You ready?
>> Higher, further, faster baby.
>> That's right.
Buckle up, Carol Danvers is soaring into theaters,
in Marvel Studio's first female led movie, as Captain Marvel.
In honor of her debut, we are looking back at the comics to learn
more about the woman, who just may be, Earth's mightiest hero.
Here are seven things you didn't know about Captain Marvel, probably.
(Sound) It may be surprising to learn that
Captain Marvel did not originate at Marvel Comics,
and was technically kind of a DC property first.
In the 1940s, Fawcett Comics came out with Captain Marvel.
A comic about a child named Billy Batson,
who becomes a grown up superhero by saying the phrase Shazam.
He had the power of flight, super strength, and speed, just like superman.
DC Comics saw this similarity however and sued Fawcett for copyright infringement.
DC won the case in 1951 and Captain Marvel disappeared from shelves until DC
licensed the character for publication in 1972.
(Inaudible) >> Fight's over, son.
>> During that hiatus though, Marvel Comics swooped in and
trademarked Captain Marvel for their own in 1967.
DC was then forced to rebrand their Captain Marvel to Shazam and
the rest is Marvel DC rivalry fodder.
But at the risk of this becoming an episode about Shazam,
we'll move onto the next thing.
(Sound) Before Carol ever took on
the mantel of Captain Marvel, there were many other worthy name bearers, all of
whom have gained their powers through Kree DNA or through Kree technology.
Of course, there was the original Kree Captain Marvel.
Then there was Monica Rambeau, who in the comics is a peer to Carol Danvers.
But in the movie, it's her mother Maria Rambeau, who's a pilot and Carol's friend.
Then, both of Marel's posthumous children Genis-Vell and
Phyla-Vell took on the title.
Next a skrull named Khn'nr bonded to Marvel's DNA and
literally transformed into Marvel.
And lastly a Kree named Novar became the next Captain Marvel as a dying wish from
Khn'nr and you can't really defy someone's dying wish without being an asshole.
So next thing.
(Sound) Before she specifically became Captain Marvel,
Carol Danvers made her super hero debut as the feminist, Ms. Marvel in 1977.
In the 1960s and 70s,
the feminist movement reclaimed the Ms title from the original mistress to
a legitimate term used to formally address a woman regardless of her marital status.
Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes took this sentiment and
started their own women's magazine, Ms..
Marvel mirrored these feminist hallmarks in Carol's professional career,
making the former secretary chief turned journalist into the editor of a woman's
magazine as an homage.
Carol was introduced to audiences as Miss Danvers, M-I-S-S back in 1968.
But she makes the point to have Jameson call him Ms. M-S Danvers in 1977.
So Marvel's choice to go with Ms Marvel rather than Miss show that they were
completely conscious of the social climate and
wanted to make Ms Marvel a feminist figure.
Carol Danvers' uniform has gone through many variations, from the way too sexy and
impractical, to the iconic black physics defying hip sash.
For her debut as Captain Marvel though, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick aimed for
a new look, one that marries the Marvel and Ms. Marvel costumes together.
DeConnick wanted Jamie McKelvie to redesign Captain Marvel's costume, but
was told that there wasn't enough in their budget to pay him.
So DeConnick bet McKelvie that Marvel would like his design and buy it.
Pretty boring bet, right?
Well, not for DeConnick, who said that if Marvel didn't buy the design,
that she'd pay him for his work out of her own pocket.
And I'm not sure how much paying for a character design would cost, but
we're glad it paid off.
(Sound) Sure, Carol Danver's Captain Marvel
has the typical boring powers, flight, strength, and general endurability.
But, she has some cool extra powers too.
As a half human, half Kree, she has super-immunity to toxins, and poisons, and
has a seventh sense, which is basically her version of a Spidey-sense.
In her brief stint as binary, she was able to absorb the energy of a white hole, and
manipulate the energy, heat, light, and gravity.
She didn't remain binary for long, but still retained the ability to absorb
energy and shoot photon blasts from her hands.
So bring that to your who-would-win debates.
(Sound) Did you know that Carol Danvers lives in the Statue of Liberty.
Well, Carol used to live in an apartment but her grumpy neighbor, Mr Zimmerman,
tried to evict Carol.
In the middle of a crisis, Carol made an agreement with Mr Zimmerman to move out in
exchange for a favor, much to the shock of her friends.
(Sound) >> Luckily,
during a city wide celebration for Captain Marvel, Mayor J Jonah Jameson, yes,
hothead, J Jonah Jameson, gives her not only the key to the city, but
also the key to the loftiest of lofts in the Statue of Liberty's crown.
She still has to pay rent, though, but that's not his problem.
(Sound) All right, so here's the last thing and
honestly, it could be a spoilery thing if you haven't read the comics.
But even us saying it could be a spoiler, makes it a spoiler, right?
Like you could've just been watching this video and we could've slipped this in and
it not seem like a spoiler at all.
But now that we said it's a spoiler, you think it's a spoiler.
Anyway, just get out of here if you're going to be mad about spoilers even
a little bit.
Okay, now, the last thing, just for us folks that aren't mad about spoilers,
Carol's pet cat Chewie is a regular cat according to Carol.
According to Rocket Raccoon, though, it's a freaking Flerken.
Rocket is vindicated when Chewie ends up laying 117 Flerken eggs.
Chewie, who in the movie will go by Goose as a reference to Goose from Top Gun,
may or may not be an alien, but now could be a good time to check your own cat for
any inter-dimensional pockets hiding in its mouth.
That's all we have for this episode of things you didn't know, but
let us know in the comments if you are excited to watch Captain Marvel.
And subscribe to Cinefix for more truish things about movies
sometimes accidental shazaam things right here on things you didn't know.