Captain Marvel (2019) / YMMV

Accidental Innuendo:
- "She can do more with those hands than just make tea."
- While living among the Kree, Carol's name is Vers^note.
Alternative Character Interpretation:
- How much did Yon-Rogg care about Carol? Were his Pet the Dog moments to her genuine shows of affection for a pupil and soldier he helped train, or was he trying to stay on her good side and enforce her shaky loyalty to the Kree? Did he advise suppressing her powers because he felt she couldn't control them, or because he was afraid of them? Or was he just trying to give Boxing Lessons To Superman? At the end, was his So Proud of You moment really him expressing approval and he wanted to see her to beat him in a fight without powers at last, or was he trying to trick her into letting her guard down and/or fighting him on equal footing where he'd have a better chance at winning?
- What exactly did the throwaway line that Carol "didn't get along with [her] parents" refer to? Was it her independent Tomboy streak? Was it just a regular case of Abusive Parents? Due to the Les Yay between Carol and Maria, was it also a matter of her parents being either homophobic or racist and disapproving of Carol's bond with Maria?
And You Thought It Would Fail: Production of this movie was repeatedly delayed due to Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter's belief that only white male leads made for economically viable superhero movies. The fact that the movie (and Wonder Woman and Black Panther before it) managed to smash the box office (grossing over a billion dollars worldwide in this case) seems to suggest otherwise.
Anti-Climax Boss: The final battle in the movie is basically Carol effortlessly steamrolling through the entire Kree force once the full potential of her powers have been unlocked. And just when we expect a one-on-one duel between her and Yon-Rogg, she simply knocks him out with one blast, the exact same move she accidentally overpowered him while sparring at the start of the film. The moment is even partially Played for Laughs due to how hilariously trumped his challenge gets, which doesn't help.
Base-Breaking Character: Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel herself. Some people love her, finding her personality funny and amusing, enjoying her dynamics with Maria and Fury, and being a female superhero with her own solo movie that didn't suck. Others absolutely loathe her, finding her personality boring, or the fact that she is the first female superhero in the MCU with her own movie instead of a more established character like Black Widow. Her 'emotional' personality is highly contested, as many critics called her dull and unemotive, but others found her highly expressive and entertaining. Some even directly compared her to other Marvel leads and pointed to her being less interesting than the norm, while others found her more interesting, or at least as interesting. It also doesn't help that she'd already been one for years in the comics.
Captain Obvious Reveal:
- The Kree being the villains; even if you didn't read the comics, where they are a shining example of Aliens Are Bastards, nor watched Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) or Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which both portrayed them as colossal dicks, they get plenty of ominous moments pre-reveal, including the Supreme Intelligence suggesting Carol's amnesia might be for the best (implying her memory contained something they wouldn't want to know) and subtly threatening to take away her powers should she get out of line, the fascist-like anti-Skrull propaganda on display in their cities, and Talos implying the Kree did something to mess with Carol's head. Of course, the real twist isn't that the Kree are the bad guys, it's that the Skrulls are actually good, as most people were expecting the Kree-Skrull war to be Evil Versus Evil like in the source material.
- The fact that Fury's boss is also played by Ben Mendelsohn all but shouts that Talos is going to impersonate him.
Catharsis Factor: While not as big as his final defeat in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), considering Ronan the Accuser spent a majority of that film terrorizing innocent people, giving Drax a severe beating and not taking any punishment given to him, it's nothing short of satisfying to see Carol make him flee in terror.
Complete Monster:
- Ronan the Accuser returns. See here for details.
- The Supreme Intelligence is an entity comprised of the greatest minds in Kree society uploaded into a single sapient being, and it is the absolute authority of the Kree Empire. The Supreme Intelligence has the single-minded goal to expand the rule of the Kree Empire as far and wide as possible, doing so by invading and oppressing countless planets. Due to the Skrulls resisting, the Supreme Intelligence had their homeworld of Skrullos destroyed and then hunted the Skrull survivors down to near-extinction. When Mar-Vell defected and assisted the Skrulls, the Supreme Intelligence ordered for Mar-Vell and her Light-Speed Engine to be captured. When Carol Danvers instead absorbs the engine's energy, the Supreme Intelligence crafts her into into a Living Weapon dubbed "Vers", erasing her memories and fabricating a story that the Skrulls killed her family before drafting her into the Starforce to war against the Skrulls. When Carol learns the truth, the Supreme Intelligence sees her as a threat and attempts to Mind Rape Carol into submission while authorizing a mass bombardment of Earth in a bid to wipe out the Skrulls.
