Carol’s compassion for the Skrull drives her to find a hidden base orbiting Earth where the power source for the lightspeed drive resides. Once Carol and company arrive, we learn that the power source is none other than the Tesseract aka the Space Stone. Unfortunately, the Kree arrive at the hidden base and call in back-up, the powerful Accusers who lay waste to entire cities. Carol is taken prisoner, and the Skrull are rounded up for interrogation and extermination.

During a private conversation with the Kree hive-mind known as the Supreme Intelligence, Carol rejects her Kree identity and breaks free from the Kree restraint placed on her neck. Her self-doubt disappears, and her true powers are revealed in this second pivotal moment.

The power of the Tesseract resides in her, and once it is unleashed, the Supreme Intelligence and the Kree warriors are no match for Carol. In a dazzling display of her newfound abilities, Carol destroys an entire Kree warship as Ronan the Accuser (the villain from the first Guardians of the Galaxy) watches in awe. What follows is the next pivotal moment.

Two (possibly three) Kree warships remain, but Carol has made her point. She hovers in front of Earth, and makes a fist, sending a clear message to the remaining Kree in this third pivotal moment: don’t mess with me. Wisely, the Kree retreat, and Carol turns her attention to her one-time mentor.

For the final pivotal moment, Yon-Rogg realizes that he’s no match for Carol so he challenges her to a fist fight, no superpowers allowed. He insists that she still hasn’t proven herself to him, but their conversation is cut short when Carol punches him squarely in the chest; the battle is over before it begins. Carol decides to spare Yon-Rogg, asking him to send a message to the Supreme Intelligence: I’m coming for you. Afterwards, Carol says goodbye to Earth and joins the Skrull on their mission to find a new home.

While Captain Marvel touches on several themes—the injustices of war, the strength of womanhood, testing the limits—ultimately one theme rings loud and clear: trust yourself. The Kree wished Carol to believe that she was weak and inferior. Yon-Rogg wished her to believe that she needed to be an emotionless to be a true warrior. In the final fight with Yon-Rogg, Carol rejects both of these notions. She didn’t need to prove herself to her former mentor, but she also didn’t need to kill him. Only by trusting herself was Carol able to make the right decision when it counted, whether that was sparing an enemy or destroying an entire warship.

Captain Marvel teaches us that if we trust ourselves, we too can go higher, further, and faster.