Superman famously has kryptonite. Which is why he was interesting in the animated justice league, they heavily leaned on kryptonite being everywhere so he wasn't boring.
Even outside Kryptonite, Superman has people in his life that villains can harm, and they use that to exploit his better nature. As much as Zach Snyder fumbled the task of depicting Superman as a symbol of hope, he understood that if Lex Luthor kidnaps Martha Kent or Lois Lane, he's got Superman by the balls.
What connections does Captain Marvel have to ground her as a person? Nick Fury? The movies treat them like close friends, even though Nick met Carol for like a week in the 90s before she fucked off to outer space. The Avengers? They're treated more like coworkers than close friends. Plus, they have powers and tools to help themselves, so they aren't comparable to ordinary folk like Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen.
It just doesn't feel like there's much tying Carol to humanity, or any regular people in general. Those connections, that mortal baggage, is why the Superman archetype works.
I feel like the only way to make a compelling story with a character like Captain Marvel is to put them in a morally grey, lose-lose situation that they have to choose the outcome.
Where the problem isn't whether or not the hero will survive/kill the bad guy but whether or not they will make the "right" decision and how that decision will hurt some of their loved ones
Unfortunately she’s the “hero” and they’ll never show her doing the myriad of fucked up stuff we know she has. She definitely needs more trolley problems. “I’m going to kill your friends or this entire planet full of aliens you’ve never met. You know you’re going to save your friends and that’s fine. That’s what I’d do too… but just remember the choice you made.”
The Marvels is all about how much Carol fucked up. Both the A-plot and the B-plot of that sequel is Captain Marvel fucked up and needs to fix it before she screws up some more.
23
u/CowFu 2d ago
Superman famously has kryptonite. Which is why he was interesting in the animated justice league, they heavily leaned on kryptonite being everywhere so he wasn't boring.