Creepy Awesome:
- The Supreme Intelligence manages to be very intimidating during its brief screen time thanks to Annette Bening's jovial and unsettling performance. The pus-green eyes they gave her as the Supreme Intelligence certainly don't hurt.
- Goose the Cat, especially after the reveal that it's a tentacled-mouthed alien called a Flerken.
Crosses the Line Twice:
- The infamous scene where Carol sucker-punches an old woman (a Skrull in disguise) comes off as a lot funnier in a dark way than it should be out of context.
- The scene where Nick Fury and Keller are examining a dead Skrull's corpse would in context be played seriously, until they both proceed to examine its junk and are impressed with what they saw. Since "Keller" is actually Talos, it means Talos had to stare at his dead friend's dick and pretend to be impressed by it.
- Goose swallowing the Tesseract whole is a little bit funny. The second post-credits scene consisting entirely of Goose coughing it up onto Nick Fury's desk like a hairball is a lot funny.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Goose the Cat is also popular given how she is a Badass Adorable alien that can spring tentacles from the mouth at a moment's notice and hold entire pocket dimensions within them. Many who don't like the film as a whole still cite Goose as a positive aspect.
- Many viewers noted that Ben Mendelsohn's Talos continued the MCU's streak of compelling villains, for his charismatic interactions with the heroes and constant terror in response to Goose. This was heightened even more when it is revealed that Talos and the other Skrulls are merely desperate refugees seeking to escape the Kree despots that are revealed to be the film's true villains.
- Starforce member Minn-erva has a lot of fans as well, despite becoming a villain later on in the movie, for her looks and potential rivalry with Carol. Many were disappointed that she didn't have a bigger role in the movie. Her character likely being Killed Off for Real, followed by Gemma Chan moving on to play Sersi, make it uncertain she might come back.
- Despite receiving very little screen time, Talos and Soren's unnamed daughter is immensely popular amongst fans, in part due to her striking up an adorable friendship with Monica near the film's end. With the latter growing up and taking a level in badass in WandaVision, many people are clamoring for the two of them to reunite in this movie's sequel, or the upcoming Secret Invasion series.
Fan-Disliked Explanation: Why Fury wears his Eyepatch of Power has been the source of speculation for years. It was previously implied in Captain America: The Winter Soldier it involved him getting betrayed. Turns out he was scratched in the face by a cat.^note Some fans felt a more badass explanation was needed and some felt it would have been better to not explain it at all, as any reveal would be disappointing. Of course, part of the fandom likes it specifically because it is hilariously anticlimactic. It’s also Truth in Television: many badass personas turn out to be exaggerated.
Fan Nickname: "Dishrektor Krennic" for Talos, as a reference to Ben Mendelsohn's most famous prior role.
Fandom Rivalry:
- Inevitably, given the DC vs. Marvel rivalry, there's one with DCEU's superheroine movie Wonder Woman, which came out first and was universally praised as a milestone in female representation. Subsequently, some jealous MCU fans wished that it was their film that released first and saw Wonder Woman as setting up a high benchmark that Captain Marvel will be judged against, unfairly or not. Conversely, some DCEU fans fear that Captain Marvel's financial success may lead to Carol overshadowing Diana as "the" iconic superheroine, especially given how not only did Diana preceded Carol in the comics by over 27 years but Wonder Woman's success was a morale boost to the DCEU. Then there are the arguments about which heroine is the better feminist icon, as the movies and their heroines depict different female archetypes with Carol being a Tomboy compared to Diana's Girly Girl.
- By virtue of the name alone, some fans of the original Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Shazam!, the one who says "Shazam!" and is actually called "Shazam" in the current DC franchise) resent this movie and its title character for claiming the title. Not helping matters is that the movie SHAZAM! came out one month after Captain Marvel.
