Captain Marvel (2019)

[Reverend]

Yep. And I believe Jimmy Olsen also originated in the radio series, just as, decades later, Harley Quinn originated in the 90s animated cartoon. And I honestly can't remember if my first exposure to Batman was via the comics or the old Adam West tv series, which I watched religiously as a kid, along with reruns of THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN with George Reeves. And, growing up in the sixties, I knew about the Shadow and the Phantom and Mandrake and that bunch because my dad, who had been a fan back in the day, introduced me to them. (Heck, my grandfather gave me his old TARZAN hardcovers when I was a kid.)

The likes of Batman and Superman are so ingrained in western culture, for most people born from the 60's on wards it's going to be difficult to pin down when we were first exposed to their media.
For me I think it was a hardback Superman Annual/activity book type thing from the mid-80's and an old matchbox toy Batmobile (the Adam West one) that I inherited from one of my older brothers. I also have vague memories of a Spider-man cartoon in the 80's and a Tarzan TV show that was probably on Sundays on Channel 4 between repeats of the Adam West Batman show, Gentle Ben, Flipper, The Littlest Hobo & Black Beauty...Damn. It's weird what shakes loose when you wander off down memory lane.

Point being, I'm pretty sure I didn't read an actual super hero comic book (other than my friend's 2000ADs and a random issue of Eagle my grandfather got me once) until I was in my late teens, early twenties. And that was mostly out of curiosity of what all those shows were based on.

Meanwhile, somebody mentioned CONAN above. He first appeared in the pulps back in 1932, hit the comics in 1970, and finally made it to the big screen in 1982, some fifty years after he debuted in WEIRD TALES magazine!

And it took 'John Carter' who inspired a lot of these characters (particularly Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon & by extension Star Wars as a whole) closer to a century to make it to the big screen!

It seems as is often the case, timing is a huge factor in whether or not something gets adapted. Carter was a little too ahead of his time while the later derivatives were right there in the zeitgeist.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Catching the Adam West Batman show in syndication was my first exposure to superheroes, period. Blew my 3-or-4-year-old mind.

 

[DrCorby]

I remember picking up a Batman comic while waiting at the barber shop and being annoyed it wasn't like the Batman '66 TV series. Probably was the late '60s to 1970, because it included Richard N. Mixon. (Even that young (maybe 8 or 9?), I knew it was a feeble parody...)

 

[Greg Cox]

I remember picking up comics when they were just twelve cents apiece, usually from a spin rack at the local drug store. Not quite old enough to remember dime comics. Mostly read DC as a kid, then switched over to Marvel as a teen, before revisiting DC after CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS back in the eighties.

The page-to-screen thing is just as variable with books, btw. Some novels jump straight to the movies (Hi, HARRY POTTER, HUNGER GAMES, GONE GIRL, etc.) while others languish in Development Hell for decades before finally being made. (THE MEG, OUTLANDER, THE ALIENIST, etc.) While still others seemed doomed to remain "Soon to be a Major Motion Picture" forever. (THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT, THE DEMOLISHED MAN, A MANHATTAN GHOST STORY, etc.) There's no rhyme or reason to it.

As I always counsel authors who have just made their first big movie or TV deal, "Many are optioned, but few are filmed."

 

[Nerys Myk]

I started at the 12 cent price point, too. Bought them at a Stop n Go convenience store in my neighborhood. Never played favorites between DC and Marvel, there were always books from both companies I liked.

 

[Greg Cox]

I started at the 12 cent price point, too. Bought them at a Stop n Go convenience store in my neighborhood. Never played favorites between DC and Marvel, there were always books from both companies I liked.

My tastes changed as I got older. As a kid, I preferred DC because they were mostly standalone stories without a lot of confusing subplots and personal problems and such. But as I got older, Teen Greg loved all the angst and continuing storylines, which made the DC stuff (at that time) seem unsophisticated by comparison.

