Captain Marvel Composer Explains What Sets Carol’s Theme Apart From Other Superhero Themes

As we’ve seen with many a film over the years, a score can be an incredibly vital tool in leaving an impression with the audience, and that definitely is true of Marvel Studios films. We’ve seen it with the Avengers theme and the Spider-Man theme, and you can definitely throw the Captain Marvel theme into the mix. ComicBook.com had the chance to speak to Captain Marvel composer Pinar Toprak about how she created the gorgeous main theme for Carol, but also what the most important elements were and what sets it apart from other superhero themes.

“I wanted, well, there are a few things that I knew I wanted to accomplish,” Toprak said. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to accomplish it all, but, the first thing was I wanted it to be memorable and singable. I wanted people to be able to just sing the tune. And I also wanted the first two notes to be memorable because a lot of times what happens with these films, there’s so much going on and maybe you’re at the end, you have an opportunity to fully or in some key moments you have the opportunity to really state the theme. But a lot of times, you don’t have that much me. Things happen kind of quickly. So I wanted to make sure from the first two notes you could kind of identify Carol’s intervals, and that was important to me.”

Toprak wanted to do something different with Captain Marvel’s opening theme, something that still got across how powerful she was without sounding like other superhero themes. It was ultimately those first two notes that opened everything else up, setting Cap apart from other heroes.

“So with those in mind, I started, I actually went out for a walk because I wasn’t able to, I was in the studio and I was just kind of stuck,” Toprak said. “I think I was psyching myself out a little bit. You know, trying to think of something big. So I went out for a walk and I started just humming a minor seventh interval, which is how they’re the first two notes of the theme. Because I wanted, a lot of the superhero themes start with a fourth and fifth interval, and they’re all great. With her, the whole higher, further, faster thing, I just wanted this really large, kind of unique interval for her so that even just with two notes, you know she’s coming.”

“So I just started just humming myself that, and some variations of it,” Toprak said. “It actually, once we got out of the studio, I wrote it really fast. Miraculously, it just unlocked. And I have it recorded on my voice memo because I was outside. And then I came home and I composed the rest of it. For me, it’s that main tune, the main thing to crack. Once I crack that, the rest… It’s almost like a response to it. And it generally, I tend to come up with those faster. The beginning is the hardest.”

Captain Marvel stars Academy Award winner Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Lee Pace (Ronan), Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva), Algenis Perez Soto, Rune Temte, McKenna Grace, Kenneth Mitchell (Joseph Danvers), with Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), and Jude Law.

Captain Marvel is available to own on Digital and Movies Anywhere now and hits Blu-ray on June 11th. You can always hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things Captain Marvel!