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Nerd Processor
Dear Marvel Studios: Your Cosmos Isn’t Nearly as Interesting as You Think It Is
Captain Marvel’s biggest problem isn’t the superhero, it’s the galaxy she lives in
Captain Marvel is by no means the greatest superhero film ever made. Even so, many people found Marvel Studio’s first and long overdue movie led by a female character to be unexpectedly lackluster. The titular hero may not have the cultural cache of Wonder Woman, but the Air Force pilot-turned-alien super-soldier Carol Danvers isn’t the problem (nor is Brie Larson’s well-reviewed performance). The real problem is that Marvel has vastly overestimated how much people care about what’s happening in its movie universe’s… well, universe.
Let me stop you before you tell me how much you love Guardians of the Galaxy and its sequel, or the goofy, retro delight of Thor: Ragnarok. Yes, all three of these ostensibly comic book films are undoubtedly science fiction that primarily take place in space or on other planets. And it’s undeniable that the first Avengers movie and Avengers: Infinity War featured alien invasions and became two of the highest-grossing films in history. Based off box office receipts, at least, audiences seem to love the wider Marvel cosmos.
They don’t. People loved Guardians for the four oddball characters who make up the titular team, not because it introduced the imperialistic Kree empire or the intergalactic space-cops known as the Nova Corps to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The second GotG movie wasn’t compelling because it gave us a lengthy history lesson on the primordial, godlike beings called the Celestials, but because the heart of the movie was the relationship between Chris Pratt’s Star-Lord and his father Ego (who also happened to be a Celestial and a planet). And I defy anyone who’s read fewer than 100 Marvel comics to tell me the names of both generically evil alien species that serve as cannon fodder in the first Avengers movie and in Infinity War.
It doesn’t matter what their names are, because they still exist solely to give the heroes things to punch (or hammer or repulsor blast or… arrow). People certainly didn’t need to know anything about the Celestials to enjoy GotG2. And the Nova Corps ended up…
