Captain Marvel: Where's the Love

I’ll be honest in saying I never had a problem with how Carol Danvers was portrayed in Captain Marvel until recently. A few days ago, I saw a video by youtuber Abbie Emmons titled “How to write a Strong Female Character…who isn’t toxic & annoying,” comparing Carol’s journey in her movie to Black Widow’s journey in Avengers 2012. I don’t want to give too much away about the video, but needless to say, most if not all of Abbie’s complaints about Carol were addressed in this fanedit.

Thanks to some deleted scenes early on, Carol/Vers starts on more solid ground with a clearer purpose in wanting to serve the Kree, only to be challenged by Talos in how she doesn’t know as much about the Kree-Skrull war as she thinks. Thanks to some clever use of flashbacks, ot feels like Vers is taking more steps into unlocking her past, & the toning down her more guarded reactions & replacing them with her being more open makes her feel more vulnerable & approachable. I’m also shocked the scene between Yon-Ragg and the Supreme Intelligence was cut, since it makes both of them feel far less one note than they were in the original.

There were only two changes I didn’t agree with. The first is when Carol & her earth friends are on the ship into space & we get a flashback reminder of Carol & Maria’s relationship. I feel it goes too fast & would benefit from being slowed down a little, especially when you think Maria’s turning to look at Carol, but is instead looking at Talos in the back. The second bit is at the beginning when Carol’s on the Skrull ship and barks at the Skrull in frustration. I know tremault said it was stupid, but for be it plays into the idea of Carol showing her vulnerable frustrated side, which I found endearing.

In the end, this is my go to version of the movie, up their with some of the best from Phase 1 of the MCU!

To start, it has to be said that Captain Marvel on release was a masterclass in how not to introduce a charcter into a cinematic universe. Not only did they decide to premiere a new character inbetween Infinity War/Endgame, but they picked a high powered superhero with few weaknesses who has an gigantic chip in her shoulder ( a chip that that the movie insufficiently justifies overall), and slapped her in somewhat underdeveloped movie. All just to end up using her as a minor plot device in Endgame because they didn't know how to handle her character's power level. While I think the sheer contempt that Carol was received with was beyond excessive, it is undeniable that she deserved a better showing than what she got.

With all that said, Tremault has done an amazing job at breathing new life into this character. The highlight of this edit for me is the narrative alterations. The introduction of key character development scenes give Carol and the villian additional complexity which, when paired with the reframing of Captain Marvel by focusing on her emotional connection with her friends and how that gives her strength, gives us a much more fulfilling arc for our heroine.

The video editing is overall solid. The use of colour in the movie to show Carol's emotional state is an amazing touch, and while there is a few scenes with some abrupt cutting (the kart scene/going to space with her new friends), it is understandable considering how much the main character's narrative is being shifted around. The audio editing was great with some soundtrack additions that more accurately reflect Carol's new personality.

Overall, while this movie still is somewhat cursed to forever be a b-tier marvel offering, Tremault has crafted an edit that is truly commendable in what she has achieved with it by making a vastly improved experience. If you plan on doing any Marvel movie binges, this edit is something you should look definitely look into. Thanks for the edit!

Captain Marvel was a film I only watched once in theaters. I thought it was fine typical Marvel blockbuster filmmaking and the amnesia storyline made Carol the least interesting character of the bunch, a cypher for the audience, in a mystery that's a little obvious.

This fanedit attempts to restore some of Carol’s search for humanity, and instead of the film being about rising up against men, it’s about discovering her human connections, her adopted family (her friend and “niece”, her mentor in the original Captain Marvell, and comrade in Nick Fury).

Carol is more human here and less of a cypher than before. The amnesia story is still there but she’s not nearly as stand-offish as she was in the theatrical cut. Instead the relationship between her and the rest of her colleagues and her mentor feels like a crew that work together. A crew that cares about each other. Even the seeds of distrust between her and Fury are slowly melted to give way to what's most important about Captain Marvel her humanity.

Not only that the fanedit connects to the wider story of the Kree and Skrulls and the humanitarian element in line there. Carol throughout the film is a noble warrior and humanitarian and, even when questioning who to trust, she never loses these characteristics.

With a few little tweaks, cuts, utilizing deleted scenes, and some nice color corrections, the film comes out feeling stronger thematically overall as it ties all the lost memories to people rather than a “girl power” facade. Instead of the most emotional moment being one associated with Maria Rambeau, it’s associated with Carol remembering her humanity (throughout her short time reconnecting on earth) and it’s immensely powerful.

While this is still one of the weaker Marvel films, it's a vast improvement over the original film

Film Rating: 2.5
Fanedit Rating: 3

Captain Marvel has always been a very middle of the road MCU film, a simplistic Phase 1 style film stuck in the much more nuanced Phase 3. There were never any major plot related issues with the film like there were with other not so good entries (looking at you 'The Dark World') only moments that pull you out of the film in order to directly tell the audience something rather than just trusting their own film to do so.

This edit makes no massive changes to the plot, unlike some, instead tidies it up in a way that feels like a actual MCU editor would. Additional, some of the other changes, such as the subtle colour grading, do a better job at informing the story than the original ever did. What it does do it reframe the story relating to family (the Kree supplied family vs the found family on Earth) rather than a loner muddling her way through a story which is bound to play in better with the sequel which will be about the Marvel family.

Technically the edits are integrated as well as can be expected from a home level of technology and very few changes stand out in any way unless the viewer has a forensic level of familiarity with the original. There's occasions where there's drops in the sound mixing but it's not really something that can be got around without the raw filmstock.

Plus, two of my suggestions made it into the edit so there's that.

The narrative structure for this edit is much greater than the TC version, and the new high-quality replacements for the deleted scenes they put in improve the edit a lot more too. The song choice fits better and there are no cuts that would contradict later/future movies/shows. I would recommend this cut for future rewatches and as a shelf replacer for the original film.