Comic Book Casting: The CAPTAIN MARVEL (Carol Danvers) Movie

CaptainMarvelShe’s one of Marvel’s most popular female heroes, and actually carries the name of the company in her codename. Marvel’s Captain Marvel has grown from being a itinerant second-tier superhero character in the 70s and 80s into being one of Marvel’s top heroes in the modern age. And her current series Captain Marvel by Kelly Sue DeConnick and others is pushing the character to being a bit of a breakout star in 2013. With her star on the rise and Marvel’s movie slate always looking for new stories, doing a Carol Danvers-centric movie could be an ideal and revelatory piece of popcorn entertainment that has a big place for heart.

Longtime readers of iFanboy might remember a previous edition of Comic Book Casting where I dream-casted a movie based on the original Captain Marvel (with Carol in a supporting role), but this is something entirely different.

The Concept:

Unlike other superhero movies that fall squarely into origin tales, for this I’d jump right in the middle of the action — Carol Danvers already flush with her powers. Her origin can be covered in future movies; a little mystery never hurt anybody. Instead, I’d show Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, working as a superhero for the U.S. military. With the very public debut of Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America and others in their individual movies and in The Avengers, I’d steal a little bit from early Captain Marvel stories and show Danvers attempting to prove herself as the best hero in the Marvel U. I wouldn’t bother with identity issues like her time as Ms. Marvel, instead show her as a hero trying to win over her superiors in the military, the public at large, and herself.

As for an applicable adversary, I’d enlist one of Marvel’s  most memorable foes — M.O.D.O.K. and A.I.M. There’s a lot the two sides could fight about, and I’d love the interaction between Danvers and M.O.D.O.K.

The Director:

This is out of left field, but bear with me: Michael Winterbottom. “Who?” Winterbottom is an acclaimed European director who directed things like Welcome To Sarajevo and 24 Hour Party People, and has a biting sense of place to cover harsh events but also with a flair for humor. He’s a veteran director who’s done more movies than anyone Marvel’s hired before, but I think for a Captain Marvel movie you need someone with a bit more maturity to accurately develop the story and show it off properly.

The Cast:

Captain Marvel / Carol Danvers – Emily Blunt: Could the third time be the charm for Emily Blunt and Marvel? Marvel has tried on two previous occasions to hire Blunt, first as Black Widow for Iron Man 2 and then as Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger. But Blunt has played hard to get, and while she hasn’t chalked up movies as big as the Marvel ones in that time she has built up a great resume of work with the likes of Looper and The Adjustment Bureau. She’s shown major chops in drama, action and comedy movies, adding up to be a great multifaceted choice to play the lead role in a movie like Captain Marvel.

Captain America / Steve Rogers – Chris Evans: You can’t have a Marvel movie with “Captain” in the title without featuring Captain America, could you? (Well, you could… but bear with me.) Much like the way Kelly Sue DeConnick used him in the first issue of her Captain Marvel series, I’d have Evans-as-Cap come in for a portion of the movie — similar to Nick Fury in Iron Man 2 — to add some gravitas to the movie, and show Carol on a level playing field with him. Heck, she could also pull rank on Rogers.

M.O.D.O.K. – Bryan Cranston: The internet has largely thrown their weight behind the idea of Game of Thrones‘ Peter Dinklage to play M.O.D.O.K. should he ever make it to the big screen, but count me as someone who has another actor in mind — Breaking Bad‘s Bryan Cranston. Through that role and others (like last year’s Total Recall), Cranston can play a villain with heart and also someone who isn’t afraid to ham it up for the screen.

Comments

  1. Lately I’ve been using Laurie Holden’s voice for Carol when I read her in Avengers.

  2. Avatar photo DDangelico (@DavidDangelico) says:

    Blunt is a great choice, however, I still think Sackhoff would nail it.

  3. I like Katee Sackhoff for Carol Danvers.

  4. Yvonne Strahovski from chuck would be good in my opinion

  5. Never read the comic (on a bit of a sabbatical from Marvel), but I like the idea of Emily Blunt as (the modern) Captain Marvel and Cranston is almost always the best choice for the Villian’s role.

  6. But– The ORIGINAL Captain Marvel is the one from Fawcett. Mar-Vell was Marvel’s first character named Captain Marvel, but there is only ONE original. When DC leased the character from Fawcett, they couldn’t use his name prominently on the covers, because Marvel had already stolen it. Now, years later, DC’s current version of the character is going by the name “Shazam,” since that’s what a lot of people call him, anyway. It’s a sad situation. So, if for no other reason than that we don’t need more confusion, I hope this movie is never made. Or, if it is, it is done under Carol’s original nom de guerre, Ms. Marvel.