No one would blame anyone for getting a little emotional while watching the first Captain Marvel trailer. After all, it's the first female-led film from Marvel ever. But it's a specific feminist scene in the Captain Marvel trailer that is giving fans all the feels. Seriously, grab all the tissues because it's possible they'll be needed before this post is through.
Throughout the trailer, which looks at the mysterious origins of Captain Marvel, her (human) alter-ego Carol Danvers, a pilot-turned-superhero, is seen getting pushed down again and again throughout her life. She falls down playing baseball as a young kid and later plummets from a high rope during basic training. But a minute and forty seconds into the video Brie Larson's hero is seen getting back up. It turns out every time she fell down, she picked herself up to keep going. And this montage, of Carol falling and picking herself up, making a fist in defiance, made for a pretty inspiring visual. One that wasn't lost on fans.
"The moment that sold me on #CaptainMarvel," @OliverSava, a freelance writer for the AV Club and Vulture, tweeted alongside the shots of Carol Danvers throughout her life clenching her fist as to say she's ready for what comes next. A good thing too, since she's kind of the world's best chance at taking down Thanos.
Captain Marvel basically has all of the powers of the individual Avengers combined into one thanks to a run-in with a Kree warrior named Mar-Vell (rumored to be played by Jude Law) in which her genes got melded with that of a Kree alien's. But what's so powerful about this image from the Captain Marvel trailer is how human it looks and feels.
It's Carol Danvers who is shown getting back up, not her superhero alter ego. She may have the powers to take down anyone in her path, but this power to persist is something wholly human and entirely feminist. Something that women of all ages can look to for inspiration when they just don't feel as empowered as they should.
"This shot is so flawlessly beautiful," a fan named @pxterrparker tweeted. While another fan named @stanweirdo tweeted, "Carol danvers did NOT come to play. This whole transition snatched my entire existence."
The scene is, by nature, unlike anything else fans have seen from the MCU. And it was almost life-changing for fans like @JennaGuillaume, editor-at-large at BuzzFeed Australia, who tweeted, "Okay I legit teared up at the #CaptainMarvel trailer? I didn’t realize how much it would mean to me to FINALLY see a female lead in the MCU. Like I’ve been waiting for it for so long and watching the trailer it was like...oh. So THAT’S what it feels like."
Others fully agreed. "This trailer got me all weepy this morning," a fan and artist @Khallion wrote. "She's such a badass. I can't wait." While another writer Priscilla Page, @BBW_BFF, tweeted, "This trailer has restorative powers." And honestly, it's hard to deny that seeing Captain Marvel throw some serious punches, even one at an old lady, isn't invigorating.
But, not everyone saw themselves in the trailer, and as Twitter user @spooloflies made clear, that's not the worst thing. They explained that the trailer "re-emphasized two things for me: (1) Carol is not MY hero, this is not the kind of story I automatically gravitate towards. (2) I don't f*cking care because this looks amazing and I feel pandered to in the best ways and hell yes I'll be there opening night."
Captain Marvel is the hero that a lot of Marvel fans have been waiting for, including Larson, who told Vanity Fair last year that her character was "everything that’s progressive and important and meaningful and a symbol I wished I would’ve had growing up."
Like so many fans, Larson knows just how emotional seeing Captain Marvel on the big screen will be. Luckily, the world won't have to wait much longer to see her.
