Fans af Marvel og DC-tegneserier vil være bekendt med de komplikationer, der omgiver karakteren Captain Marvel. I lang tid var navnet Captain Marvel forbundet med helten Shazam, men af den ene eller anden grund blev det omdøbt, og Shazam fortsatte med at kæmpe mod Black Adam, som vi kender i dag. Det efterlod navnet Captain Marvel tilgængeligt, og det blev til sidst givet til Carol Danvers, der tidligere var kendt som Ms. Marvel.
Denne geniale rebranding, der føles så passende i dag, blev udtænkt af forfatteren Kelly Sue DeConnick. I en genstart af Carol Danvers' historie i 2012 besluttede hun, at Danvers skulle arve Captain Marvel-navnet, delvist for at ære den oprindelige Kree-baserede helt Mar-Vell. Dette frigjorde samtidig Ms. Marvel-navnet til den sprudlende Kamala Khan.
Denne ændring var en fantastisk idé, som dybest set ændrede, hvordan vi ser på Marvel-superheltenavne. Den førte også til skabelsen af Captain Marvel og The Marvels filmene samt tv-serien Ms. Marvel.
"Yeah, I think, I mean, for me, no matter what I do for the rest of my career, Captain Marvel will be in my obituary," begyndte DeConnick. "I think it is, I am very, a long time from now, a very long time from now. But it's something I'm really proud of, and really grateful to have been given the opportunity to be in that moment, and to see it from so close up. And to have worked with the phenomenal teams and editors and artists who helped make that book happen. And then in terms of what that has done. In some ways, I think it gets too much credit, and in some ways, I don't think it gets enough. Like, I think it's interesting, people think the book sold better than it did at the time. It didn't. You know, I was there. We were barely keeping alive. But what it did do, was it invited a lot of women who had maybe tried comics and given up, or not ever really found their way in. It was like, oh, if you want to be part of this sort of superhero part of comics, you are welcome here, and here are some stories that will center your experience. And then, to have that go on and be a Marvel movie that made a billion dollars."
DeConnick talte derefter om arbejdet med Marvel-filmene, og hvordan det var at samarbejde med Marvel Studios og Brie Larson for at bringe den rebrandede Captain Marvel til live-action:
"I worked on both films, Captain Marvel and The Marvels. I had a tremendous, wonderful experience with Marvel Studios. Brie Larson was incredible, and the directors on both films, absolutely incredible. But I have to say Mary Livanos, the producer from Marvel, who I worked with on both of those films, is just a very quiet superhero who is really making things happen. She's a smart, smart lady, very savvy, really understands comics, really does the work, and she's got a real good sense of humor about the whole thing, too.
"But, yeah, to have a whole generation of young women be able to see themselves as heroes, and a whole generation of young men to see a woman carrying that role. We were talking about this earlier today, too, one of my favorite things about Carol is she's not perfect, right? You don't have to be an anti-hero to be like an imperfect, you know?
"Ligesom jeg elsker Black Widow, men Black Widow er sådan en, fra mit perspektiv, det er sådan en mandlig fantasi, ved du? Og Carol er bare, det er ligesom, du ved, når Black Widow lander i superheltestativstillingen, og hun vender håret tilbage, ligner hun Rita Hayworth, ved du? Ja, og det er perfekt. Og der er ligesom ikke noget galt med det. Det er kun forkert, når det er alt, hvad vi har, ikke? Og så at kunne se Carol, som prøver at gøre det samme, og det er ligesom, du ved? Åh, det er min levede erfaring, ikke? Og det elsker jeg. Og jeg elsker, at det er sådan, ja, nej, vi gør alle vores bedste. Og det kan du også gøre. Jeg synes, det er virkelig vigtigt."
Med hensyn til at portrættere mere autentiske kvindelige superhelte kan du tjekke det udvidede interview med DeConnick nedenfor, hvor hun også teasede, hvad fremtiden vil bringe for hende.
