Captain Marvel: What’s Shaping Our Identity?

Screenshot taken from Official Trailer

Rating: 5/5 stars

As one of the year’s most anticipated films, Captain Marvel is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s first female-led movie, and comes hot off the heels of the much-loved Wonder Woman (2017) by DC Films, which was released two years ago.

Captain Marvel is the story of Carol Danvers, a member of the alien Kree race’s elite military unit known as Starforce. After a mission to recover an undercover Kree member went wrong, she is captured by enemy shapeshifters, Skrulls, and has her memories forcibly retrieved. She manages to escape and teleports herself to Earth, known as C-35.

Danvers arrives in Los Angeles in 1995, where she meets young S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). Together they ward off Skrull commander Talos and his other aliens, who are hot in her pursuit as they try to retrieve a set of coordinates from her.

Throughout the entire pursuit, Danvers is haunted by images of an older woman, someone whom she looks up to, as well as flashbacks of her past life as a fighter pilot here on Earth. She has no idea why the Skrulls want the coordinates from her, and together with the audience, Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel goes on a quest to find out who she really is and how she came to acquire her supernatural powers.

 

A Compelling and Compassionate Heroine

Fast-paced without a moment to lose, Captain Marvel has all the ingredients of a superhero flick. Galactic battles, alien spaceships, and science experiments all feature strongly, with a touch of 90s nostalgia. Grunge music lovers will appreciate the film’s rocking soundtrack from the likes of Garbage, No Doubt, Nirvana, Hole and Elastica, along with references to The Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails.

Add on a compelling storyline—a protagonist who has experienced failures but is willing to try again, and a cause greater than oneself—and we have a winner here. Played by Brie Larson, Captain Marvel has a strong female cast that celebrates female friendships, mentorships, and expertise.

Danvers is funny, witty, confident, brave, compassionate, and a skilled pilot all in one—the ultimate female role model for anyone watching the film. She has both the heart and the art—the right spirit and the right skill—always putting others before herself. Towards the end of the film, she uses her full powers to help other alien races find a home on the galaxy.

Throughout the film, there is good chemistry between Fury and Danvers as they help each other out, making an unlikely alliance that would set the foundation of the Avengers. As with all Marvel movies, Stan Lee makes a cameo. Also, be sure to stay past the end credits for two very important snippets of what’s to come in Avengers: Endgame which will be released in April this year.

 

Kree But Free

In the film, Danvers struggles with her identity both as a human and a superhero. She is unsure of the full extent of her powers, how she got them in the first place, or even what kind of person she was as a human on Earth. Is she simply Carol (as her best friend on Earth, Maria Rambeau refers to her), or is she Vers, the name given to her by the Krees?

As a Kree, she is trained not to let emotions get in the way of her mission. But towards the end of the film, she learns to use her human emotions (i.e., compassion for others) as her driving force to save others and end wars.

As Christians, we are both physical and spiritual beings who have to learn to be “in the world but not of the world.” The conflict that Danvers faces between her two identities is one that all of us can identify with—and have to negotiate on a daily basis. But while Captain Marvel balances her humanity with her superpowers by fully embracing both, we are taught to live a different way.

Like Captain Marvel, we too, have a mission to be engaged in a cause that’s greater than ourselves, and “supernatural” gifts that have been given to us in order to advance that cause. However, unlike Captain Marvel, we can take comfort in the fact that we’re not in the dark about the source of our gifts and calling, or their purpose. Neither do we have to go on a long journey of self-discovery to find out who we really are.

Though we’re physically still on this earth, Paul says that we are not to set our mind on earthly things because we are first and foremost citizens of Heaven (Philippians 3:19-20). Jesus Himself said, “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world” (John 17:16). This means that just as Jesus shaped His identity and calling on earth based on His spiritual identity, we too, have the privilege of allowing our heavenly citizenship—not our earthly nature—to shape and direct our lives.

As God’s children and Jesus’s disciples, let’s pattern our lives after Jesus’, and be fully engaged in our mission here on Earth to point others to our Savior.

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