While it’s pretty obvious that most everyone thinks casting Brie Larson as Captain Marvel was a good idea for the company—and an awesome idea for the character, who now gets to be played by someone delightful—it’s less clear how the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of Carol Danvers will make her debut. And screenwriter Nicole Perlman may have just made it even less clear, by suggesting the familiar origin story will not be the one Marvel goes with when adapting the superhero for the big screen. In a new interview with Vin Forte on his podcast, Perlman straight-up calls out the main thing they don’t want to do—namely, evoke any memories of that boring-ass Ryan Reynolds film, Green Lantern, when it comes to Captain Marvel’s story:
I don’t think I’ve ever had a project where I’ve been more mindful about the impact that it could have and the importance of it. She’s such an incredibly kick-ass character and Kelly Sue DeConnick did a great run with her story arc recently. But here’s the thing, if you were just going to do a straight adaptation of the comics, her origin story is very similar to Green Lantern. And obviously, that’s not what we want to do. There’s a lot of reinvention that needs to happen.
It’s not surprising to hear that. After all, nobody wants to make a sandwich and then try and sell someone else on it by saying, “Hey, remember that crappy sandwich you ate years ago? This is just like that!” Then again, nothing gets fans more riled up than taking something they love and changing it around to something different. But it sounds like another part of it is just figuring out how to make her fit into the larger MCU, which doesn’t require an origin story. And even if it does, there are a lot of ways to film “Air Force pilot becomes superhero via contact with alien race.” Which is likely what Perlman is getting at, here:
And also, she’s her own person and she’s a great character. We have to be aware of what’s happened in other Marvel film and makes sure that her particular storyline is unique and fun and also fits in within this world that’s going on at the same time. It’s a little bit of an interesting story gauntlet. It’s been good to have a partner to go through that with. It’s been an incredible experience. If we can pull it off it could be an incredibly important but also really fun and kick-ass superhero film.
The best part of this is the idea that it won’t just be an origin story. Honestly, if we could skip the origin altogether, it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world. That’s what flashbacks are for, people. And nobody cried foul when Guardians Of The Galaxy (which Perlman co-wrote) revised some origin stories. If anything, maybe this is a good opportunity to revise some other hero backstories—like, say, the Fantastic Four, possibly by having them be in completely different movies than the ones they’ve gotten thus far.