Spoilers for all works set prior to the end of Avengers: Endgame are unmarked.
Captain Carol "Avenger" Danvers, USAF / "Vers" / Captain Marvel
"I have nothing to prove to you."
Known Aliases: "Vers", Captain Marvel
Species: Enhanced Human-Kree hybrid
Citizenship: American, Kree Imperial
Affiliation(s): USAF (formerly), S.H.I.E.L.D. (formerly), Kree Empire (formerly), Starforce (formerly), Avengers
Portrayed By: Brie Larson, Mckenna Grace (young), London Fuller (really young)Foreign voice actors
Appearances: Captain Marvel | Avengers: Endgame | Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings note | Ms. Marvel note | The Marvels
"I've been fighting with one arm behind my back. What happens when I'm finally set free?"
A pilot in the United States Air Force in the late 80s, Carol Danvers agreed to test a new experimental fighter jet, unaware that the jet was really a lightspeed ship developed by a rogue Kree scientist. The Kree military found the ship and shot it down, but Carol destroyed the ship's core to prevent them from taking it. The explosion imbued her with a wide variety of cosmic powers, including flight, photonic blasts, slowed aging, and extremely improved strength, speed, and durability. The Kree took her, erasing her memories and installing an inhibitor that controlled her powers to reforge her into their superweapon against their enemy, the shapeshifting Skrulls.Going by the name "Vers" based on her damaged dog tag, Carol spent years as a key member of the Kree army. However, she would eventually be kidnapped by the Skrulls in one mission and crash-land on Earth, where she slowly recovered the memories of her past life. Finally uncovering the truth of what the Kree really were, Carol was able to remove the inhibitor and become one of Earth's most powerful heroes.
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- 11th-Hour Ranger: Her role in Avengers Endgame. After being absent from the Avengers roster throughout the Infinity Saga, Fury summons her in the wake of Thanos's Snap. Ultimately, it's all for nothing as Thanos has already destroyed the Infinity Stones and no amount of photon blasting will bring them back. She is subsequently Put on a Bus (since there are other planets in need of her protection) until the end of the film when she becomes this again in the Final Battle against 2014 Thanos.Captain Marvel: Where's Fury?
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Carol gains the ability to fly during the climax of Captain Marvel.
- Abusive Parents: Both
Word of God and some of the flashback sequences in her debut film allude to her father having been pretty sexist and discouraging her from being a Tomboy any chance he got as Carol grew up. It apparently had gotten to the point where she'd pretty much cut out her birth family from her life in the film's present-day. - Ace Pilot: She was a skilled pilot for the Air Force, and shows her ability both at the escape from S.H.I.E.L.D.'s facility and at the climax. Her mentor Dr. Wendy Lawson even nicknames her "Ace" because of how skilled she was at flying.
- Action Heroine: Carol was an Air Force pilot even before she got superpowers, and so would be perfectly able to kick ass and take names without them. With them, she's one of the most powerful superheroes in the setting.
- Adaptational Backstory Change:
- Carol has one of the messiest origin stories in all of Marvel Comics, constantly losing and regaining different power sets. Her first Flying Brick power set was the result of an accident when the Kree villain Yon-Rogg knocked her into a special machine. These powers were later stolen from her and she was later abducted by another alien race called the Brood, who essentially made her into a living star. And the comic The Life of Captain Marvel reveals she was part Kree all along. The movies combine the first two, likely for simplicity's sake, and ignore the third (although Yon-Rogg does mention that she has his blood in her as a result of a transfusion, meaning it's possible that may have conferred some more-than-human ability as part of the deal).
- On a smaller scale, Carol did not attend the US Air Force Academy in the comics as she does in the film; instead, she directly enlisted and planned to get a college degree through the military.
- Adaptational Badass: Zigzagged. Movie Carol is actually missing roughly half of her wide array of superpowers from the comics. But once she burns off the inhibitor device on her neck, her raw power level increases drastically, to at least the same level as her comic version's Binary incarnation. In contrast, the comics version of Carol Danvers had a strength level of about 50 tons, though she could boost that through Energy Absorption, and is literally half as powerful as Binary in all physical fields. Played straight in Endgame, where she is capable of overpowering Thanos and can No-Sell an attack from him, something even Thor and the Hulk couldn't do, which isn't the case in the comics. In The Marvels, she cements the fact that she has more raw power than even her Binary counterpart, by reigniting Hala's sun, a feat that actually burned out her Binary powers in the comics, and required a Heroic Sacrifice in an alternate future.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Unlike her blue-eyed comic book counterpart, Carol has her actress' brown eyes in this version.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Not only is she the first and so far only person using the Captain Marvel-moniker, her movie dates her origin story in The '90s for that predating the origin of most of the MCU's Avengers while in the comics she made her debut in 1968 when a lot of other superheroes were already established in-universe and in real life.
- Adaptational Modesty: While her Captain Marvel costume in the comics didn't reveal much skin, it was a lot more akin to a form-fitting swimsuit. This one is a lot more pragmatic for a real-world setting, with it essentially being space commando armor instead.
- Adaptation Personality Change: In the comics (particularly the earlier ones), Carol is an extremely passionate person to point of being Hot-Blooded and generally very outgoing, having friends on both the Avengers and X-Men as well as being quippy like Spider-Man (whom she's very close with). The MCU version of Carol is a much more introverted, stoic and irritable person, being a Deadpan Snarker Troll even among her allies save for a close circle, although there’s some In-Universe justification since she believes she's a Kree soldier for most of her solo movie and has spent a lot of time away from other humans in Avengers: Endgamenote . Carol's friendlier and more easygoing attitude and Hot-Blooded nature as seen in both What If…? (2021) and The Stinger of Shang-Chi is closer to how she usually is in the comics.
- Adaptation Name Change: Nickname change, specifically. In the comics, Carol's call-sign in the Air Force was "Cheeseburger". Here in the MCU, it's "Avenger" — which would directly inspire the name of the eponymous team years later.
- Adapted Out: Before she took on the mantle of Captain Marvel in 2012 in the comics, her most well-known superhero identity was that of Ms. Marvel. Her time as Ms. Marvel is completely skipped in the MCU, with Captain Marvel being the only superhero moniker she uses.
- Advertised Extra: In spite of being heavily present in the posters and promotional material for Avengers: Endgame, she gets the least amount of screentime of any of the major characters. This is still more time than most of the characters who are resurrected, and her part is best described as Small Role, Big Impact.
- Affectionate Nickname: She's nicknamed "Ace" by Dr. Lawson a.k.a. Mar-Vell. She has one for a young Monica, that being "Lieutenant Trouble".
- The Ageless: Carol's exposure to the Tesseract and blood transfusion from Yon-Rogg appear to have severely slowed down her aging, to the point where she barely looks any older in the 2020s than when she was first introduced in the mid-90s.
- Age Lift: In the comics, she's likely in her 30s and therefore is around the same age as many other Marvel heroes. In the MCU canon, she was born sometime in the 1960s, making her older than Tony Stark who was born in 1970, and in her late 50s when she finally meets the Avengers (though she still looks and acts much like a woman in her mid-30s).
- Aloof Ally: Despite being affiliated with the Avengers in the modern day, Carol is rarely involved with what the group does, due to her spending most of her time in the depths of space. She's not an easy person to contact either, and even when she does get involved with Earth matters, Carol generally doesn't stay around long, or limits her appearances to short video chats. This is ultimately deconstructed in Secret Invasion, where Carol's lack of communication and absence from Earth matters have angered Gravik and many of the Skrulls she left on Earth in The '90s, which motivates them to take over the planet and destroy its citizens out of spite for her seemingly breaking her promise. The main reasons behind this are guilt over her inadvertent role in causing the Kree Civil War, and then trying to pick up the pieces, and generally being a Socially Awkward Hero.
