'Captain Marvel': Mar-Vell's Identity Revealed

More than a few reveals were guarded by Captain Marvel's secretive marketing campaign, and now we know one of the biggest secrets it tried to keep under wraps, and it all comes down to Mar-Vell.

Spoilers incoming for Captain Marvel, so if you haven't seen the movie yet you've been warned.

We good? Good, because this is a biggie. In the comics Mar-Vell plays (until recently that is) an instrumental part in Carol Danvers' metamorphosis into Ms. Marvel. It's the combination of his genetic structure and the radiation from the Psyche-Magnetron that gave her powers in the first place, but as we see in the movie, that has been switched around a bit, including the identity of Mar-Vell.

Last chance, seriously.

As Carol starts to unlock her memories that were suppressed, she pieces together how she got her abilities, which revolves around a plane crash. We see that Annette Bening's character plays some sort of pivotal role in these memories, and thanks to some Skrull tampering with her brain she focuses on things a bit closer, realizing that Bening's name is Wendy Lawson.

If that sounds familiar, it should, as in the books Mar-Vell goes by the name of Walter Lawson. As you can probably put together, that means Bening's character is in fact Mar-Vell.

More pieces fall into place, as it is revealed that Lawson was formerly a Kree agent sent to monitor Earth and expel any leftover Skrulls, which the Kree are attempting to eradicate. Eventually, Mar-Vell would turn against her Kree origins and attempt to help the Skrulls find a new home since the Kree destroyed their homeworld. The Kree were after her because of this defection, but they were also after an energy source she had harnessed called the Lightspeed Engine, which she had planned to use to help the Skrulls escape and find a new home.

Mar-Vell is flying with Carol in a plane that harnesses this new energy source when they are attacked by the Kree, and end up crash landing. After the crash, Carol gets Mar-Vell out of the plane but she is shot and killed by a mysterious figure in the smoke, who is revealed to be Yon-Rogg (Jude Law). Thanks to Carol's quick thinking she ends up destroying the Lightspeed Engine and the energy washes all over Carol, infusing her with this powerful energy and giving her powers.

As you can see, Marvel took the foundation of the original Ms. Marvel origin but also managed to twist it on its head, and we're sure it will get people talking after they see the film.

Now, it was understood before the movie dropped that Bening was playing the Supreme Intelligence, the Kree A.I that houses all Kree knowledge. As is explained during the film, it takes on the identity of someone different to every person and is usually someone significant to them personally. That's why it looks like Mar-Vell, though that is only an appearance that Carol sees.

So, what did you think of the big twist? Let us know in the comments and hit me up on Twitter @MattMuellerCB!

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