One of the biggest moments of this year’s San Diego Comic-Con came when Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige finally revealed that Brie Larson is playing Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe . That confirmed the rumors that had been circulating since the beginning of summer, and Larson will become the first actress to headline a solo heroine film for the MCU…in 2019.
Three years can feel like an eternity for comic book movie fans, but there’s a pretty good chance that Larson will make her debut sooner rather than later. This weekend, Larson posted an image of herself on Instagram to let everyone know that she’s happily researching her new role in style.
We’ve got to mention that we love the Captain Marvel jacket that Larson is wearing that pic. And if you’re curious about which book she’s reading, that is the first volume of writer Kelly Sue DeConnick’s second Captain Marvel series, where she was joined by artist David Lopez. It was reprinted in a trade paperback as Captain Marvel Vol. 1 : Higher, Further, Faster, More; but it’s really not the greatest starting point for the character if new readers want a better understanding of her character. (We suspect this is not her first bit of Captain Marvel research.)
The thing you need remember is that Carol Danvers spent most of her career as heroine calling herself Ms. Marvel, and she had a lot of ups and downs over the course of the last five decades. In the ’70s, Ms. Marvel was one of the few heroines with her own comic book series, and Marvel pushed her as a feminist icon. The stories are dated by modern standards, but writer Chris Claremont and a number of artists gave Ms. Marvel a memorable run, which is currently available in two hardcover volumes of Marvel Masterworks.
For the better part of two decades, Carol Danvers was largely on the fringe of the Marvel universe after losing most of her memories and powers to Rogue, back when Rogue was still a villain and not yet a member of the X-Men. Carol rebranded herself as Warbird during Kurt Busiek’s Avengers run in the mid ’90s, which started her modern comeback. Those stories are available in paperback, and as a hardcover omnibus.
The next item on our list is the Ms. Marvel series that was written by Brian Reed. That series lasted 50 issues, and it was one of Marvel’s most serious attempts to make Carol Danvers an A-list heroine. Reed was joined by several different artists as he gave Carol more personality and drive than she had in a long time. There are nine volumes of the trade paperback reprint of this series, but we particularly liked the Civil War tie-in, which found Carol facing the emotional consequences of her actions. It seems fitting, considering that Captain Marvel is one of the leading characters of Civil War II.
The DeConnick era arrived when she teamed up with artists Dexter Soy and Emma Rios in a series that gave Carol Danvers a new costume and a new purpose in life as she finally took the superhero name of Marvel’s original Captain Marvel. If you only want to read about Carol as Captain Marvel, this is the best place to start.
Marvel’s numbering system for DeConnick’s Captain Marvel run is wacky, so we’re gonna walk you through it:
- Captain Marvel Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight
- Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Down
- Avengers: The Enemy Within
- Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Higher, Further, Faster
- Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Stay Fly
- Captain Marvel Vol. 3: Alis Volat Propriis
- Captain Marvel & the Carol Corps
The newest trade paperback collection of the latest Captain Marvel series by writers Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas also came out recently, and we’d recommend checking that out as well.
What do you think about our Captain Marvel reading list? Which Captain Marvel stories would you recommend? Let us know in the comment section below!
Images: Brie Larson, Marvel Comics
