Captain Marvel is very different than your traditional Superhero Origin Story. It is so unique in many ways, but that doesn’t mean that there weren’t any similarities between Captain Marvel and all other MCU movies. On the contrary, there were a lot of similarities. This isn’t about the similar characters that show up in the film. They were there as the plot needed them to be. But apart from them, ranging between Moments to story arcs, Captain Marvel had elements akin to at least half a dozen MCU films.
Well, this is what happens when you have put out 20 films which strive to be different from each other. Some things just end up being similar to each other. Captain Marvel kind of has a lot of them, and it seems that she owns those moments really well. This film is a prequel, so technically Captain Marvel did it all before other films, except Captain America: The First Avenger. So let’s get right into it. Spoilers obviously follow.
Guardians of the Galaxy
This little moment comes from Goose the Flerken Copy Cat! There had to be some similar moments and references here since the likes of Ronan and Korath are there in this film, but this alike scene doesn’t relate them. It isn’t a big steal as you would think. Remember the fight that takes place on Ronan’s ship between Korath, his Kree Soldiers and Star-Lord, Drax and Groot. There was a scene where we see the real power of Groot who branches his arm out through the soldiers and takes out a dozen of them smashing them all over.
The same scene takes place in Captain Marvel where Goose the Flerken sprouts his tentacles to grab the Kree Soldiers, and smashes them all over the place. Only here Goose also ends up swallowing them, leaving no death trail!
Doctor Strange
In Doctor Strange, right when Stephen meets the Ancient One, she shows him the existence of the Multiverse by giving him a tour of it. How she does that was by sending his Astral Form or his conscience (that’s debatable) afloat through the different dimensions of the Multiverse. Something related happens in Captain Marvel.
She isn’t sent on a fast forward journey of the Multiverse, but her mind is tormented by a similar montage. Before the final battle happens in Captain Marvel, Yon Rogg gets hold of Carol and tries to control her by offering her to the Supreme Intelligence. Then Intelligence tries to torment her in order for her to bend the Knee, this is where we get the moment akin to Doctor Strange as Carol is flown through the compounds of Supreme Intelligence and you get the same feeling that you did when the Doctor Strange moment happened.
Thor: Ragnarok
Not a lot of similarities from this film, but there was one little Easter Egg that stands out. Captain Marvel had a device attached to her neck when we see her taking her first on-screen meeting with the Supreme Intelligence. This is how Supreme Intelligence controls, or rather dampens her powers telling her that they were actually given to her by the Kree and can be taken back as well. This device even electrocutes her. Remember someone else who suffered the wrath of this device?
Thor the God of Thunder got electrocuted multiple times by a tiny device on his neck. How ironic. You could argue that Thor’s little device was much advanced as compared to Carol’s since she clearly got out of it on her own. But the purpose of both were similar, i.e. to hold off these heroes. Another similarity between Carol and Thor was that both of them were hot heads who punched first and asked questions later.
Captain America: The First Avenger
While Carol takes the “Hot Head” trait from Thor, she also takes one from Steve Rogers and that is to never give up and take a stand for what’s wrong. Steve’s life struggles before getting his powers were shown explicitly as that is what his character was built upon. “I can do this all day.” He may be a skinny little fellow but had a big heart. Erskine’s experiment gave him the tools to match his courage.
The same thing happened with Carol throughout her life. Being a girl, she was denied many opportunities, but she always pushed back and stood right up. She was courageous right from the start, and now her insanely strong powers will lead her to be the next Captain. Steve had his military background and Carol has her Air Force background. So, this is a big take from the first Captain America movie.
Black Panther & Spider-Man: Homecoming
While Captain Marvel was a different origin story, it starts off similar to Black Panther and Spider-Man where all three of these individuals have their powers right from the beginning, and then they kind of find themselves, and their place in this world. Carol more so than the other two has to piece together to find out who she really is. Then, these three heroes turn out to be even bigger bad-asses than they were in the beginning.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Okay, this one is kind of a stretch, but it can be taken as a similarity. Just as Ego the Living Planet formed a humanoid body to travel through the world, and took different avatars to fit in, the Supreme Intelligence takes different forms according to what people want to see her/it as. The only difference is that the humanoid projections of Ego are real, whereas the ones that the Supreme Intelligence makes are all in people’s heads.
