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Beginning with an impressive tribute to Stan Lee, godfather of Marvel Comics, Marvel’s newest movie, “Captain Marvel,” grabs the attention of viewers from the first second. The tribute is a compilation of short clips of Lee put together in a creative slideshow. Although it is brief and simple, the tribute is emotional and reminds viewers of the influence Lee has had on superhero movies of our time. 

The movie centers around Brie Larson, who plays Carol Danvers, otherwise known as Captain Marvel, and it takes place in the ’90s. The movie is based off of one of the comics by Lee and is meant to be a prequel, taking place years before “The Avengers: Infinity War.” The end goal of the movie is to obtain the tesseract, which is basically a powerful box that contains one of the infinity stones mentioned in “Infinity War.”

The movie begins with Danvers showing off her fighting skills as she practices with Ben Mendelsohn, who plays Talos, the leader of the Kree Starforce. As far as Danvers knows, she is part of the Kree Starforce, a small superhero group who is responsible for giving her powers. 

As the plot thickens, viewers soon learn that there is more to Danvers’ past than what is initially revealed. One of the main themes of the movie is trust. The movie eventually explains how Danvers knows little about her past ever since surviving a plane crash when she worked for the U.S. Air Force. She is led to trust the Kree because she has no other choice. 

One criticism I have for this film is that the beginning can get confusing at times and is not explained well until the very end. It’s unclear what Danvers’ job in the Air Force has to do with the plot, and even though it’s explained later on, it made me wonder what the purpose was for a lot of the scenes and characters. 

The way that Danvers interacts with Talos also bothered me. Although this movie is known for being the first Marvel movie featuring a woman lead, the distinction between men and women in the film was overdone at times. While Talos serves as a mentor for Danvers, most of what he tells her is to control her emotions and not let them get in the way of her abilities. Even though this is a fair message to send, I wish the movie would have highlighted the strengths of Danvers without focusing so much on a stereotypical female weakness. 

The movie also stars Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, a U.S. agent who works with Danvers for most of the film. I appreciate the relationship between Fury and Danvers much more because they work together to reach the end goal, and Fury does not degrade Danvers or highlight her differences just because she is a woman. There are moments when Danvers knew answers that Fury didn’t, and Fury respects her and does not make a spectacle out of the fact that she knows more than him. 

Another aspect of the movie that I enjoyed was the presence of the Skrulls, which are green alien shapeshifters who appear as the bad guys in the beginning. They are painted as the villains just because they look different from everyone else, but the actual bad guys turn out to be humans. The way that Danvers and Fury interact with the Skrulls in the end stresses the importance of being welcoming to those who, on the surface, seem like they don’t belong. 

One thing I loved about this movie compared to some other Marvel movies is that the ending was very humanistic and can be related to real life. It ended up being about empathy and inclusivity while connecting to the storyline of “The Avengers” series.

In my opinion, the movie did its job well as a transition between Avengers films. There was a clever Stan Lee cameo in a fighting scene in the first half of the movie, and there was an extra scene after the end credits that served as a cliffhanger and a connection to “The Avengers: Endgame.” This film is still entertaining to watch if you aren’t familiar with “The Avengers” series storyline. The ending will not make as much sense, but it is detached enough from the other films that it can still be enjoyed without the rest of the series. 

Compared to other Marvel films, “Captain Marvel” is more charming and entertaining, and it does not feel like there is as much at stake.

This makes sense when considering the fact that the release of this movie was about two months before the release of “The Avengers: Endgame.” Premiering April 26, it will feature Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel and will hopefully answer viewers’ questions about The Avengers, the tesseract, the infinity stones and all things Marvel Cinematic Universe.