- Alternate Self: There are four variants of Carol Danvers who became Captain Marvel. It's unknown if she exists in Earth-838, where the title belongs to Maria Rambeau.
- Always Someone Better: To Thanos. When the two finally clash in Avengers: Endgame, Danvers proves to clearly be the stronger of the two, gradually out-muscling the Mad Titan for the Infinity Gauntlet and outright no selling a headbutt, with Thanos only besting her via a sucker punch with the Power Stone.
- Ambiguously Gay: Although her sexuality has never been explicitly stated, she shares a moment with Valkyrie which can be seen as a Ship Tease, and her marriage to Prince Yan is only political and from her side at least seems to be entirely non-romantic.
- AM/FM Characterization: She's a fan of Guns N' Roses and Lita Ford.
- Amnesiac Hero: Starts out in her titular film with no memory of her life on Earth. Instead, she's led to believe that she's a Kree survivor of a Skrull attack named "Vers".
- Arranged Marriage: Carol has a marriage of convenience with Prince Yan of Aladna after helping him with an unspecified issue many years ago. Though the two aren't actually lovers, they are still close friends, with Yan immediately organizing his troops to fight Dar-Benn when Carol asks for his help.
- The Atoner: Carol nearly destroyed Hala and caused a massive civil war to break out amongst the Kree, for which she felt personally responsible for. Carol has since devoted herself to try to fix the mess she caused before allowing herself to return home to Earth, which is why she's spent so much time in space.
- Badass Biker: During her debut movie, she steals a motorcycle and uses it as her primary mode of transport throughout the rest of the film.
- Badass Boast: A very impressive one when discussing the prospect of attacking Thanos in Endgame.Bruce: If we do this, how do we know it's going to end any differently than it did before?
Carol: Because before, you didn't have me. - Barefoot Captives: The Skrulls make her one aboard their ship, until she fights her way free and grabs her boots back.
- Bash Siblings: With the Avengers as of Endgame.
- Batman Can Breathe in Space: Once her powers were fully awakened, she gained the ability to survive in space without a suit. Prior to that, she wore a Collapsible Helmet as part of her uniform for use underwater or in vacuum.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: In The Marvels it turns out Carol can sing pretty well and is therefore proficient in the official language of the Aladna people.
- This is briefly referenced in "Captain Marvel", when Carol visits the bar and see's brief flashes of her lost memories. One memory which features her and Maria singing a karaoke duet together.
- Beauty Is Never Tarnished: The worst that happens to Carol in her plane crash is some slight bleeding from her nose, and that was before she got superpowers. Averted as a child, where her injuries were more serious. Also averted during the Final Battle of Endgame, with her getting numerous small cuts and bruises during her fight with Thanos.
- Been There, Shaped History: The final scene to Captain Marvel reveals that not only did Carol give Fury the inspiration behind the creation of the Avengers Initiative, but she's also the team's namesake.
- Beta Outfit: Her costume's initial appearance is sea green because it was the Kree's Starforce colors. She changes it after defecting.
- Big Damn Heroes: Does this twice in Endgame, as her status as a spacebound hero means she's not likely to stay on Earth for long. First, she saves Tony and Nebula stranded on the Benatar and takes the ship back to Earth. Moreover at the end of the climax, Danvers appears to destroy the Sanctuary II, which has been bombarding the Avengers and their allies, and participates in the Final Battle.
- Black-and-White Insanity: She was conditioned by the Kree to believe that they are a race of "noble warrior heroes", while the Skrulls they fight are the "bad guys". However, she starts to realize that there is more to the conflict than at first glance.
- Blood Knight: Downplayed due to the fact that she only fights when she has to, but it's obvious from the expression on her face during most battles that Carol relishes her job.
- Blue Is Heroic: In Captain Marvel, she has two costumes: the "evil" one is mostly green and the "heroic" one is mostly blue with some red elements and golden decorations. She shares blue and red as signature colors with another "captain" of the MCU — Captain America.
- Boyish Short Hair: In Avengers: Endgame, she cut her hair down at some point after the Time Skip. Rocket makes a crack about it at her expense. She reverts back to her original haircut from her debut film in the mid-credit scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which takes place after Endgame.
- Broken Pedestal:
- In her debut film, she gradually comes to realize that the Kree aren't nearly as noble or heroic as she was previously led to believe.
- Carol herself is this to her surrogate niece Monica Rambeau. While Monica idolized her in her youth, WandaVision implies she has more complicated feelings towards Carol now. These are explored in The Marvels, where the two have it out (Carol didn't return, save during the Blip, because she was ashamed of her role as 'the Annihilator' and the unforeseen consequences of destroying the Supreme Intelligence).
- Carol is also this to the Skrulls. It's revealed in Secret Invasion that she failed to find the Skrulls a proper homeworld and a Renegade Splinter Faction is now trying to invade Earth.
- The Captain: It's in the name, and she legitimately earned the rank.
- Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: A Reconstruction. Ditching a lot of the overt silliness of other examples, Carol is a nigh-unstoppable force of justice across space and has personally defended Earth (as well as other alien worlds) from malevolent threats. She even has a legitimate "captain" rank.
- Captain Superhero: Captain Marvel, though she is never referred to by this full moniker through her movie. Notable in that, like Steve Rogers, she actually holds that rank legitimately through military service.
- Character Development: She starts out her titular film with Black-and-White Insanity from the Kree having gaslighted her in their war against the Skrulls and doesn't really question the orders she's been given that much. However, she eventually lets go of that mindset over the film's course and becomes significantly more selfless and altruistic, to the point that she performs a Heel–Face Turn to help save the Skrulls from the Kree's genocidal ambitions. Furthermore, she decides to be significantly more proactive without relying on other people's orders, with her now being the self-appointed guardian of countless worlds across the universe. In The Marvels, she learns to let go of her guilt over her inadvertent role in setting off the Kree Civil War that devastated Hala because she didn't think about the consequences of destroying the Supreme Intelligence and generally open up to people more.
- The Cavalry: She's one of the key superheroes to join the roster of the Avengers during the events of Endgame, and she has physical strength approaching that of the Hulk and her overall power is only eclipsed by Scarlet Witch. When Thanos's warship begins bombarding the battlefield, Carol's arrival quickly turns the tide and she proceeds to tear the warship apart.
- Combat Pragmatist:
- The final confrontation with Yon-Rogg begins with him holstering his sidearm, and beckoning Carol to fight him hand-to-hand. This is also a Call-Back to earlier in her debut movie. However, Captain Marvel simply blasts Yon-Rogg off his feet with her powers and then bluntly tells him "I have nothing to prove to you."
- Her main attitude when fighting spaceships is to simply fly through them, which works since she's basically like a comet whenever this happens.
- The Comically Serious: When she first arrives on Earth, her military professionalism provides an amusing contrast to the bemused and bewildered Nick Fury and the people gawking at her Kree uniform.
- Comic-Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: In her first movie as well as Endgame, she is never once called "Captain" or "Marvel". Averted by Spider-Man: Far From Home where Spider-Man refers to her as Captain Marvel, much to the chagrin of Nick Fury (or rather, Talos impersonating him), and WandaVision where Jimmy Woo refers to her in the same way. At the time of Ms Marvel, this trope seems completely Inverted as "Captain Marvel" is now established as her given codename in the MCU the public (such as Ascended Fangirl Kamala Khan) uses to refer to her. She didn't particularly care for Monica calling her that, but opened up to Kamala - even calling her Ms. Marvel.Fury: Don't invoke her name.
- Composite Character: She is primarily Carol Danvers (a female pilot who got powers from an experimental engine), but also draws from Mar-Vell (a Kree soldier who stands against them to protect Earth) and Khn'nr (a memory-wiped Marvel).
