ascension. As a cosmic force, turning out to be half alien Kree and half human, with her stories not restricted to being Earth bound, the writers made things a lot more interesting. Readers now asked questions about who she is. It’s this iteration of the character that the film uses as its source material. It’s thought of as the Kelly Sue DeConnick era.

Uh-Oh. The trolls aren’t going to like this. We have a feminist comic book writer writing comics and then those comics being the starting point for an origins story that is chosen to be the first Marvel film to feature a female superhero as the lead and then that lead is talking about how much of a feminist event this film is going to be. Clearly, before even one scene is filmed the trolls know that it’s not going to work without Katee Sackoff in black thigh high boots playing an alcoholic in love with an alien Kree hunk of a man. Any other take on it is going to be awful and this Brie person surely can’t act to save her life and she’s nowhere near as tall as Female Captain Marvel is supposed to be.

The MCU Captain Marvel, not established in the cinematic Marvel backstory, is retconned in and done so in such a way that she comes into the overarching story as a pre-made big hitter, self-assured in what she can do and yet still lost as to what she’s supposed to do. She has abilities, she has incredible power, but she’s on her own, never really belonging to any one team. Particularly after the origins story of the first film, there is a sense of someone having all that power and struggling to know what to do with it. 

In the Avengers films she is somewhat used as a weapon, with little in the way of being a fully fleshed out character with friends and allies. She is Nick Fury’s cavalry, to call in when the shit hits the fan. That’s not easy to write or to act. Although there is Samuel L Jackson to spark chemistry with and a lot of the first film focuses on their relationship. Outside of that, particularly in the Avengers scenes, there is a lot of looking stoic and powerful. She is, after all, the military type, always focused on the mission. Much of what Brie Larson has to do is look determined and assured, intense and focused. I think she deserves a lot of credit for doing that so well. It’s a hard act to pull off when you’re playing someone who has to balance out being a real person, whilst also being able to punch holes in a starship.

Through the first film we get a story of Carol Danvers becoming who she’s meant to be. I don’t think you have to be ultra feminist in your views to appreciate the “I’m just a girl” scene, where at the moment of realising her full potential Carol kicks ass to the soundtrack of No Doubt’s “I’m just a girl.” It’s hard to deny that there’s a sense of this being the film’s big “feminist moment.” Arguably though, it’s just the expected peak of the characters journey, regardless of gender.

Speaking of “regardless of gender,” when recently rewatching the second Captain Marvel film, The Marvels, I felt somewhat gender blind. The origins story film may have screamed feminism in the ears of internet trolls. The second one told a story in which the three main characters were women and the villain was a woman too. Although there is a definite female sensibility, there’s not much in the way of what happens on screen that screams feminism, unless you count being a woman in a film an act of feminism.

Think about the group hug between Carol, Kamala and Monica. It would be hard to imagine Iron Man, Captain America and Thor having a group hug like that. That sensibility, it’s there, but it does not stop anyone of any gender relating to the characters, their situation and their emotions. Finding your place in the world and working out what you want to do with your life, whether you’re superpowered or not, is not an issue restricted to any gender.

Both Captain Marvel films are fun sci-fi fantasy films, and I love the fight scenes. The second one has a bit more heart, a bit more of a struggle for the protagonist and subsequently better characterisation.  The MCU Captain Marvel, the Kelly Sue DeConnick version has big issues to tackle and in those handful of Avengers scenes there is more focus on what Captain Marvel can do but not really much about what Carol Danvers may think and feel. Without doing too much, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel has something about her. I’d say it’s a presence, a Superhero sized presence.

From a writing standpoint, the most interesting part of all this is how on one level content is being judged based on everything but actual content. Preconceptions of the character and the film and the lead actress aside, Misogyny and Feminism aside, it is possible to watch the film and be oblivious to any social or political aspect to what you’re watching. I’m personally tired of being told a film is awful, often by critics, only to find out that there’s nothing wrong with it.

I find it hard to watch Captain Marvel or The Marvels and think that they are awful films. Anyone watching those films saying, “Brie Larson is an awful actor,” is not basing their opinions on what they’ve just watched. They might want to argue that the role is awful but this woman won an Oscar in 2015 for Christ’s sake. I know my opinion of the Academy of Motion Pictures is at an all-time low, but I am willing to believe that you still have to be “a bit good” to win an Oscar. If you’re not enjoying the film then your lack of enjoyment does not fall on Brie Larson.

As much as I think we should be judging films based on the content of the film and not outside influences, it is plain silly to ignore that Captain Marvel was the first Marvel film with a female lead. And it is evident that they had fun with that. Everyone should want their protagonist to have a kick ass moment like the “I’m just a girl fight scene.” It’s a good fight scene. I’m trying to imagine anyone watching that thinking, “This fight scene is too feminist for me!”

I know. I know. I just stated that we should focus on the content of any film and yet I want to also praise Brie Larson for carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders for staring in a film and promoting feminism and diversity. I suppose that in literary terms I find myself thinking about, “Finding evidence in the text.”  But much of the evidence pointing towards any signs of feminism come from the promotion of the film and not necessarily from what we see on screen. This is the Twenty First century. I’m hoping that films with a female lead aren’t such a big news story these days. Then again, the first thing anyone says about a Captain Marvel film is that it’s the first female Marvel superhero film. Is it that comic books and superheroes are a male thing and this is seen as infringing on a male domain?

Maybe there is more to a film than what’s up on screen. Maybe the problem is not that we choose any outside influences and base opinion on that, but the outside influences we choose to base that opinion on have their own agenda. That agenda has nothing to do with the actual film, but rather on what the film represents. I think, particularly when it comes to Superhero films, that there are films that the press hate but the fans love. Is that because there’s an anti-superhero film mentality? Superhero fatigue? And then there's Superhero films that are ok or good or even very good and the viewers hate it due to percieved"Wokeness." Neither approach is healthy.

I feel like this then opens things up to being more than just about a film. I start to feel that Carol Danvers fight is on and off screen. This seems ridiculous. Brie Larson doesn’t live in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet the lines become blurred and I’m no longer sure if the actress is fighting alien races and the character is fighting online trolls. What’s the difference? And that’s why Brie and Carol get nothing but love from me, even if she’s a bitch that everyone hates, a useless character, no way near as tough or cool as Wanda Maximoff the Scarlet Witch, doesn’t have the classic Warbird black costume with thigh high boots, could never beat Thanos in a fist fight and champions anti Kree feminist causes which alienates all the misogynists who want to watch Marvel films.

Wow. It must be easy being an internet troll.   

Now, I’m off to watch Dominique Thorne as Riri Williams in Ironheart. There’s not going to be any review bombing going on there, surely.

I’m going to have to write another one of these soon, aren’t I?