The two biggest announcements from the Phase Three reveal were Black Panther and Captain Marvel, followed closely by Inhumans. Why are these important? Well, Black Panther (which will star Chadwick Boseman, who is a fantastic actor), will be the first Marvel movie led by a person of color. And Captain Marvel? This will be the first female-led Marvel movie. And then there's Inhumans. Have you ever taken notice of how much I fangirl over Ms. Marvel? This is because of Kamala Khan who took on the Ms. Marvel moniker earlier this year. She's a person of color and she's also an Inhuman. Do you see what I'm getting at? With Captain Marvel getting her own film, followed shortly by Inhumans, there is a dang good chance we will get to see Kamala Khan on the big screen come Phase Four.
Wait a second - I thought this post was about Captain Marvel?
It is. It is very much about Captain Marvel.
This movie means a lot. And yes, so does Black Panther, but as a female comic book fan, Captain Marvel is more than just another comic book movie. Over the past couple of years, and especially after Black Widow played a huge part in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, fans have been begging for a Black Widow movie. It's something that we still have yet to get, and if we do? It won't be until at least 2019 now, which is insane considering Black Widow has been around since Iron Man 2 now, which was released four years ago.
As someone who attends conventions, I can tell you that I've seen a ton of Black Widow cosplayers at conventions, enough to more than likely fill a room . The fans are there, they want more Natasha, they want to see her head her own film. But if we even get one now? It'll more than likely be a prequel, or it'll feature a different Black Widow character as I don't see how a Black Widow solo film will fit into Phase Four. So yeah, after getting our hopes up, fans were eager to see what Marvel had in store for the Marvel Event they had planned for earlier this week.
The day before the event, Variety and Deadline had reported that Benedict Cumberbatch was in talks for Doctor Strange (which I'm actually more than okay with!), so everyone assumed he'd show up at the event, they'd reveal a release date for Doctor Strange, and that maybe they'd show some footage from Ant-Man and Age of Ultron. That was it, really. We didn't want to get our hopes up.
And then Kevin Feige unveiled all of Phase Three. Everything.
The Captain Marvel movie we will be getting will feature Carol Danvers, a woman that is all sorts of fantastic, and one that only took on the Captain Marvel moniker back in 2012. She's had a small, but incredibly loyal and vocal, fan-base develop since then that refer to themselves as the Carol Corps. I am happily a member of this fan-base. We've been demanding a movie for sometime now, especially after it became clear we wouldn't be getting a Black Widow movie. But we figured if we got a movie, they'd start Carol off as Ms. Marvel. (Carol's history is a bit all over the place in the comics, so if you're looking for a great jumping on point, I'd say start here.)
Yeah, maybe that wouldn't have been a huge deal, but there's something about introducing Carol as Captain Marvel rather than Ms. Marvel that feels right. (Plus, I still want to see Kamala on the screen as Ms. Marvel, the girl has earned it with the way her comic has been selling.)
For me, Captain Marvel is a big deal. Actually, for a whole lot of comic book fans, the Captain Marvel movie is a HUGE deal. Carol is a strong female with superpowers, but most importantly, she's a flawed character. She isn't perfect, she makes mistakes, she misjudges things. But that's what I love about her. She isn't perfect, by any means, but she is an excellent figure for women - especially young girls - to look up to. Yes, she isn't real, she's fiction, but that doesn't mean she isn't someone that can be a figure for girls like Wonder Woman. (Both women are fantastic, I'm just partial to Marvel.)
For me, this is the beginning of what I (hope) is the birth of more female led superhero projects. Marvel will be delivering Agent Carter in January during Agents of SHIELD's hiatus, and even though the tagline on the promo is terrible, I'm really looking forward to this project because Hayley, who plays Peggy, has been very vocal about being a role model for young girls.
And then there's also AKA Jessica Jones, which will more than likely hit Netflix in 2016.
We're reaching a point where comic book movies are no longer only about white males, something that while it doesn't seem like a big deal, actually is. The movies are finally catching up with the comic books themselves. (Yes, there was Blade, Elektra, Catwoman, etc... but those existed when comic book movies weren't as big as they are now.)
P.S. If you're not watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. you should really get on that. You can skip to the second half of the first season if you don't care for it, and then just catch-up on the rest of this season using On Demand or on ABC's website (I think). The storytelling is excellent these days, and there are plenty of wonderful female characters featured in the show.
