During his previous life as a human being on Earth, Captain Marvel Lawson was a pilot and an expert in space flight. Lawson discovered that Kree spaceship Captain Mar-Vell was heading towards Earth. A Kree laser-ray was fired at Mar-Vell, knocking Lawson out of the air. After Lawson’s crash, the Kree took over the planet and used the ship’s technology to sabotage it. But, Captain Marvel found the bodies and used Lawson’s identity to infiltrate and continue the war.
The origin of Carol Danvers is murky, with little known information about her life. The movie will feature her memories of her past, and she will have to fight off the shape-shifting Skrulls and their horde of cybernetic soldiers. Her mother died while she was a U.S. Air Force pilot testing an experimental craft with Dr. Lawson. She will also need to learn how to control the powers of the spaceship, which will help her save Earth.
As Captain Marvel, Bening’s Wendy Lawson is a twist on Carol Danvers’s comic book origin story. She is also a winking homage to the Marvel Comics hero that inspired her. As such, Lawson’s performance as Wendy Lawson is a benchmark for Carol Danvers’ development. The film features eight minutes of her time on screen, so her per-minute impact is significant. Nonetheless, there are many other characters in the film who are equally important to the plot, so a closer look at each character is necessary.