- There's one with fans of Fox's X-Men series thanks to Dark Phoenix. Like Captain Marvel, that film also has a Marvel superheroine, aliens, cosmic powers and a '90s setting. However, whereas Captain Marvel was a box-office hit and received (mostly) positive reviews, Dark Phoenix was both a critical and commercial bomb. Not helping matters is that Dark Phoenix was initially supposed to have the Skrulls but was forced to use the D'Bari instead thanks to Disney calling dibs on them for Captain Marvel.
Fanfic Fuel:
- Carol spends the next twenty-plus years following this movie helping the Skrull refugees track down thousands of their kind in search of a new home while the events of the MCU progress on Earth (and the other areas of space involving the Guardians of the Galaxy). This, combined with Ronan's stated interest in meeting Carol once again, leads to plenty of stories that could happen to her between leaving Earth and returning in time for Avengers: Endgame.
- We never actually see how Carol gets the superhero name Captain Marvel, with later franchise entries simply calling her that name with no explanation. It's easy to figure the second part was a tribute to Mar-Vell, but why is she called a captain rather than her true rank?
Friendly Fandoms:
- Even though SHAZAM! should be a rival since it's from DC and this movie is the reason they couldn't use the name Captain Marvel, the director and cast have been outspoken about supporting this movie. Many Captain Marvel fans subsequently decided they were going to go see SHAZAM! as thanks for the DC standing up for their movie.
- To a lesser extent, this can apply to Wonder Woman as well since the cast and crew of both films have been supportive of each other. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins congratulated the film and star Gal Gadot has followed suit, both moves that were saluted by both MCU and DCEU fans. Likewise Brie Larson has been open about being a lifelong Wonder Woman fan, going so far as to shed Tears of Joy when watching Wonder Woman for the first time.
- Fans of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. decidedly became excited about this film after it was announced that Clark Gregg was going to reprise his role as Agent Coulson on the film side of the MCU for the first time since The Avengers.
- With fans of Rogue One thanks to Ben Mendelsohn, who played the bad guy in it, appearing in this movie too, with many eagerly hoping that Talos becomes as quotable as Krennic.
Genius Bonus:
- Talos freaks out when Goose rubs against him, since he correctly identifies her as a Flerken that can swallow battalions whole. Any cat person would have told him he has nothing to fear; cats rub themselves against people they like, to spread their scent as a gesture of love. It's the first hint that Talos is not the true villain.
- Possibly coincidental: "Avenger" is an appropriate callsign for a female pilot, given that Avenger Field was the primary training center for the WASPs (Women's Airforce Service Pilots) during World War II, and the largest all-female air base in American history.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- All the scenes between Maria and her daughter are soured quite a bit by the reveal in WandaVision that Monica was a victim of the Snap, and by the time she was brought back, Maria had died of cancer. Likewise, Monica being supportive of her aunt being a flying superhero in this film is tragic to look at after seeing her discomfort in even bringing Carol up in the aforementioned show.
- Monica Rambeau offhandedly mentioning The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air when convincing her mother to accompany Talos, Carol, and Fury into space is a little darker knowing that Monica ends up trapped in a sitcom world herself in WandaVision (though Monica thankfully manages to get back to the real world).
- At the end of this film, Carol assures Talos and the rest of the surviving Skrulls that she's going to find them a home no matter the cost. 30 years later in Secret Invasion, Carol has remained radio silent for so long that the Skrulls end up trying to take over and destroy the Earth, destroying what remains of the trust and friendship between them and humanity.
- At the end of the movie, Monica is shown making friends with Talos's daughter G'iah, and even innocently asks Fury and Carol why the Skrulls can't just stay on Earth. The Skrulls remaining on Earth for so long ends up being the catalyst for the events of Secret Invasion, with G'iah in particular joining Gravik's side against humanity because of her resentment for her father.
- Midway through this film, Talos helps convince Carol that despite his morally grey actions, he and his species mean no harm to Earth, and only did what they had to do to survive the Kree painting them as warmongers who want to take over. This all becomes somewhat undermined in Secret Invasion, where not only is it revealed that the Skrulls instigated their war with the Kree in the first place, but then become set on trying to take over the Earth and Kill All Humans under Gravik's leadership. It also makes the Kree's exterminatory methods and propaganda towards the Skrulls go from being unrepentantly evil prejudice to actually somewhat justified, given the Skrulls in that show live up to the stereotype.
