Superheroes came roaring back in the 1960s, thanks in no small part to Stan Lee and co-creators launching a wave of groovy new characters at Marvel. Doesn't it make sense for Marvel to have a character named Captain Marvel? Because Fawcett’s Captain Marvel had been litigated into hibernation, Lee created a new Captain Marvel character (an alien male who was dispatched to earth) and trademarked the name.

In order to cling to the trademark, Marvel was legally obligated to publish a Captain Marvel title on a sort of regular basis — and that continues to happen.

Marvel’s first Captain Marvel was a B-list character who never found the same audience as Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four. He died of cancer in a 1982 graphic novel.

Marvel also created subsequent Captain Marvel characters — some male, some female. Seven? Eight? It’s easy to lose count. The Captain Marvel that will be showcased in the movie has a long history in comics and was previously known as Ms. Marvel, a title now owned by Kamala Khan, the first Marvel Muslim character to be granted a comic series.

Caught up so far? Here’s the part where the Captain Marvel population decreases by one.