Many superhero movies about superwomen are considered empowering and encourage feminism. But how does the character Captain Marvel (in the MCU) address feminism and femininity? And how do these factors affect character development?

To begin, let’s start by talking about feminism and femininity. As we all know, Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel is a feminist icon, and in her solo movie released in 2019, Captain Marvel, we take a look at evolution through multiple waves of feminism. At its core, Captain Marvel is about feminism. Carol opens the movie in the Kree settlement, clearly in a post-feminist world. What Carol doesn’t know is that her world is not post-feminist. In reality, feminism is required to learn more about herself and expand her power, which involves self-discovery, empowerment, and utilizing her emotions. One of the ideas at the core of Kree strategy is the idea of repressing emotions in combat, something much pushed in workplaces and used as reasoning to repress and put down workers in our current world. But Carol fights this, and by the end of the movie, she uses her emotions and hardship to increase her combat capabilities.

What’s even more radical is that Captain Marvel shows multiple types of power and the evolution of feminism through these types of power and empowerment. As the movie continues, Carol experiences individual empowerment over the Kree and the misogynistic people in her life. But then she shares the empowerment with the Skrulls as she uses her power for the better. Carol moves through the post-feminist ideals in the beginning, to second-wave feminist ideals during her empowerment process, and then to radical, intersectional third-wave and fourth-wave feminist ideals.

The film also centers around female friendships and camaraderie. Carol Danvers and Maria Rambeau represent this and also show to a wider audience that feminist empowerment and the overturning of the patriarchy is not an individual process, but a communal one. It is through all of this that Carol Danvers becomes Captain Marvel and experiences personal transformation, showing that feminism is an essential part of individual and communal growth. Captain Marvel also allows Carol to maintain her femininity and integrates her identity as a woman into her identity as a superhero.

Overall, Captain Marvel is a better movie than people let on, although I do think that one of the most powerful members of the MCU deserves more recognition. Hopefully, Captain Marvel 2 will show more character development and I'm excited to see the mini-series Ms. Marvel premiering on June 8, 2022.