Heartwarming in Hindsight: WandaVision reveals that Maria went on to found S.W.O.R.D., a S.H.I.E.L.D. counterpart specifically dealing with outer space, likely inspired by her experiences in this film. Monica went on to work for said organization as an astronaut, following in Carol's footsteps. It's also likely that Monica joined the organization to keep contact with Talos and Soren's daughter, whom she befriends during this film. On top of this, Monica learns to "glow like her Auntie Carol" after all.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- At the very end of this film, Soren lightly criticizes Talos for what amounts to committing identity theft by assuming the director of S.H.I.E.L.D's form while hiding out on Earth. Not only does Talos do this again in Spider-Man: Far From Home by disguising himself as Nick Fury, but Soren goes with him while acting as Fury's Number Two Maria Hill, thus making her a hypocrite in that regard.
- Minn-Erva has a dismissive attitude towards Earth in this film, to the point of calling it a shithole. Gemma Chan would later go on to portray Sersi in Eternals, who instead thinks that Earth is one of the most beautiful planets she's ever seen.
- While trying to convince Maria to go on the mission to Mar-Vell's laboratory, Monica mentions The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Three years after this film's release her actress, Akira Akbar would play Ashley Banks in the Fresh Prince reboot Bel-Air.
I Knew It!:
- Some fans had already predicted the use of Talos in the movie, one of the few named Skrull non-extras who had no significant association with the Fantastic Four and met them only years after his comic debut, in and out of universe.
- Jude Law playing Yon-Rogg rather than Mar-Vell was a popular fan theory after it was noticed that, despite seemingly being Mar-Vell at first glance, Feige and Law were unwilling to reveal Law's role.
- Some fans semi-jokingly predicted that Fury will lose his left eye to Goose, whom they suspect isn't a cat at all, but a Flerken. Turns out they were right on both accounts.
Iron Woobie: Talos has been fighting for a new home for his people for years, under constant threat of extermination by the Kree, and all while separated from his family. Despite this, he keeps up a good sense of humor and rarely shows signs of stress.
Just Here for Godzilla:
- Some fans only show up only to see Nick Fury and Phil Coulson especially since the latter has been largely absent from the MCU movies since The Avengers. Likewise, some people were interested in Ronan the Accuser and Korath making a further appearance after they were rather underutilised in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).
- Likewise, pet owners went to see the movie because of Goose.
- An incredibly minor example: Some fans have commented on forums that they want to see the film just to find out how Fury loses his eye.
Les Yay:
- Carol and Maria were close friends and Maria was devastated by her apparent death and later her missing memory. They spent holidays together, Maria keeps many, many photos of Carol in her house, and "Aunt Carol" helped parent Maria's daughter - with the actual father never even mentioned. When Carol shows up alive, Maria quickly becomes just as dedicated to her again. It helps that Carol has no actual love interest as of yet. Brie Larson adds further to this by calling their female relationship the "great love" of the film:
  "This is the love of the movie; this is the great love. This is the love lost. This is the love found again. This is the reason to continue fighting and to go to the ends of the earth for the person, the thing that you love. And it's her best friend and her best friend's daughter, which to me is so natural. I went and saw the movie with some people and it was like an hour later, where they were like, oh—Maria's the love. Like, yeah! So it's not like something that we made a big deal about, but it just feels so natural because that love is so strong."
- Maria states that after Carol's death, the Air Force gave her the fragments of Carol's damaged dog tags. This strongly implies that Carol had previously designated Maria as her next of kin. Given that the events occurred before the US military instituted their "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, this may be a case of Truth in Television. And Maria's daughter adds that Carol didn't get along with her parents, the two of them were Carol's real family.
- A Deleted Scene from the movie of Yon-Rogg confronting the Supreme Intelligence shows that it manifests as a copy of himself. Said copy proceeds to fondle and caress his face tenderly while he's scared out of his mind.
LGBT Fanbase: The film found a lot of common ground with the LGBTQ+ community in no small part thanks to the Les Yay between Carol and Maria.