- Costume Evolution: By the opening of Endgame, her suit has changed slightly from her solo movie (most obviously, more gold on her shoulders). Her suit colors change again after the five year Time Skip. They're a bit darker, and the reds and blues have switched locations. She also gets a new, temporary, costume in The Marvels, which is more form-fitting and cloth-like, though it suffers Clothing Damage throughout the film.
- Create Your Own Villain: Two, for that matter. Carol overthrowing the Supreme Intelligence led to a civil war that devastated Hala, leading Dar-Benn to seek revenge on her. The loss of the Supreme Intelligence also forced the Kree to sign a peace treaty with Xandar, which led to Ronan the Accuser to go rogue against his government and embark on a genocidal crusade against Xandar.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: In her solo movie, Carol easily defeated Ronan's fleet, forcing the Accuser to retreat. In Avengers: Endgame, she delivers one to Thanos's Sanctuary II (which easily blew up the entire Avengers headquarters), much of his army, and nearly Thanos himself. She outright no-sells Thanos's headbutt, which completely shocks him and she starts to push his fingers back and push the gauntlet off so he can't snap. It only fails due to Thanos using the Power Stone on her.
- Deadpan Snarker: As most MCU protagonists typically are, though with a greater inclination towards the 'Deadpan' part. Yon-Rogg even complains how Vers always seems to be readier to crack jokes than fight. Then Carol Danvers comes to Earth, and her snark is all over the place, sometimes to counter Nick Fury's own.Carol: [to Nick Fury, as she holds up a hat with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo] Does announcing your identity on clothing help with the "covert" part of your job?
- Death Glare: She gives a fierce one to Thanos directly after she no-sells his headbutt.
- Decoy Backstory: Carol's Flashback Nightmare at the start of her solo film shows her surviving a plane crash, then a Skrull moves in to shoot her, but her boss Yon-Rogg shot the Skrull before the latter could attack. Later on, however, after some time on Earth, the same flashback plays... but with her piloting mentor, Wendy (a Kree in disguise), being shot by Yon-Rogg. The flashback at the start turns out to be a faked memory.
- Determinator: A trait that she has in common with with the other Captain. No matter how many times she was knocked down in her life, she always got back up. As one of her writers puts it, the biggest difference between her and Steve Rogers is that Steve will always get up to do the right thing, while Carol gets back up because she's not the type that's ever willing to be told that she needs to quit.
- Didn't Think This Through: Carol killing the Supreme Intelligence during the interim since the first film. While Carol's intent was to end the AI's threat and avenge its countless crimes and victims, she didn't realized her actions would cause the Kree civilization to destabilize with a 30-year civil war that devastated Hala — leaving her wracked with guilt over the catastrophe she unknowingly caused.
- The Dreaded:
- To the Kree Empire. Carol destroys one of Ronan the Accuser's bomber ships, resulting in him retreating with the rest of his fleet. It's possible that the Kree never attacked the Earth specifically because they assumed it was under Carol's protection. Following the Supreme Intelligence's destruction, the Kree refer to her as the Annihilator for causing the civil war that devastated Hala.
- In Endgame, Danvers is well known enough to Thanos's forces that the Sanctuary II immediately ceases all fire on other targets to focus on her as soon as they detect her approach. Furthermore, when she shrugs it off and obliterates a large swath of the Mad Titan's forces, including the Sanctuary II, it's enough to elicit an Oh, Crap! look from Thanos himself. And considering that this Thanos and his forces came from 2014, she's been dreaded for a very long time.
- Early-Bird Cameo: In The Stinger for Avengers: Infinity War, Nick Fury sends out a distress signal on a pager that displays her star insignia with red and blue colors.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: An odd case where the early installment was actually released second, as Infinity War and Endgame were filmed at the same time, while Larson and the crew were still working on Carol's look, and she thus looks a bit different in Endgame than in her own previously released film where the look was finalized.
- Easily Forgiven: Carol is distraught after realizing that she's been used as a pawn by the Kree to fight innocent refugees. Talos makes it clear that he holds nothing against her and his hands are dirty too.
- Empowered Badass Normal: An Ace Pilot who received tremendous power from an Infinity Stone which made her nigh-unstoppable.
- Energy Absorption: Hinted at, but never discussed, during the final battle. When Carol first removes her Power Limiter, she drains the lights from Mar-Vell's lab and when she flies down to her final confrontation with Yon Rogg she makes some high tension power lines glow and spark.
- Family of Choice: It's implied in a flashback and later confirmed by Monica Rambeau that Carol had a rather poor relationship with her biological parents (though she apparently had a more positive relationship with her older brother Steven), so Maria's parents took her in as their own. Carol and Maria subsequently developed a close friendship and Carol even became an Honorary Aunt to Monica.
- Faster-Than-Light Travel: Carol has demonstrated several times that she doesn't really need a ship to travel around the universe, it's just a bit more convenient. Most notably, she's actually pushed stranded starships across the universe herself on multiple occasions.
- Fatal Flaw: Pride, specifically her confidence in her own strength to resolve any problem. In her own movie and in Avengers: Endgame, she's never short of confidence, bluntly stating in the latter that the Avengers will win against Thanos because last time they didn't have her. But when it comes to problems that her fists can't resolve, she's stuck. In Avengers: Endgame, no amount of power can bring back the Infinity Stones after Thanos destroyed them to prevent his Snap from being undone, either — though it wasn't like anyone knew that was a possibility, much less saw it coming. This flaw is further highlighted in The Marvels, where she assumes that killing the Supreme Intelligence would prompt the Kree to change for the better, only for them to start descending into chaos and begin fighting amongst themselves, and the attitude is deconstructed as an Inferiority Superiority Complex that goes right back to her dad constantly putting her down.
- Flaming Hair: Her hair is reminiscent of a blazing fire when she's in her Binary Mode.
- Flying Brick: She can fly and has Super-Strength and super durability. She can also fire "photonic blasts" from her hands.
- Flying Firepower: She can fly at high speeds and fire energy blasts that can destroy spaceships.
- Foil:
- To Steve Rogers. They're both blonde soldiers subjected to enhancements, and wear a red, white, and blue color scheme. However;
- Steve's enhancement was intentional, made him a low-end superhuman, and he was part of a ground infantry unit, with his Captain title initially being ceremonial. Carol's enhancement was accidental, made her a high-end superhuman, and she was an Air Force pilot who legitimately earned the rank.
- Steve was frequently disregarded because of his many infirmities, whereas Carol had to deal with people giving her a Stay in the Kitchen attitude.
- Steve focuses on Earthly matters and reacts to incoming extraterrestrial threats when needed. Carol extends her protection to the entire universe, proactively stopping threats, with Earth on the back burner unless the situation is extremely dire.
- Steve will never give up because of his belief in what's right and is humble, approachable, and willing to work with a group. Carol is a Determinator more to show that she can do it and defy naysayers, has somewhat of an aloof personality, and typically works alone.
- To Thor. Both are blonde-haired warriors with god-like powers who discovered that the Empire they had proudly fought for was not as benevolent as they were led to believe. But both of them are completely different otherwise.
- Thor was loud and boisterous, befitting his race's culture. Carol is more of The Stoic (at first), matching the cold professionalism of the Kree Empire where emotions were frowned upon.
- Thor was the favored son of Odin, while Word of God stated that Carol was considered to be The Unfavorite by her sexist father.
- Thor was born with his godly powers, with Mjolnir merely being a conduit to channel said powers until he learned to master them. Carol, on the other hand, received her powers from her exposure to the energy of the Tesseract and had her powers forcibly restrained by the Kree to keep her under their control.
- When Thor discovered the dark past of his race, he nonetheless vowed to take it on a new path as King of Asgard. For Carol, she quickly cuts ties with the Kree and refuses to have anything to do with them, becoming an ally of their victims, the Skrulls.
