Ms. Marvel Co-Creator Talks ‘Captain Marvel’ Movie

Longtime comic book author Gerry Conway, who co-created Ms. Marvel with John Buscema, never foresaw any of his comic book creations going on to make a dent in wider pop culture.

“It’s tremendous. It’s been a great couple of years for me, with a lot of my material coming into the pop culture and media in TV and film,” Conway told City Net Magazine at Montreal Comic Con 2018.

“Back in the ’70s, when I originated characters like this and the Punisher and Firestorm, none of those books were selling the kind of numbers that would indicate that we had a potential impact on the larger culture,” he said. “Comics, at the time, we felt that the business was dying under us, and we were just hoping to get through the next five or 10 years and have fun doing the books we enjoyed doing.”

Conway and Buscema reimagined Air Force officer Carol Danvers — created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan — as human-Kree hybrid Ms. Marvel, who would decades later be re-established in the modern era as Captain Marvel after stints under codenames Binary and Warbird.

Conway is impressed the character will soon headline her own Marvel Studios movie and join the fray in sprawling crossover Avengers 4, where she’ll be played by Academy Award-winner Brie Larson, but credits the movie iteration to Kelly Sue DeConnick, who had Danvers assume the mantle of Captain Marvel in an all-new ongoing series in 2012.

“To be fair, I think it’s important to note that this is Captain Marvel, the version of the character that Kelly Sue DeConnick made iconic,” Conway said. “And while it’s based on the character that I originated — or the combination that I originated, Ms. Marvel — it’s more influenced, I think, by Kelly Sue’s interpretation.”

The famed comic book creator’s most famous creation, Frank Castle, has starred in numerous films and Marvel’s The Punisher television series, while his DC co-creation, Firestorm, has appeared in multiple animated series and live-action CW series The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.

In his multi-year run on The Amazing Spider-Man, Conway brought to life such long-running foes as Tombstone, Hammerhead, Tarantula, Carrion, and the Jackal, as well as Spider-Man clone Ben Reilly and Daily Bugle worker Gloria Grant. His time at Marvel also saw the creation of anti-hero Man-Thing.

Captain Marvel opens March 8. Larson then reprises the role in Avengers 4, out May 3.