The Four Color Media Monitor: Roy Thomas didn't like the rendition of the Skrulls in Captain Marvel

Carol Danvers' original co-creator with the late Gene Colan in 1968 wrote what he thought of the Captain Marvel movie on Bleeding Cool (via Bounding Into Comics). Like various other reviews seemingly positive, it does sound strained in an effort to diplomatic, but Thomas does say something interesting about the depiction of the Skrulls in Marvel's first major artistic misfire:

...Actually, the one thing I really hated in the film was turning the Skrulls into a peace-loving race, with the Kree as the heavies. As far as I’m concerned as the principal conceptualizer of the Kree/Skrull War (and I suspect Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would’ve agreed with me), the Skrulls and the Kree are each as bad as each other, as they say. Having the Skrulls all mushy and family-friendly at the end left a bad taste in my mouth… but I loved ’em for most of the movie, when they were doing shape-shifting stuff that looked (and as far as I’m concerned, were) downright evil.

Well there were, as noted, signs the screenplay was politically influenced, with the Skrulls turned into the movie's idea of stand-ins for illegal immigrants to be sided with. But, in the original stories from the Silver/Bronze Age, both Skrulls and Kree were crooks clawing at each others' necks in power struggles. The Captain Marvel movie is probably the first Marvel film where the political metaphors are more blatant than others.

It was reported a short time ago that Brie Larson's rendition of Carol Danvers would be the prime focus of Avengers: Endgame, but now, it looks like the pretentious Kevin Feige is backtracking, as he's said Danvers won't be the main focus of the new film going forward. Guess the producers had to admit they'd alienated moviegoers so much, it'd be best they tone down Larson's appearance there by not putting her front and center, where she'd frustrate viewers with her wooden performance. It sure sounds like they're on damage control now.

In the end, it's a shame Thomas and Colan's creation was done such injustice by cynical filmmakers with no respect for the material they worked hard to develop decades before.

Labels: Avengers, good writers, marvel comics, politics, women of marvel

There have been decent skrulls in the comics too; Johnny Storm was married to one for a while, and despite a lot of convolutions she had a good heart.

There are different takes on whether there is a political metaphor to the way skrulls are shown in the movie:
https://forward.com/culture/420664/is-captain-marvel-a-zionist-superhero/

The Captain Marvel movie doesn't seem to have alienated many viewers yet, but there is hope; it might still tank in its third weekend.

Posted by Anonymous | 5:18 PM

When all is said and done, Capt. Marvel is your basic Marvel movie; a fun ride, worth seeing, nothing revolutionary. If you like the others, you will like this one. If it wasn't for the false flag mysoginist internet campaign Disney launched, it might not have garnered the same backlash attention and sales that it did. It is better than some of the other films in that the action seems part of the story, not just tossed in for the sake of a big climactic fight and demolish scene at the end.

Calling Larsen's performance wooden misunderstands the story, which is about her regaining her identity and humanity. She is cold at the beginning because she is an amnesiac trained to be a soldier putting a cause before herself; as she regains her memories and reconnects with the people who loved her, she becomes human again.

Posted by Anonymous | 6:47 AM

Heaven's Gate would have been one of the biggest box office blockbusters of all time if it had been part of a major franchise (MCU, Star Wars), if the studio had bought out theaters in advance, if the shill media had hyped it, if negative publicity had been suppressed, and if it had opened on a weekend with no other major releases.

Posted by Anonymous | 11:41 AM