Magnificent Bastard: Talos is a ruthless, brilliant Skrull war general out to bring his people prosperity. Responding to the aggressive Kree's conquest of their world, Talos becomes a successful tactician as he strikes major blows against the Kree, culminating in ambushing their best squad to kidnap "Vers", aka Carol Danvers, and read her memories. Tracking Danvers to Earth, Talos skillfully infiltrates S.H.I.E.L.D. before ultimately convincing Danvers of the Kree's corruption and becoming her ally. After using his strategic disguise abilities to help Danvers take down the area's Kree cell and rescue Talos's people from extermination, Talos goes on to disguise himself as Nick Fury, fool many people as he leads S.H.I.E.L.D. in the Director's absence, and singlehandedly deduces Mysterio's treacherous ways, avoiding an assassination attempt without breaking a sweat.
Memetic Mutation:
- The fact that the movie is set in The '90s and features Samuel L. Jackson reprising his role as Nick Fury has led to plenty of jokes regarding Fury acting as Jules Winnfield in this movie, with recitations of Jules' "English, motherfucker!" speech being altered to "Kree" or "Skrull". Following the announcement of Clark Gregg also reprising his role as Agent Coulson, many have Agent Coulson as Vincent.
- The first released image of the Skrulls, walking ashore a beach, led to jokes that it looks like the cover of a prog rock album. People were mocking up album covers in no time.
- Carol punching an old woman in the first trailer (later revealed to be a Skrull in disguise) has not gone unnoticed by fans. Some have referred to a quote from Avengers: Infinity War:
  Thanos: The hardest choices require the strongest wills.
- "I have nothing to prove to you."^Explanation
- "Captain Marvel is a great Dragon Ball Z film."^Explanation
- The shot of Talos casually sipping a soda became an overnight meme.
- "One Briellion dollars"^Explanation
Memetic Badass: Many fans proclaimed that Goose the cat was so powerful she could defeat Thanos after the movie premiered. Being an alien that can sprout massive tentacles from her mouth to clobber and eat people, while also being able to swallow the Tesseract without harm definitely helps. A lot of fans have joked that it's actually her who's the Marvel universe's most powerful character, not Carol.
Moral Event Horizon: See here.
Narm Charm: Some feel that the '90s references and the odd musical choices make the movie more enjoyable, bringing a lighthearted backdrop to the semi vintage comic book style.
Never Live It Down: Carol giving the "Smile" Biker a Crushing Handshake and threatening to do even worse to him in a Deleted Scene is frequently brought up by critics of the MCU as an example of its protagonists being Unintentionally Unsympathetic. This is in spite of the fact that it is a Deleted Scene, and Carol coming off as a Designated Hero in that moment is very likely the exact reason it was cut from the film.
Older Than They Think: It's revealed that the Skrulls Carol encounters are actually refugees escaping subjugation by the Kree. One of the tie-ins to Secret Invasion had an almost identical twist where it turned out that a group of Skrulls hidden on Knowhere were peaceful refugees who wanted no part in the Skrull invasion of Earth, and were facing persecution by the warlike ruling class.
One-Scene Wonder:
- Good ol' Phil Coulson, making his first appearance in the movies since The Avengers (2012).
- Stan Lee's usual Creator Cameo, considering that the movie was released after his passing, when he's memorizing his lines for Mallrats
Portmanteau Couple Name:
- "Danbeau" for the relationship between Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau.
- "Yonvers" for Carol/Yon-Rogg.
Retroactive Recognition:
- Mc Kenna Grace plays Carol's preteen self.
- Gemma Chan, who would go on to star in Eternals, plays Minn-Erva.
Ron the Death Eater: Carol Danvers. Despite being somewhat arrogant, she is basically a good person, that does not stop people who consider her a Straw Feminist or even a misandrist, even though she never showed hatred towards men.
Ship Mates: People who ship Carol/Maria tend to also ship Steve/Bucky and vice-versa, due to the strong similarities in dynamics between two, leading to jokes from fans and even the actors for Carol and Maria themselves that one is a Gender Flip version of the other.
Ships That Pass in the Night: Carol + Valkyrie has gained some notable online popularity, particularly after Brie Larson herself shared artwork of the coupling, and Tessa Thompson replying.
Signature Scene:
- The images of Carol standing up at points throughout her life after getting knocked down. This was one of the main selling points in the film's marketing and plays out during Carol's Battle in the Center of the Mind with the Supreme Intelligence where she unlocks the full use of her abilities.