- To Steve Rogers. They're both blonde soldiers subjected to enhancements, and wear a red, white, and blue color scheme. However;
- Former Bigot: She was a loyal soldier of the Kree Empire before regaining her memories of being a human, and thus willingly aided in the Kree Empire's campaign against the Skrulls, believing that they were Always Chaotic Evil. After learning how she had been misled, Carol repents by helping the Skrulls find a new home.
- Freak Lab Accident: Her durability and strength come from being infused with Kree blood, but her major powers come from having been exposed to the explosion of the engine Mar-Vell worked on using the Tesseract.
- Freudian Excuse: Both flashbacks from her debut film and Word of God indicate that Carol's arrogance stems from her constantly pushing herself to near-impossible standards, which in turn stems from her trying to move past having a very sexist father that kept putting her down as a child, along with peers and fellow cadets who ostracized and underestimated her based on her gender.
- Friend to All Children: Carol is much friendlier to kids than she is to other adults (save Maria Rambeau and Nick Fury), possibly owing to having an unpleasant upbringing - that, and finding them easy to deal with. She's an Honorary Aunt and close friend to Maria's daughter Monica, and she quickly bonds with the Skrull children who took refuge in Mar-Vell's laboratory. She's also very pleasant to Peter Parker (a 16-year-old boy) during the Final Battle of Endgame, which is substantially nicer than we see her when interacting with the other Avengers. And, after being initially - and justifiably - weirded out by Kamala, Carol takes her under her wing and both mentors and protects her.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: A heavily downplayed and Played for Laughs case; because Danvers spends the vast majority of her time off-Earth, the other Avengers don't really know what to make of her and are both intimidated and slightly weirded out by her (admittedly justified) Smug Super attitude. This even gets lampshaded in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, where Bruce Banner essentially admits to Shang-Chi and Katy that no one really knows how to act around her because of her brusque demeanor and the fact that she's barely present. It doesn't help that she's simply not very good with people she doesn't already know well. She gets a little better about this in The Marvels when she starts opening up to people again and spending more time on and around Earth.
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- Gamer Chick: Upon arriving at Pancho's Bar, she has several memories of her time at the bar, one of which has her playing Street Fighter II on an arcade cabinet. She also seems to relate to Talos' daughter playing Space Invaders.
- Genocide Survivor: She's part of the one half of the universe to survive the Snap while her friends Nick Fury and Monica Rambeau both fell victim to it.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: When she fully accesses her power and goes into Binary Mode, the first indication we get is that her eyes start glowing golden.
- Godzilla Threshold: As confirmed by the prelude comic for her movie, Fury always saw her as this, which is why he doesn’t bother to call her until the end of Infinity War, when he realizes that people are dying en masse from the Decimation. She's very far away (as in, "on-the-other-side-of-the-universe far away") and engaged in helping an entire race survive, so she told him that only a true emergency merits a page.
- Golden Super Mode: In her Binary Mode, she is surrounded by golden glow and her eyes turn golden as well.
- The Good Captain: She's an Air Force Captain and a hero who protects galaxies.
- Greater-Scope Paragon: Inspired by Carol, Nick Fury decided to form a team of superheroes to defend Earth from future invaders and named them the Avengers after Carol's old callsign from the Air Force.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A blonde that was always part of armies/enforcers (first the Air Force, then the Kree Starforce), and when faced with a less than ethical dilemma, decides to back the small guy. When she figures out her Binary Mode, her hair glows brilliant gold and defies gravity.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Thanks to Yon-Rogg's blood transfusion, Carol is now half-enhanced human, half-Kree in nature.
- Hand Blast: Carol can shoot golden photonic energy blasts from her hands.
- Healing Factor: She was able to quickly get back on her feet after falling through the roof of a DVD store into the floor from a very long distance. Plus, she not only survived being hit with the Power Stone, but according to a deleted scene, recovered in mere minutes. This and her being Nigh-Invulnerable are why in The Marvels Fury demonstrates absolutely zero concern when it turns out that the figure who just face-planted into the Khan family's lawn from about ten thousand feet up is Carol.
- Heel–Face Turn: Downplayed in that after regaining her memories, she realized who was the warmonger and who was the fleeing race. Doesn't help that the Kree were brainwashing her and suppressing her power and emotions.
- Hellbent For Leather: She wears a leather jacket when not in her uniform in her debut movie, and seems to have favored leather jackets in the photos Maria has of her.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Even though she has her Collapsible Helmet like in the comics, Carol only wears it on a few occasions, most of which involve being in space or underwater. Once her powers are fully awakened, it becomes apparent that she doesn't even need it for that anymore.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Part of her origin story. When Mar-Vell is killed before the lightspeed engine can be destroyed, Carol takes the job for her to protect it from Yon-Rogg. The subsequent blast should have killed her (and possibly did, going by the art book), but she ended up infused with the engine's energy as a result and was saved by the Kree to be turned into a weapon.
- Hero of Another Story: She explains that she didn't show up until Endgame thanks to taking care of bad guys across numerous planets throughout the universe who didn't have Avengers to help them. This is still very much the case after the five-year Time Skip, where she doesn't reappear until the Final Battle due to managing and watching over hundreds of other worlds still dealing with the aftermath of the Snap that don't have the benefit of the Avengers. Her lack of time with the Avengers is lampshaded in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, where Bruce Banner mentions that she often disappears for long stretches of time, and that he doesn't even have her phone number despite her suggesting to Shang-Chi that he can get it from him.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: In The Marvels, it turns out her well-intentioned crusade against the Supreme Intelligence led to the fall of Hala into civil war following the AI's destruction. This made her a villain in the eyes of Dar-Benn and the Kree, which call her 'Annihilator" and regard her with great fear and hatred. At the end of the movie, however, she restores Hala's sun and subsequently achieves a better standing with the Kree.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Maria Rambeau. They're best friends, Maria names Carol the godmother to her daughter Monica, and they often spent holidays together prior to Carol's disappearance.
- Honorary Aunt: To Monica Rambeau. Though not related to her family, the two are close enough that a young Monica calls her "Auntie Carol."
- Human Outside, Alien Inside: She looks like a normal human, but the trailers show her bleeding dark blue blood. Turns out, she had been given a transfusion of Kree blood by Yon-Rogg, presumably to save her life in a process not unlike what would later bring Phil Coulson back from the dead.
- Honor Before Reason: Inverted. Yon-Rogg attempts to setup a final climactic showdown with Carol where he urges her to forego her powers and fight him on equal footing in a fistfight, in a Call-Back to their sparring early in the film. Knowing this isn't the time and not interested in proving anything to him, Carol simply uses one of her energy blasts to knock him on his ass.
- Honorary True Companion: Downplayed. Carol is technically classified as an Avenger (and her callsign was actually the basis for the group's name in the first place), but she spends much of her time far away from Earth in order to protect and help planets that don't have their own heroes to keep things in order. The Avengers themselves only find out about Captain Marvel's existence after Thanos completes his snap in 2018, but are quick to establish some form of connection with her afterwards, with Steve even explicitly asking Danvers for assistance during the final battle. She's not involved with them much afterwards, but that's mostly because she's got a lot of the universe to look after - and is trying to clean up the mess of the collapsed Kree Empire.
- Horrifying the Horror: She completely outclasses Thanos, no selling him when he headbutts her in the face and just gets the mother of all Death Glares in response. The look on Thanos's face says it all and he's forced to use the Power Stone to gain the advantage.
- Iconic Attribute Adoption Moment: Though Carol has her super suit throughout the whole film, it doesn't turn into her iconic red, blue, and gold until the 3rd act, when she chooses to defect from the Kree Empire and embrace her old identity as a human US Air Force pilot.
- Ideal Hero: Carol is strong, brave, courteous, always fights for what she believes to be right, and has enough Heroic Willpower to overcome the Supreme Intelligence. When she discovers that the Kree have been gaslighting her to make her a weapon against the innocent Skrulls, she's horrified, and dedicates her life towards helping them escape and serving as a protector for countless other planets across the galaxy.
