Captain Marvel

Carol’s main arc is about finding her human past and rejecting the men who keep her weak. The movie repeats scenes of her falling while men tell her to stop, then shows her rise with full power. Carol’s strongest relationships are with Maria, Monica, and Lawson, and the story gives her no romance plot. Carol defeats Yon-Rogg without accepting his rules, so female empowerment is central.

Carol and Maria are blocked from combat flying because they are women. Mar-Vell rejects war and builds a way for Skrull refugees to escape Kree rule. Carol later turns against the Kree empire and its control of its own soldiers. The Kree are a fictional alien empire, so the film does not directly attack Christianity, capitalism, or present-day Western society.

The comics’ Mar-Vell is a male Kree hero who mentors Carol. The film changes Mar-Vell into Wendy Lawson, a female scientist played by Annette Bening. The change makes Carol’s mentor a woman and ties the origin to helping Skrull refugees. Kevin Feige said the female best friend and female mentor were important to the film’s development.

The film faced a widespread anti-woke campaign before release. Critics called it social-justice-warrior propaganda, feminist victimhood, and a girlboss vehicle, and they attacked Larson’s comments about white male critics. Rotten Tomatoes removed pre-release ratings and written comments after the film was targeted, while YouTube videos and boycott talk spread. Some fans defended the film or said the claims were exaggerated, but the backlash remained large and lasted for years.

The stored woke scores for the five writers range from 9 to 22. The stored scores for the editors range from 18 to 27. The summaries show little public activist work, so the creative team’s track record adds only a weak signal.