Besides Wonder Woman and Black Widow, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) has emerged to be the newest female cinematic superhero. Her story is a convoluted one, and it seems to me that her appearance at this time was primarily intended to aid the Avengers in defeating Thanos in Avengers: Endgame. But that is getting ahead of her story.

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s film is complete misdirection for a good half-hour or more, before we (and Carol) begin to learn who she really is, and what is really going on when she finds herself on Earth (actually, back on Earth). The meat of the story fills in the blanks of her past life and allows her to reset everything about herself while discovering the mighty powers that she possesses. Having seen it, I’m still not exactly sure what transpires with her mentor (Annette Bening) and how Carol was able to survive the power spike that now provides her with what seems to be indestructibility.

The film is smart and sassy, with Brie Larson bringing a great deal of confident rebelliousness to the role. Her relationship with fellow pilot Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) and her daughter Monica (Akira Akbar) provides the link with her former existence to help Carol maintain her balance and make the right decisions when conflicts arise with her more recent life as a Starforce military officer. Surprises abound in the clever script, and lots of backstory issues are addressed, including a few involving Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). And I want to adopt a flerken.

I wonder how different this movie would have been had it appeared earlier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe arc. It seems undeniable that much of it is constructed to properly set up the last Avengers film, even though this one takes place in 1995, years before the series wraps up with Infinity War and Endgame. What has Carol been doing all this time? We may or may not ever learn, depending on future movies. But I must admit, this one is pretty good. ☆ ☆ ☆. 2 July 2019.