- I Have Many Names: Carol Danvers, Avenger, Captain Marvel, and Vers, to name a few. note
- Informed Flaw: Yon-Rogg and the Supreme Intelligence express concern that Carol's "too emotional". Looking at her, she's just about as stoic as the Kree soldiers around her, though that could just be reinforcing the conditioning/being worried it might break down.
- Intergenerational Friendship: With Nick Fury. She's more than a decade younger than him chronologically and is decades younger physically. She also gains a friendship with the teenage Kamala.
- Jerkass Has a Point: In Endgame, she claims that if she had been there in Infinity War, the Avengers would have won. While this is pretty damn arrogant, Carol turns out to be completely right, as she destroys Thanos's ship and most of his army when they face him at the end.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Carol tends to be a bit abrasive, snarky, and kind of a Troll, but most of this is because she's not very good with people. As it is, she's a good friend once you get to know her, consistently kind to children, and has a strong moral foundation. The instant she realizes that she's on the wrong side of the Kree-Skrull conflict, she doesn't hesitate to throw her lot in with the Skrulls, waging war on the Empire she was serving earlier that same day.
- The Juggernaut: A fully-powered Carol can tear through warships without slowing down and in Endgame, she plows through the Sanctuary II like a hot knife through butter, then trades blows with another unstoppable force (Thanos), even No Selling a headbutt from the Mad Titan. It takes a sucker punch from the Power Stone (which can destroy planets) to put her down for the count, and even then, she survives with no sign of permanent damage.
- Kubrick Stare: As she powers up her Binary Mode in the second trailer for her film, she gives a fearsome look at the Kree trying to massacre the Skrull refugees.
- Last Episode, New Character: She's introduced just in time for the Grand Finale of the Infinity Saga that began in the first Avengers film, though her own film chronologically takes place in the 1990s.
- Light 'em Up: Her most basic power is photon manipulation, usually in the form of blasts. Her binary form is completely enveloped in golden light.
- Light Is Good: Carol's powers come with an almost angelic golden glow, emphasizing her might and moral fortitude. Her timely arrival to save Tony and Nebula in Endgame is accompanied by a particularly bright glow, making her look like a guardian angel.
- Lightning Bruiser: She is stronger and more durable than the Hulk and Thanos, she can fly at high speeds, and also has a whole bunch of other powers.
- Line-of-Sight Name: Her Kree identity is a product of this. When Carol was knocked out by the blast from Mar-Vell's engine explosion, her dog tag was torn in half. The larger piece is found by Yon-Rogg, which coincidentally contains the latter half of her surname "-vers". This is what gives Yon-Rogg an idea to give her a new Kree identity as "Vers".
- Logical Weakness: In Endgame Thanos demonstrates that the Infinity Stones are capable of destroying one another. Danvers is Nigh-Invulnerable, but gets decisively knocked out by Thanos's Power Stone-empowered sucker punch. Given that Captain Marvel is essentially powered by one of the Infinity Stones it makes sense that she would be vulnerable to an attack powered by one of the other Stones.
- Male Gaze: Downplayed. While what she wears covers most of her skin, we still get some good shots of her breasts and backside.
- Mama Bear:
- To her goddaughter Monica Rambeau, and later to Talos's daughter. Threaten any of them and she will kick your ass.
- During the final battle of Avengers: Endgame, she arrives just in time to protect Peter Parker from the blasts of the Sanctuary II.
- Meaningful Name: "Carol" is an Old Germanic name meaning "free man". While originally Made a Slave of the Kree Empire, Danvers has since struck out on her own and now fights for justice and peace, answering only to herself and no one else.
- Messy Hair: When she appears before the Avengers during the mid-credits stinger of her own movie, her hair is heavily mussed and frizzy, suggesting that she's been moving fast.
- Meta Origin: The engine that gave Carol her powers in this continuity is revealed to have been powered by the energy of the Tesseract, which Mar-Vell was studying. This means that Carol's powers ultimately originate in one of the Infinity Stones, namely the Space Stone.
- Military Superhero: Her time as an Ace Pilot in the United States Air Force features heavily in her backstory.
- Motifs: Frequently associated with stars and comets, which is quite appropriate since the Tesseract/Space Stone basically imbued her with The Power of the Sun. In The Marvels, she ends up reigniting Hala's sun.
- Mundane Utility: Carol can generate enough heat with her hands to boil a teapot and activate a ship's turbines. Lampshaded when Fury comments that she can do "more with her fingers than just make tea".
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Seeing the Skrull ship full of civilians, including children, really hits home how she's been hunting innocent refugees on behalf of the Kree, and she's appalled to the point that she almost breaks down crying.
- As it turns out, a large part of why she's been so distant and aloof from Earth has been because she's horrified at having accidentally instigated the Kree Civil War that devastated Hala by destroying the Supreme Intelligence.
- Mythology Gag:
- At one point in her debut film, she begins experimenting with the color scheme of her suit, going through the different colors of her costumes from the comics before finally settling on the "red, blue and golden star" pattern she's wearing in the promotional posters.
- In Endgame, after their failure to get the Stones from Thanos and when it seems they will have to live with a literal Crapsack World, Carol inverts the colors of her suit from blue-with-red-motifs to red-with-blue-motifs to perfectly match the pattern of her predecessor, Captain Mar-Vell. Her haircut also now looks more like that sported by the modern Carol Danvers in the more recent comics.
- Nerves of Steel: Given that she trained in the Air Force, it's safe to assume she had this even before acquiring her powers. In a scene from Avengers: Endgame, Thor faces Carol and summons Stormbreaker. The giant axe brushes past her hair as it flies to his hand, but she doesn't even flinch. Carol merely looks at it and back at Thor, expression unchanged, before smirking, which impresses him.Thor: I like this one.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Carol killing the Supreme Intelligence plunged the Kree Empire into a 30-year civil war that nearly destroyed their civilization and left their homeworld of Hala a dying planet. The guilt she feels over this and her inability to fix the problem is one of the reasons Carol hasn't returned to Earth prior to the events of Infinity War. She is acutely conscious of it, and very guilty. That also resulted in her universe being endangered by the revenge-driven Kree seeking to restore Hala through the Quantum Bands.
- Nigh-Invulnerable: She's thus far been shown to be be impervious to any kind of blunt force trauma up to and including a headbutt from Thanos, who for comparison ragdolled the Hulk with little effort. It reaches the point when she plummets face first into the ground from maybe ten thousand feet, Fury is completely unfazed. The only thing that can put her down for the count is an energy-based assault by something on par with one of the Infinity Stones.
- No-Sell: As an indicator of her power level, Captain Marvel effortlessly tanks a headbutt from Thanos, shocking the Mad Titan.
- Not So Above It All:
- Carol's excuse for touching an unstable wormhole is that it was "glowing and mysterious".
- When Kamala starts trying to come up with superhero names for Monica, Carol cheerfully ends up joining in, and tries to suggest Vision as a name... before remembering that it's already taken.
- Not So Invincible After All: After being an almost unstoppable force of nature during the majority of the Final Battle, it actually takes her some effort to overpower Thanos, and when she does have him dead to rights, he quickly grabs the Power Stone and uses its might to knock her unconscious. The implication seems to be that she towers above regular Thanos, but Thanos with several of the Infinity Stones would be enough to pose a serious threat to her. Every hero on the battlefield is clearly distraught at the loss of their heaviest hitter.
- Not So Stoic: She's usually stolid, but seeing Fury amongst the Snap's casualties causes her to tear up.
- Offscreen Teleportation: She answers the distress call from Nick Fury by literally appearing right behind the surviving Avengers in The Stinger for her debut film, including the hyper-aware Black Widow and Steve Rogers.