This also reflected a change in my buying habits. As a kid, I picked out my comics based on whatever cover struck my fancy ("Ooh, Green Lantern is fighting a robot gorilla!") so Marvel's ongoing soap operas frustrated me because I always seemed to be coming into the middle of the story. It wasn't until the first Kree-Skrull War in THE AVENGERS that I got into the habit of following the same titles regularly, month after month, at which point I got hooked on Marvel's tighter continuity and multi-part storylines.

Nowadays, of course, you have the same writers and artists moving back and forth between the companies, so there's no real stylistic difference between Marvel and DC. They'll all going for the same age range.

And just to bring us back OT, I remember picking up the first issue of Ms. Marvel (aka Carol Danvers) at my neighborhood 7-Eleven way back in 1977 . . . .

 

[ITL]

I used to get the majority of my comic books from a book stall on the local market, and as most of them were Marvel, I became a Marvel kid by default. Marvel UK reprinted tons of Silver Age stuff back in the 70s, so I had that plus the then current Bronze Age stuff to wade through. Good times.

Mind you, Marvel UK had the habit of reprinting stories out of order. Made it a bit difficult to get the chronology sorted, especially in those pre-internet days.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Carol returns to Earth in the 90s... So how long has she been in space, which could have been a long time, if she's functionally immortal after Kree tampering to her DNA.

The older she is, the less hardware she would have been trained on as her gender was less respected in the past, and more likely that whatever she trained on would not still be in use by the time she returned to Earth in the 90s.

The Kree probably lied and said that Earth was destroyed, or that Starforce was the only thing keep her homeworld's head above water.

Her immortality may mean that she is a Kree, or a Skrull brainwashed into thinking that she is Carol, which has to be easier than upgrading a human into a super human.... Unless she is a clone of the original Carol which means that they can rewire the girl from the beginning of her life through to "now".

That may mean that Carol is not Immortal, or ageing slower, but just that, every time she dies on a mission, Carol respawns from a save point... which could be from a couple hours before she died, or from a couple hours after she was originally abducted by the Kree.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Discovering that Batman was also in comic books was another epiphany that shortly followed.

And just to bring us back OT

A very ambiguous abbreviation, since it stands for opposite phrases.

 

[Reverend]

Carol returns to Earth in the 90s... So how long has she been in space, which could have been a long time, if she's functionally immortal after Kree tampering to her DNA.

The older she is, the less hardware she would have been trained on as her gender was less respected in the past, and more likely that whatever she trained on would not still be in use by the time she returned to Earth in the 90s.

Given that she's wearing this patch while walking past a pair of these aircraft in the flashback, I think it's safe to assume she left Earth at some point between 1980 and 1992. I'll take a wild guess and say it's probably closer to the late 80's/early 90's since the main narrative appears to be mid-to-late 90's. 5-10 years seems like a reasonable amount of time for her to have been out there doing the Supreme Intelligence's dirty work without making ridiculously over qualified as a space adventurer.

The Kree probably lied and said that Earth was destroyed, or that Starforce was the only thing keep her homeworld's head above water.

The trailers seems to quite clearly imply that all conscious memory of Earth and her life there has been erased or at least suppressed.

Her immortality may mean that she is a Kree, or a Skrull brainwashed into thinking that she is Carol, which has to be easier than upgrading a human into a super human.... Unless she is a clone of the original Carol which means that they can rewire the girl from the beginning of her life through to "now".

One of the flashbacks seems to feature something alien blowing up in her face and infusing her with some kind of energy following what looks like a crash. I think it's safe to assume the basic gist of her comic origin is essentially the same. Meaning she's not a Kree or half-Kree programmed with human memories but a human accidentally infused with Kree DNA. Basically an ad-hoc Inhuman.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Trailers lie.

I was thinking of the "version" of Mar-Vell from around the time of Civil War 1 who, a Manchurian Candidate Skrull, found out his origin, without the "kill all humans" programming kicking in, and he was not happy about not living a lie.

 

[Reverend]

Trailers lie.

