Captain Marvel (Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck) -2019

The superhero character, Captain Marvel was first created by Fawcett Comics in 1939 as a male character, and made its first appearance in Whiz Comics #2 written by Bill Parker (1911-1963) and drawn by Charles Clarence Beck (1910-1989).  The comic book character, Billy Batson was transformed into Captain Marvel whenever he said the word "Shazam!"  Since the Captain Marvel stories were almost identical to the Superman stories in National Comics (which became DC Comics), National sued for copyright infringement and won.  Fawcett eventually went out of business; Timely Comics (which became Marvel Comics) obtained the rights to the "Marvel" name; and DC Comics retained the rights to the "Shazam!" name.  So, in effect, there are three "Captain Marvels" in three different comic universes.

In the Marvel universe, Captain Marvel is a woman (Brie Larson) who was a test pilot on Earth but became a super being (without ever having to say "Shazam!") when she absorbed an enormous amount of energy during an airplane crash but she also lost her memory and was taken by the Kree people to another planet (Hala) where she was trained to be a warrior by Jude Law.  The Krees had been in a galactic war with a race of shape-shifters known as the Skrulls.  Brie was abducted the Skrulls and, as luck would have it, they took her back to Earth where she met some old friends and started to get back her memories.  Along the way, Brie met Samuel L. Jackson (as the younger Nick Fury) and gave him the idea to create a superhero team (The Avengers) so they could all battle Thanos 25 years later in the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War. 

Although Stan Lee (1922-2018) did not live to see it, his master plan to amass the largest collection of super folks into one extremely-contrived timeline is coming together.  Marvel now has a superhero army that just might be strong enough to defeat Josh Brolin and regroup for the ultimate blockbuster clash of all time against the DC Comics Justice League of America coming to you in 3D IMAX for $19.95 and all of the over-priced popcorn you can buy. [JAM 4/3/2019]