'Captain Marvel' Spoilers: Why Monica Rambeau May Not Succeed Carol Danvers

If you know your Marvel comics, then you know Carol Danvers isn’t the only person to hold the mantle of Captain Marvel, but it looks like the movies could diverge from their source material yet again. A new interview with Lashana Lynch, who stars as US Air Force pilot Maria Rambeau in the new Captain Marvel movie, suggests her character’s daughter, Monica — the second Captain Marvel in the comics — has a different destiny in store in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

On Wednesday, Lynch revealed details about her character’s daughter, Monica, aged 11 in the film’s 1995 setting, to Rotten Tomatoes. Lynch then noted that the MCU oftentimes diverges from the comics, which is a telling statement given the context of Monica Rambeau’s comic book history as Captain Marvel.

Inverse is posing a few theories of its own with Inverse String Theory, ahead of the premiere of Avengers: Endgame.

“At the present time, she’s 11. Most of the time, she’s 11, so I honestly don’t know,” Lynch said. “I feel like there’s, there’s always some things in the works when it comes to the MCU, and there’s always things changing.”

She added:

“They go by the comics, but they also switch things up sometimes to keep us on our toes, to keep us excited, and as a Marvel fan, I’m always excited why they didn’t go by the comics with that particular detail, and then how it unravels down the line.”

Reading between the lines, it’s not difficult to think that maybe Monica Rambeau (played by actress Akira Akbar in the film) won’t become the next Captain Marvel after Brie Larson’s run is over in the far future.

This leaves open the possibility for the character Kamala Khan, Carol’s biggest fan, to become Ms. Marvel and potentially even Captain Marvel, though Kamala has never been “Captain” Marvel before. (It’s also worth pointing out that Carol is the sixth Captain Marvel in the comics but the first in the MCU continuity.)

That doesn’t mean Monica still can’t become a hero. Since her introduction in 1982 in The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #16, Monica has gone by other superhero identities, including Photon, Pulsar, and Spectrum. In fact, it was as Spectrum that Monica acted as leader for the Mighty Avengers, the officially sanctioned team formed in the wake of the Superhero Registration Act that divided the Marvel Universe.

With Captain Marvel setting the stage for Carol’s debut in the MCU, it’s probably too early to talk about any of her potential successors. But with the impending catastrophe that is Avengers: Endgame, fans can’t help but think about what’s in store for the future.

Captain Marvel hits theaters on March 8.