I was thinking of the "version" of Mar-Vell from around the time of Civil War 1 who, a Manchurian Candidate Skrull, who found out his origin, without the "kill all humans" programming kicking in, and he was not happy about not living a lie.

I think it's a given that since they're introducing Skrulls that *somebody* is going to turn out to be a sleeper, I just don't think it'll be any of the new characters. Equally, introducing Captain Marvel as an impostor of a character nobody knows or cares about has very little dramatic potential.

Indeed, to have any impact it kinda needs to be one of the original Avengers or one of their supporting characters (Pepper, Happy, Sam etc.) Personally, my money is on Black Widow since 1) It's probably impossible to impersonate Thor effectively (because: hammer!) 2) See also: Hulk 3) The already did Cap in the comics. 4) Tony as an imposer just feels random and 5) Nobody would care if it was Hawkeye.

If nothing else, what better cliffhanger to leave off on before going back and doing her solo movie?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I think it's a given that since they're introducing Skrulls that *somebody* is going to turn out to be a sleeper, I just don't think it'll be any of the new characters. Equally, introducing Captain Marvel as an impostor of a character nobody knows or cares about has very little dramatic potential.

Indeed, to have any impact it kinda needs to be one of the original Avengers or one of their supporting characters (Pepper, Happy, Sam etc.) Personally, my money is on Black Widow since 1) It's probably impossible to impersonate Thor effectively (because: hammer!) 2) See also: Hulk 3) The already did Cap in the comics. 4) Tony as an imposer just feels random and 5) Nobody would care if it was Hawkeye.

If nothing else, what better cliffhanger to leave off on before going back and doing her solo movie?

I think that if it's anyone (and I agree that it is a strong possibility), it'll be a supporting character. My money is on Happy or maybe even Pepper.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Thunderbolt Ross.

Maria Hill.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

Coulson.

Fury.

Everett Ross.

Whoever it is, I hope the skrull reveal will be present day, not invalidating a character's entire history because they've been a skrull since the 90s.

 

[Reverend]

Another possibility is for them to do a Martok and reveal a character thought dead already is still alive because the dead one was a shape-shifter. If they want to piss off the TV fans, it'll be Coulson.

ETA: ^One second. You beat me by one second!

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Whoever it is, I hope the skrull reveal will be present day, not invalidating a character's entire history because they've been a skrull since the 90s.

While I agree, I did consider the possibility of them "always" being a Skrull when I suggested Happy. When it comes to longterm spies, who better to spy on than the son of Howard Stark? Even if they didn't know back in the 90s he would eventually become Iron Man.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But it would totally explain how he built an arc reactor in a cave.

It would also make Stane the hero retroactively.

 

[Grendelsbayne]

While I agree, I did consider the possibility of them "always" being a Skrull when I suggested Happy. When it comes to longterm spies, who better to spy on than the son of Howard Stark? Even if they didn't know back in the 90s he would eventually become Iron Man.

Well, I'd say a lot of people, actually. And this is probably the biggest issue with the whole skrull idea, especially if they've been around for decades, because it has to be someone who is both a big deal to the audience and a logical choice for infiltration.

Spying on SHIELD makes sense (so, Coulson or Fury or Hill are logical), but Tony didn't even know it existed. Pre-Iron Man Stark Industries were hardly very special compared to alien technology. There's nothing worth watching there.

Thunderbolt Ross would be logical as an up and comer in one of the main militaries on earth. That's probably my preferred choice, since it could set up a Thunderbolts movie that I think would be fun to do. But does the audience really care about him all that much? Or would the reaction be more like, hey, that dude's an alien! That's so funny! Of course, he could still be a skrull but not be the 'big reveal' skrull. If there's one infiltrator there are presumably others as well.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Infiltration of Stark Industries would make sense, as they represent the peak of human technology, so something to keep an eye on / influence.

Coulson would make no damn sense unless they're just going to ignore the show, which isn't unlikely unfortunately. Hard to believe that he died and got brought back to life via Kree DNA without his being a Skrull revealed somehow. Even ignoring the show, traditionally shapeshifters tend to change back when they die.