- Oh, Crap!:
- She and the rest of the Avengers are shocked/horrified after they realize during the beginning of Endgame that Thanos destroyed both the Infinity Gauntlet and Infinity Stones, meaning there's no way for them (on the surface, at least) to bring back the victims of the Snap.
- She only has enough time to look supremely alarmed when Thanos takes out the Power Stone from the Infinity Gauntlet before he uses it against her and she gets knocked out.
- She is horrified after she somehow ended up switching places with Kamala in The Stinger of "No Normal".
- Older Than They Look: In one of the ads for Captain Marvel, the Supreme Intelligence mentions that one of the alterations they've made to Carol was to extend her longevity, although we later learn this is one of the effects of absorbing the energy core she destroyed. At least twenty-four years pass between her debut film and Endgame, during which time, she hasn't aged a day, in spite of being in her early sixties. And considering that she can travel thousands of light years and back in a matter of hours, at most, it's not down to relativity, either. By The Marvels, she's nearly 70, and she hasn't noticeably aged.
- One-Hit KO: The only way that Thanos was able to get her off his ass in Endgame, and it took a punch empowered with the goddamn Power Stone to knock her out. Had he not been able to use it, she would have won handily. Literally nothing that he threw at her up to that point was even able to scratch her, so it was a true sign of desperation.
- One-Woman Army: She single-handedly takes down large numbers of Skrull soldiers in the beginning of her debut film without her ability to fire photon blasts (admittedly, they were refraining from trying to kill her). After her power inhibitor is removed, she wipes the floor with an elite Kree squad and takes on a fleet sent to destroy Earth by Ronan, forcing them to retreat. Furthermore, nothing that hits her after she reaches full power appears to do more than stun her for a moment, and it's unclear just what level of power would be needed to truly hurt or kill her. The only thing that seems to hurt her is a punch from Thanos with the Power Stone; otherwise, she just seems to No-Sell everything.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Upon encountering the Skrull children aboard Mar-Vell's spaceship and realizing that she really was on the wrong side of the Skrull-Kree war the whole time, Carol nearly breaks down into tears and is utterly sickened with herself.
- In The Stinger for Captain Marvel, Carol's self-confidence is noticeably shaken upon her arrival to Earth to answer Fury's call. Given the chaos that she's likely witnessed resulting from Thanos's actions all across the galaxy, it's hard to blame her. She's also significantly gloomier and less snarky during the first act of Endgame, which is likely due (in part) to her mourning the death of her friend Nick Fury. It's not until the final battle, after everyone was resurrected, that she starts to regain her earlier, spunky personality.
- Person of Mass Destruction: Don't mind the people she beats, when fully powered-up Carol can easily destroy an enormous spaceship all by herself!
- Pet the Dog: She's not exactly the warmest person around the Avengers, which may have to do with her being substantially more powerful than most of them - and generally not very good with people. However, she notes that she's thankful for their presence on Earth (and, in Thor, Rocket, and Nebula's case, in varying parts of space) for keeping the areas that they protect safe, since she has so many other planets to protect that it makes her workload a little lighter. She's also genuinely friendly to Spider-Man, Monica, and Kamala.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: While she's not short or pint-sized by any means, she is shorter in comparison to powerhouses like Thor, Hulk and especially Thanos yet she can dish out as much as they can in terms of brute strength. This is best seen in her fight against Thanos. Despite him completely dwarfing her physically, Carol is shown to be slowly overpowering him, until Thanos plays dirty and has to use the planet-destroying Power Stone to knock her out.
- Power Glows: She starts to glow whenever she accesses her powers, first starting with the fist, and then eventually her whole body.
- Power Limiter: Carol spends most of her movie with a small disc on her neck that the Kree said was there to help her control her power. It was actually there to control her by controlling her power, so she couldn't use it to rebel against the Kree.
- Primary-Color Champion: While she spends some time in a sea green suit, she eventually dons her red, blue and yellow/gold outfit from the comics.
- Pro-Human Transhuman: She's a Transhuman by way of the explosion that gave her her powers, and by the blood transfusion given to her by the Kree. She nevertheless fights to protect Earth.
- Proud Warrior Race Girl: At least at first, as she confidently describes the Kree as a people of "noble warrior heroes". Once she gets a good look at what the Kree are really like, she vows to destroy the Supreme Intelligence and defend Earth from the Kree.
- Put on a Bus:
- In-Universe, the reason that she never appeared to intervene in any incident between Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame was because she spent decades defending planets that didn't have superheroes of their own — and presumably, this means that she never got anywhere near the Guardians of the Galaxy in that time. She only comes back to Earth when Nick Fury called for her aid.
- Within Avengers: Endgame, she goes back into space to hold the fort on hundreds of worlds at once, leaving the Avengers back on Earth. She later returns in time for the final battle, where she destroys the Sanctuary II.
R-Y
- Rapid-Fire Typing: Subverted as she can just "hunt and peck" as she tries to figure out the keyboard while searching for information in an Internet cafe.
- Real Award, Fictional Character: During her Air Force career, Carol earned the Basic Parachutist Badge, the Air Force Longevity Service Award, and, of course, an Aviator Badge.
- Red Is Heroic: When she decides to fight against the Kree to protect the Skrulls, Carol starts to use red coloration in her Starforce uniform.
- Reforged into a Minion: Carol was an ordinary human test pilot until she destroyed the Tesseract-powered engine and absorbed some of its power. Rather than killing her when they had the chance, the Kree brainwashed her and slapped on a Power Limiter so they could use her as a soldier.
- Remember the New Guy?: Repeatedly lampshaded and justified.
- She's been around since The '90s and knows Nick Fury, but was never seen or mentioned before the very end of Phase 3. Justified, as Carol had left to fight the Kree and help the Skrull refugees, and Fury - extremely secretive by nature and profession - treated her as a Godzilla Threshold.
- When the Avengers finally meet her in Endgame, Rhodey asks where she's been all this time. She points out that the universe is a big place, and most other planets aren't lucky enough to have their own superhero teams to defend themselves.
- Restraining Bolt: Contact with the Tesseract actually made her much stronger than she first realizes and it's thanks to the inhibitor on her neck. The Supreme Intelligence is actually aware of her power and relies on her amnesia of the event that empowered her to keep her from discovering it herself (as the Power Limiter can't actually hold back her full power, it simply keeps it in check so long as she doesn't max out).
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Defied in her case. When asked why she didn't previously appear against other threats to Earth in the MCU, she points out that the universe is a big place and she's been really busy helping countless other worlds that don't have superheroes with their own troubles in the roughly quarter-century between her debut film and Endgame.
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock: Played With after the events of her Superhero Origin. While Carol can turn them off at any time she wants, whenever she uses her powers, she automatically enters Binary Mode.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Yon-Rogg attempts to break her into doing hand-to-hand combat with no use of their special powers. Carol doesn't oblige him and just blasts him into the nearest mountain.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Throughout most of Captain Marvel, Carol wears the standard green and grey Kree uniform, showing her loyalty to them, bigotry for the Skrulls, and lost identity. Near the climax and with Monica's help, Carol chooses her iconic red, blue, and yellow suit, signifying her cutting off ties with the Kree, letting go of her bigotry of the Skrulls, and recovering her identity.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Unlike most characters from Avengers: Endgame, she is not featured in either the first trailer or the first TV spot, likely to avoid spoiling anything before her own movie comes out. Her first appearance in any marketing for Endgame is through The Stinger for her own movie. However, after her movie was released, a final trailer for Endgame shows Carol along with the Avengers, and getting Thor's approval.
- Small Role, Big Impact: While she gets less screentime in Avengers: Endgame than any of the team that goes on the Time Heist, she intervenes at crucial points in the story; namely, saving Tony Stark and Nebula at the beginning of the film and carrying the Benatar to Earth, and intervening in the final battle, where she destroys the Sanctuary II and keeps Thanos from snapping his fingers long enough to allow Iron Man to destroy the Mad Titan and his armies.