- The Marvel Studios title card having its usual images of the various heroes of the franchise replaced by all of Stan Lee's cameos has been widely praised as a touching tribute following the beloved creator's death. The scene when Carol sees Stan memorizing his lines for Mallrats is another one.
- On a more humorous note, the reveal of what a "Flerken" actually is as Goose unleashes a mass of horrifying tentacles on a set of unfortunate Kree soldiers and swallows them whole. Similarly, the reveal that Fury lost his eye by playing with Goose too much and getting it clawed.
Slow-Paced Beginning: A common criticism is that the first 20 minutes of the movie felt rather generic and underwhelming partly due to the generic production design and boring characterization of the Kree Starforce. It didn't help matters that Carol started out as an amnesiac thereby leaving audiences with a protagonist without a clearly defined personality and motivation. The film only begins picking up steam when Carol goes to Earth where she teams up with Nick Fury and the movie moves into the buddy-cop genre.
So Okay, It's Average: General consensus is that it's a good film but ultimately a rather average plot. Most criticism being that it feels held back because it doesn't go further into Carol's character much outside the quest for identity, making her plot come off as very stiff. It's cited certain plot points could've also used more fleshing out such as the switch around that the Kree are the bad guys rather than the Skrulls and more insight into Dr. Lawson/Mar-Vell and what her relationship to Carol was. Likewise that the finale was criticized as uninteresting since, being a prequel story, it doesn't carry the tension that previous origin stories have displayed nor really gave Carol much of challenge for her to overcome to truly come into her own as a heroine.
Spiritual Successor:
- A lot of viewers have noted that this movie makes for a surprisingly good live-action Dragon Ball Z film. Some even consider it to be a more faithful adaptation than the much reviled Dragon Ball Evolution. Like Goku, Carol is an immensely powerful warrior with the ability to fly and shoot energy from her hands, with no understanding of her past, and learns she was part of a legacy of genocidal alien conquerors (the Saiyans/the Kree) who are the sworn enemies of a race of pointy-eared green aliens that later turn out to not all that bad. The movie even climaxes with the main character unlocking her hidden power and entering a glowing Golden Super Mode to defeat the villains.
- It could also be seen as one to She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Both female leads gain superpowers and defect from an Evil Empire after belatedly learning that it's, well, evil and that her enemies were Good All Along. Carol's relationship with the Supreme Intelligence also calls to mind Shadow Weaver's manipulative raising of Adora.
Take That, Scrappy!: Yon-Rogg's Shut Up, Hannibal! moment where Carol energy-blasts him away while cutting him off mid-rant gives a response to his Flat Character status.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- Comic fans were disappointed that Carol's pet cat was given an original name "Goose", as opposed to "Chewie" in the comics.
- The changes to Mar-Vell's character has also drawn some ire. Not just about the Gender Flip, but more of the fact that Mar-Vell does not play as active a role in the MCU as her counterpart did in the comics and has no superpowers or fighting skills.
- This film's depiction of the Skrulls was criticized by comic book fans because of their Adaptational Heroism, making ALL of them into innocent refugees persecuted by the Kree Empire. In the comics, the Skrulls have an intergalictic empire of their own and are the sworn enemies of the Kree, both space-farring superpowers engaged in a Forever War for eons, with the Earth becoming the next battleground as both Kree and Srull seek to bring it into their grasp. While the idea of showing sympathetic Skrulls and humanizing them isn't bad (the comics themselves have plenty of sympathetic Kree and Skrulls), many feel the cosmic side of the MCU would be better served if the Skrull Empire was still a thing, even if the twist of the group shown in the film being refugees was kept.
  - This reaction would become louder in retrospect after the release of Secret Invasion, which portrayed the Skrulls as antagonists. Many feel that if they were going to be the bad guys anyway, a more accurate portrayal in this film would have helped to better set them up as a powerful force and adapting (even just as a token mention) the Skrull Empire would have helped to raise the threat level.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Most of Star-Force suffers from this problem. The characters are suggested to have become True Companions during the six years that Carol spent with them, but we don’t really get to see much of Carol’s relationship with them explored in much detail. Minn-Erva is hit especially hard by this in particular, given that she's described as the previous star player of Star-Force and The Rival to Carol who feels threatened by Carol's power and competence, but she largely serves as another goon for the Kree empire, and is seemingly killed off in the finale, meaning that it's unlikely she'll get any future scenes actually exploring this relationship.
