In their first film of 2019, Marvel Studios made a surprising and successful entry with Captain Marvel. The leadoff movie for Avengers: Endgame introduced the world to Carol Danvers, while also bringing in some of her supporting cast.

One of the central themes of the movie deals with friendship and the concept of family, whether you're born with it or forge it along the way. And the purest exploration of this theme in Captain Marvel comes from the bond between Carol and her best friend Maria Rambeau.

During a discussion with ScreenRant, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige spoke about the importance of Carol's relationship with Maria and why they decided to explore that bond, rather than feature a romantic relationship in Captain Marvel.

"Well that was something as we were developing the script and queuing off of the comics as always, it never even occurred to have a love interest," Feige said. "That's not what the movie was about. It was about Carol finding herself and growing and making mistakes and being bolstered up by her female mentors and female friends. And that relationship with Maria was very important."

Feige went on to praise Lashana Lynch, the actress who portrays Maria, for bringing a dimension of the character that connects viewers to Carol's origin story.

"It was something that was, and frankly I give all credit to Lashana who was amazing and who, and I don't know if it's a spoiler or not, but the unique structure of the origin story that this movie has. Initially we were like, is that bond going to be strong enough? Are we having not experienced it in real time upfront when they get to Louisiana? Is it going to land? And we saw ... the audition and then the dailies. Oh it's landing there. They're amazing," Feige added.

It looks like Captain Marvel sequels might continue to explore this friendship, as Feige himself teased future films would likely be set in the past.

"We wanted to give her her own corner of the universe, her own mythology," Feige said. "While we're not specific about this in the movie, there's potential to understand where has she been this whole time? Why haven't we seen her yet? The answer is revealed and hinted at in this movie as she was dealing with a colossal, universal conflict in another section of the MCU."

Captain Marvel is now playing in theaters.

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