- Smug Super:
- Not as bad as some, but Carol does have her moments of doing this. Including in-front of Nick Fury.Fury: Ok. Prove you are not a Skrull.
Carol: [photonblasts a jukebox, with a grin] That's a Photon blast.
Fury: And?
Carol: A Skrull cannot do that.
Fury: And I'm supposed to take your word for that?
Carol: [raises her eyebrow in response] - In Endgame, she flatly states that her absence was the reason the Avengers lost to Thanos the first time. As it turns out, she's not exactly wrong, given her performance against him in his prime, in a one-on-one duel, she can back up that assertion and then some. While in the Final Battle and Thanos tries to headbutt her to no effect, Thanos looks to be on the verge of utter panic while Carol just glares in response.
- Not as bad as some, but Carol does have her moments of doing this. Including in-front of Nick Fury.
- Stepford Snarker: Carol can snark with the best of them, keeping up with Nick Fury. Yet for her snark and stoicism, you get glimpses of the absolute Suppressed Rage underneath her composed exterior. Some Broken Bird protagonists hide sorrow; Carol hides anger. And, as The Marvels demonstrates, a metric ton of guilt for accidentally instigating the Kree Civil War that devastated Hala.
- The Stoic: As befits a trained pilot and Kree soldier, Carol keeps a cool head even in the toughest of situations, although she clearly has a lot of emotion boiling beneath the surface. Yon-Rogg actually admonishes her for not being more stoic. Once she's exposed to her memories on Earth, she starts acting a lot more like she did before becoming "Vers". She's at her most stoic in the prologue of Endgame due to the graveness of the situation, but shows signs of being more like herself toward the end of the film, and steadily lightens up over the course of The Marvels as Kamala in particular coaxes her out of her shell.
- Story-Breaker Power: Thanks to her powers coming from the Space Stone (one of the Infinity Stones), her binary form is beyond many of the characters seen in the MCU until that point, with the exception of god-tier power levels like Dormammu or Ego the Living Planet, especially with access to the Infinity Gauntlet, and Thor with Stormbreaker. This sole reason is perhaps why Nick Fury refused nor found the need to call upon her several times when it would have been useful — she could potentially be more dangerous than some of the threats that the Avengers were assembled to fight. In her debut film alone, when at full strength, Carol gives a complete No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the Supreme Intelligence, the Kree team she was formerly allies with, and Ronan's bombers, and it's implied they were never much of/any threat to her, and can travel in space at speeds that are faster than you can imagine. She manages to completely turn the tides of the battle against Thanos and even gained the upper-hand against the Mad Titan, until he resorted to an underhanded tactic to knock her out.
- Strong and Skilled: Already a formidable hand-to-hand fighter, her unlocking the full potential of her powers means she can compete with heavy-hitters like Hulk and Thanos while still retaining the combat skills from her Kree training.
- Strong as They Need to Be: Played With, as even during The Marvels, she's still discovering exactly what she can do. Despite being powerful, characters like Thanos (without gems) or Thor were capable of fighting at her level. In The Marvels she is able to reignite a star, a feat that makes her infinitely more powerful than Thor or Thanos, something her comic incarnation managed once in the normal timeline (which burned out her Binary powers) and once in an alternate future (which was a Heroic Sacrifice) - though she had expressed serious doubt that she was capable of it. As it was, once she tried it, she managed it.
- Superhuman Transfusion: After being exposed to the Tesseract, Carol is given a blood transfusion from Yon-Rogg, making her a powerful human-Kree hybrid with enhanced abilities.
- Super Mode: Her Binary Mode is her at her strongest. It makes her so powerful to the point where she can No-Sell a headbutt from Thanos, survive a blast from the Power Stone, and reignite a star.
- Super-Speed: She can easily get in and out of a planet's atmosphere in mere seconds and keep up with both human and alien aircraft. In The Marvels after switching places with Kamala and Monica, she effortlessly travels from Earth to the Skrull refugee planet in seconds.
- Super-Strength: While she's already stronger than most due to the powers granted by the Kree, when used in conjunction with her photon powers she is near the level of Thor and the Hulk, as seen when she grabs one of Ronan's warheads mid-flight (though admittedly it takes her an obvious and serious amount of effort to do so).
- Super-Toughness: She is able to survive falls from extreme height without any serious injuries, and takes no apparent/appreciable damage from anything that impacts her once she reaches full power. To put it into perspective, she's able to take getting punched by the Power Stone and only gets knocked unconscious for a while as consequence.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: The reason why she hasn't shown up until this late is that her jurisdiction is the whole universe, with many of those planets lacking their own heroes to defend themselves. She only returns two times to assist with Thanos, before promptly departing again.Carol: There are a lot of other planets in the universe. And unfortunately, they didn't have you guys.
- Superman Substitute: The closest the MCU has gotten to an Alternate Company Equivalent to the Man of Steel. Carol is a truly heroic Flying Brick who is the World's Strongest Woman, has Super-Toughness that verges on Nigh-Invulnerable, Super-Speed that is implied to reach close to the speed of light (including unassisted space travel) and then go explicitly FTL, and has a lot of firepower to boot. She's also closely associated with the sun.
- Supernatural Gold Eyes: Carol's eyes glow golden when she enters her Binary Mode.
- Superpower Lottery: Carol can fly at incredible speeds, shoot powerful photon blasts, has Super-Toughness (that borders on Nigh-Invulnerability when in her Golden Super Mode), and has Super-Strength that can bust open spaceships. She is easily one of the strongest heroes in the MCU.
- Tank-Top Tomboy: In the opening scene of the movie, she wakes up wearing a white tank top, which she also wears during her downtime in The Marvels and in Endgame, it's revealed that she wears a black tank top under her Starforce uniform.
- Team Member in the Adaptation: Carol Danvers was never a member of Starforce in the comics.
- That Man Is Dead: After realizing how she'd been deceived and manipulated by the Kree, Carol throws off the identity of "Vers", defiantly reclaiming her true name while facing the Supreme Intelligence.
- Tomboy: This is especially obvious in her childhood flashbacks, which show her skateboarding, go-kart racing, and playing baseball. As an adult, she goes into the military, a decidedly masculine profession, specifically the Air Force, at a time when female pilots were rare to boot, because of her adrenaline junkie nature causing her to relish the prospect of flying high and fast. After acquiring her powers and joining the Kree Starforce, she demonstrates her strength and battle prowess not with the elegance of a Lady of War but with the bruising and pummeling punches of a rough-and-tumble brawler, and she does clearly enjoy fighting, even if not to a full-on Blood Knight extent. Some of her flashbacks also show her to be a gamer.
- Tranquil Fury: Briefly in Endgame. She's upset by the death of Nick Fury on top of everything else that's happened, but she never loses her composure. However, when she casually states that she's going to find out where Thanos is so she can kill him, it's clear that she's pissed.
- Tron Lines: While experimenting with the suit's ability to change colors, Monica briefly gives Carol multicolored glowing lines. Which inspires a "No. Just… No" Reaction for the both of them.
- Transhuman: Carol got her powers from an accident that imbued her with power from a faster-than-light engine reverse-engineered from the Tesseract and an infusion of Kree blood.
- Unstable Powered Woman: Carol Danvers, unknowingly indoctrinated by the Kree, is told her energy powers have to be tempered by restraining her emotions, lest she loses control. Once she realizes this is just a lie to keep her their prisoner, Carol lets her energy run completely loose, becoming magnitudes more powerful and still in control.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her destruction of the Kree Empire's Supreme Intelligence may have ended their status as a galactic superpower, but it came at the cost of the Kree civilization collapsing and becoming increasingly fractured. It also resulted in independent threats like Dar-Benn and Ronan defecting from the Empire and causing havoc for other alien civilizations.