- Dr. Lawson. Though she's two things that the MCU has very little of, (1: non-civilian active female characters played by an actress older than 50, and 2: good-aligned Kree), she doesn't get nearly as much time to shine as earlier MCU "mentor characters" like Dr. Erskine, Odin, or the Ancient One. The story of a brilliant Kree scientist breaking with their genocidal ways to help the Skrulls on Earth is interesting enough to carry an entire movie on its own, but we learn very little about her history with the bad guys or emotional motivations before Yon-Rogg kills her because Carol's memories are fuzzy.
- Actor-wise. Mckenna Grace's scenes were heavily wasted, despite Mckenna's name being findable in the credits.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Carol's vital flashbacks make a big focus on her strong will and determination to rise up after every fall, but some feel this attribute ends up being an Informed Attribute in the film, as most of her conflicts are not rooted on overcoming external challenges like those in her memories, but on building an inner identity (in this case, the human Carol Danvers being re-discovered by the Kree Vers) that is only barely reflected on them.
Ugly Cute: Talos's daughter, only falling under the "ugly" part due to the Skrulls' general appearance. She is otherwise a darling little girl.
Unexpected Character: The Skrulls. While that alien species is typically associated with the Fox-owned Fantastic Four, they're technically allowed to use the Skrulls as a race as long as certain specific characters from the comics don't appear (such as Super-Skrull, who has the powers of all four of the members of the Fantastic Four), but that alone had most fans thinking it would never happen. It should still be noted that Disney's acquisition of Fox makes future inclusion of Skrulls a non-issue, but the deal (which, from a legal standpoint, wasn't very far along during principal photography of developing this movie) wasn't a factor in their inclusion at the time that this movie was being filmed.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: "The Don", a random biker from a deleted scene, comes across Carol Danvers trying to read a map and attempts to flirt with her, spouting off several innuendoes and asking her for a smile despite her trying to ignore him. In response, Carol shakes his hand and uses her powers to shock him before forcing him to relinquish his jacket and motorcycle. The Don complies immediately, and Carol quips "What, no smile?" as he runs away. The movie clearly intended this scene to be framed as Carol putting a chauvinistic asshole in his place. However, it completely ignores that Carol assaulted and robbed a defenseless Muggle because he flirted with her. The theatrical cut tries to downplay this trope: The Don only flirts with her in passing, and Carol steals his bike when he leaves.
Vanilla Protagonist: Detractors of the movie tend to agree that the title character is the least interesting person in her own movie, as well as a character relatively difficult to get invested with in the first place. While decently likable, she can also come across as a Smug Super with little emotional hue, as she rarely gets fazed when away from the Rambeaus, and even her character arc does little visible effect to her personality despite it revolving precisely around identity themes. While her lack of emotion is justified by her Kree Starforce background and Laser-Guided Amnesia, she still tends to be outshone by the much more colorful supporting cast like the bitingly sarcastic Talos (especially once he's revealed to be a good guy), the younger Nick Fury, Dr. Lawson, or the Rambeau family.
Visual Effects of Awesome: One aspect of the film that has been near-universally praised unlike a lot of the other Broken Base by many are the CGI-effects done to make both Samuel L. Jackson and Clark Gregg look younger, that you would be forgiven for thinking that they have been literally de-aged for the role. Especially for Jackson. While most CGI de-aging efforts just copy-paste the actor's younger selves, '90s Fury has a different hairstyle and build than '90s Jackson. The filmmakers took care to de-age Fury, not just Jackson.
- Goose the cat has gotten some praise as well, with the effects seamlessly switching back and forth between the real cats that played her, and the CGI models. It's all the more amazing considering that this film came out the same year as a more infamous film that featured notoriously bad CGI cats.
Watched It for the Representation: This was the first MCU film to be headlined by a female superhero, which brought out a female viewing audience of just under half, compared to the normal superhero movie audience statistic of being about 40% female.

YMMV / Captain Marvel (2019)

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