I have been reading Marvel comic books for many years now and most of my friends know it. If they ever have questions about something going on in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, they come to me. Carol Danvers has always been one of my favorite Marvel characters – ever since she was Ms. Marvel. With the Captain Marvel movie coming out early next year, I wanted to give you guys a quick rundown of the character. A Captain Marvel 101, if you will. Of course, things will likely be different in the MCU, as they often are, but here are some facts you should know about the comic book version of Carol Danvers (and what might be in store for us in the MCU!).

Ms. Marvel

Carol Danvers used to be Ms. Marvel. Now there is a new Ms. Marvel town (and I love her and I hope we see her in the MCU soon). You might know this already, but Carol first got her powers after an explosion combined her DNA with that of the Kree superhero Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell). Before that, she was an officer in the United States Air Force. She became pretty badass and uses a few other codenames before becoming Captain Marvel when Mar-Vell dies.

Chewie

Carol has a “cat” named Chewie. And I love her. She is orange and fat and adorable. Also, she isn’t a cat. Captain Marvel runs in to the Guardians of the Galaxy (so now you know why I love this story line so much) and Rocket tries to kill her cat. She isn’t too thrilled about it, of course, but he goes on to explain that Chewie is no cat. She is a Flerken. A deadly alien species. Rocket doesn’t kill Chewie and then Chewie lays a ton of eggs. Like over a hundred of them. Eventually they hatch and Carol drops the babies, and Chewie, off at an intergalactic rescue center. Later on, Chewie teleports back to her. Oh yea, she has teleportation powers. I told you she was an awesome “cat”.

Samuel L. Jackson posted a photo on Instagram of him holding a hoodie that includes what looks like Chewie. So will we see her in the film? Man, I hope so!

This week’s Entertainment Weekly included an amazing first look at Captain Marvel. I admit, I got chills reading some of the things. I assumed most, and knew some, but it didn’t stop my reaction from being a big beaming smile (and a dance around the house). I have so many more theories now! It is going to be a long wait until March! Ugh!

Monica Rambeau

When I saw the name Maria Rambeau in the EW article, I stopped, and thought a moment. Wasn’t Maria Monica’s mother? Hmm… maybe. Then I read on and sure enough they mentioned her young daughter Monica. If you don’t read the comic books than you probably don’t know this – Monica was Captain Marvel at one point (before Carol so clearly the time line will be different in the MCU). Yup. Mind blowing right? Perhaps this is just a quick name drop. Perhaps we will see her come in to her powers? Perhaps she will be a part of something bigger in the future of the MCU (Young Avengers anyone? Please and thank you!).

So basically Monica can transform herself in to energy thanks to her exposure to extra-terrestrial energy (it is always something like that, isn’t it?) when she was a police officer. She eventually joins the Avengers, even becoming their leader at one point. She takes on a few different names: Photon, Pulsar, and most recently Spectrum. She is pretty amazing and I adore her. She fights alongside Carol a few times, and guys, at one point she battles Egghead. Remember who he is? Ghost’s (Ant-Man and The Wasp) father. I mean… what could this all mean? Is there going to be a connection here eventually? I just can’t. I am so excited.

Skrull-Kree War

I promise to have MUCH more on this in this future, but the Skrull-Kree War is looking to be a major part of Captain Marvel. When I saw the photos of the Skrulls for the first time, I got goosebumps, teared up, and flipped out. I knew that the Skrulls would be involved because they are the arch enemies of the Kree. And the Kree, well, as I explained above, they are a MAJOR part of Carol’s origin story. But to see them. Looking pretty damn near perfect. It made the comic book fan in me happy.

And then I thought about Secret Invasion and how it is hands down my favorite Marvel Comics story line (especially if you rope it in to Dark Reign which comes immediately after it). My brain is connecting all these things and telling me that it would not be far fetched for Secret Invasion to happen in the MCU. A bit of a spoiler, in Secret Invasion the Skrulls (who can shape shift to resemble anyone by the way) impersonate a crap ton of our favorite heroes in order to start taking a bunch of them out. Pretty soon no one knows who is who anymore, and no one can trust anyone. Even as the reader we don’t know who is a Skrull half the time. And it is amazing. AMAZING. Could the heroes we have gotten to know and love actually be Skrulls in the MCU? They sure could. Goosebumps.

Minn-Erva

I was really, really, really excited to see that Minn-Erva is part of Captain Marvel. In the comic books, she is a Kree geneticist, and I imagine she plays a similar role in the MCU film. Here is the thing, we see her walking alongside Carol in one of the stills. In the comics, she indeed is a part of Starforce, during the Kree-Shi’ar War. But she is also an enemy of Mar-Vell. Basically she tried to make babies with him, claiming their offspring would be superior, but he really wasn’t having any of that. Mar-Vell does rescue her at once point, but they didn’t become good friends or anything.

Recently, in the Civil War II story line, we see her and Carol Danvers battle it out. She even plans to release a virus through Captain Marvel’s hometown of South Boston, but is thwarted. So I am curious how things will play out in the film. Will they become enemies quickly? Will their friendship fracture at the end of the film? Or is this something we will see in the future?

Will We See Mar-Vell?

Jude Law is playing the Starforce commander. We don’t really have a name yet. Could he be Mar-Vell? The original Captain Marvel. Yup. He could. Will he be? That I am not sure of, but I remain hopeful. My friend Amy from As The Bunny Hops and I were chatting and she brought up a good point. It could be really confusing for those who don’t fully understand that Mar-Vell and Carol are both Captain Marvel. Should Mar-vell make an appearance in this movie? Yes. He is a major player in the world of Carol Danvers and deserves more than just a quick name drop. But I also understand if they leave him out. I will be bitter about it though.

There are so many more things for me to process right now, and I look forward to even more details being released! And of course, you know my butt will be in theaters opening night – March 8, 2019!