- Unwitting Pawn: The Kree brainwashed her and used her to fight their battles for them.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Before losing her memory and spending six years training with the reserved Kree army. At one point we see her lauging and singing karaoke with Maria. Around the sexists of the Air Force, she felt the need to keep herself more stoic, as well.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Her dynamic with Fury almost plays out like a buddy cop film, but they quickly grow to respect and trust each other. It's telling that in her post-credits sequence the first thing she does when meeting the other Avengers after the Decimation is to ask about Fury's whereabouts. In Endgame, she's visibly upset when she discovers Fury among the casualties.
- World's Strongest Woman: She's one of the most powerful heroes in the MCU along with Scarlet Witch, Thor with Stormbreaker (in his prime), and Doctor Strange by the time of Endgame, and even then is hands down the most powerful physical hero as the other two both are Glass Cannons who rely on mystical powers, and Thor, as noted, would need Stormbreaker. This is proven when she single-handedly shoots several advanced Kree missiles out of the sky, destroys a warship, and forces Ronan the Accuser to run for his life, all with nothing but her bare hands. It's to the point where it's probable the only characters capable of exceeding her power are legitimate gods or those who wield god-like power (technically, we are given no indication just yet of what can actually hurt her when she's at full strength other than the Power Stone as in her movie, she shrugs off, avoids, or is only somewhat stunned by attacks used on her once her limiter is removed), and Nick Fury considers calling her in to be a Godzilla Threshold. Given that she arguably surpasses all of the above by reigniting a star in The Marvels, we haven't yet reached her ceiling.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Carol is in distraught after Talos revealed that the Kree had lied about her true identity, Maria gives her a motivational speech about how she was always determined to overcome any obstacle long before she got her powers. This gives Carol the confidence she needs to help the Skrulls.
Variants
King Loki's Carol Danvers
Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
"So, where's the fight?"
Species: Enhanced human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): USAF (formerly), S.H.I.E.L.D. (formerly), Avengers
Voiced By: Alexandra Daniels
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-51825, Carol came back to Earth to fight King Loki, eight years earlier than in the main timeline.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Yellowjacket Hank Pym having decimated the superheroes who would have become the first Avengers (outside Steve Rogers), Nick Fury has called her to come to Earth much earlier than in the Sacred Timeline, and thus she becomes a founding member of the Avengers in her universe.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the Sacred Timeline Carol didn't meet Captain America until the mid-credit scene of Captain Marvel and they weren't shown with many scenes together. Here they are the only two Avengers fighting against Loki (until Post-Apocalypse Black Widow joins them) and she's the first superhero he meets after being revived, meaning they are likely closer than their counterparts.
- The Cameo: She briefly appears in the end of Episodes 3 and 9 of the first season.
- Godzilla Threshold: Fury initially considers calling her in after all candidates of the Avengers Initiative (minus Captain America, who hadn't been found yet) are killed. He briefly changes his mind on that one, but then she shows up for real when Loki takes over Earth.
Party Thor's Carol Danvers
Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
"Listen, bud, clean up this mess and leave this planet."
Species: Enhanced human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): S.H.I.E.L.D. (formerly),
Voiced By: Alexandra Daniels
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-72124, Carol came back to Earth eight years earlier than in the main timeline. In this universe, she aids Maria Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D in dealing with a stubborn Thor Odinson hosting a worldwide party on Earth that causes quite some mayhem.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: She never encountered Jane Foster or Darcy Lewis in the Sacred Timeline.
- And This Is for...: Before uppercutting Thor in their fight, she proclaims that said uppercut is for Fury.
- By the Hair: She grabs Thor by the hair and throws him into the sky in their fight.
- Circle of Shame: Carol's initial battle with Thor ends with him restraining her with Mjölnir, placing her on "time out". After dubbing her a party pooper, the rest of the party-goers collectively chant that at her, much to her annoyance.
- The Comically Serious: Her stoic behavior offers a hilarious contrast compared to both Party Thor and Darcy fangirling over her.
- Famed In-Story: Carol's adventures across the galaxy have given her quite the reputation. Darcy calls herself a fan (though concedes that she believed that "Captain Marvel" was a man), and Frigga has nothing but high esteem for her when they meet in person.
- Godzilla Threshold: Dubbed the "last resort" by Acting Director Maria Hill, Carol is called to Earth to personally confront Thor, in an attempt to forcefully eject him and his wild party from the planet.
- Hero Antagonist: She serves this role against Thor. She's trying to put an end to his wild party, with good intentions of protecting the planet.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After her first fight with Thor, she tells him that she needs a stiff drink and two weeks in Hawaii.
- Not So Above It All: Carol's stern and rule-abiding as usual, and doesn't appreciate Thor's reckless behavior. That being said, she does willingly lighten up towards the end after Thor cleans up his mess. She offers a last-minute save for Thor's charade to impress his mother Frigga about his "cultural exchange" assignment.
- That Wasn't a Request: When she asks Thor to stop his party, he callously tells her to buzz off, leading to her decking him in the face and telling him she wasn't asking.
- Willfully Weak: After losing to Thor in battle, she admits to Hill that she was holding back during the fight because unleashing her full might would end with a lots of collateral damage and numerous civilian casualties, and Thor's not that big enough of a threat to necessitate those sacrifices. For their second battle, she lures him to a remote location in Siberia, though their fight is interrupted and stopped before it can truly begin.
Infinity Ultron's Carol Danvers
Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
"Listen, Skynet, I've seen the killer robot movie and I gotta say, I really don't think it needs a sequel."
Species: Enhanced human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): USAF (formerly), S.H.I.E.L.D. (formerly)
Voiced By: Alexandra Daniels
Appearances: What If...?
On Earth-29929, Carol tried stopping Ultron before he destroyed the entire universe.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: She gives Ultron the biggest fight of his conquest until he meets Uatu. However, it's clear that he was sandbagging, and once he gets serious, Carol, Xandar, and the solar system around them are gone in an instant.
- Dead Alternate Counterpart: She gets killed by Ultron unleashing the power of the Infinity Stones which also obliterated Xandar and its population, making her this to her Sacred Timeline, King Loki, and Party Thor counterparts.
- Death by Adaptation: Unlike the original timeline where she still lives, she dies when Ultron causes the core of Xandar to detonate in her face.
- Hope Spot: She almost succeeded in ending Ultron by burning him in the core of Xandar. Sadly, Ultron uses the rest of the stones to turn the tables and kill her.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Justified by her time away from Earth, but her quips to Ultron about The Terminator not needing a sequel reveals that she doesn't know that it has received a sequel, let alone several others.
- The Worf Effect: Gets hit with this hard in this universe, with Carol using all her strength to defeat Ultron on Xandar, only to fail and be obliterated alongside it.
Zombie Apocalypse Carol Danvers
Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
Species: Enhanced human (formerly), zombified enhanced human
Citizenship: American
Affiliation(s): S.H.I.E.L.D. (formerly)
Voiced By: TBA
Appearances: Marvel Zombies
On Earth-89521, Carol was among the many who fell to the zombie virus originating from the Quantum Realm.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: As seen in the art shown at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, by unknown means she was infected with the zombie virus and became one of the living dead.
- Elite Zombie: Well, undeath allowed her to keep the superpowers that made her so powerful when alive. That's pretty elite.
- Face–Monster Turn: She became infected with the Quantum Virus and subsequently turned into a zombie, stripping her away of her humanity.
- It Can Think: The art shown in San Diego Comic-Con 2022
shows that she still knows how to fly and possibly use her other powers. - The Undead: She's a flesh-eating zombie.
- Undeathly Pallor: Like the majority of the other zombies, her skin is very pale.
- The Worf Effect: Like Wanda, Carol is one of the most powerful beings in the universe in the Sacred Timeline. As seen in the art shown at San Diego Comic-Con 2022, her (and Wanda) falling to the virus shows how dangerous it is.
"I'm coming to end it. The war, the lies, all of it."
