Carol's cat is getting a new name for the movie. When Funko unveiled their upcoming line of Captain Marvel vinyl figures, the orange tabby got several figures all to herself, but she goes by a different name here than in the comics: Goose.
In the comics, Carol -- a massive Star Wars fan -- named her cat Chewie after the Wookiee character of the same name. Carol met Chewie under some rather odd extenuating circumstances in 2006's Ms Marvel #1 by Brian Reed and Roberto De La Torre. During a battle with the time-travelling wizard Warren Traveler, she threw a stray cat at his face and escaped. That stray cat happened to follow her home -- or, rather, reappeared when Traveler attacked her in her apartment. After the brief battle, she decided to keep the cat and called her Chewie. The cat has been her frequent companion ever since.
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In 2014, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick gave Chewie a far more interesting role in Captain Marvel’s life. As Carol met up with the Guardians of the Galaxy, Rocket Raccoon attempted to kill the innocent-looking feline. It’s only after Carol stopped him that Rocket revealed Chewie is, in fact, a Flerken, an alien species that, while bearing a resemblance to cats of Earth, is far more dangerous. Flerken can store and hatch more than 100 eggs, possess massive, purple tentacles that can sprout from their mouths, as well as reportedly contain entire pocket dimensions inside themselves.
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So far as the film goes, Chewie has been redubbed Goose, likely in reference to the Top Gun character Lieutenant Nick "Goose" Bradshaw. In the classic 1986 film, Bradshaw was partnered with Tom Cruise's Lieutenant Pete "Maverick" Mitchell and died during the events of the film. Notably, Bradshaw was married to a woman named Carol, which is surely no coincidence within the context of Captain Marvel.
Notably, Goose put in an appearance in Captain Marvel's first major poster. The poster may look simple enough, but -- if you look to bottom left of the image -- you'll see a furry feline behind that can only belong to Carol’s beloved cat.
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It is unclear why Marvel changed the name of Carol's cat. After all, Disney is also home to Star Wars, which means there would have been no rights issues when it came to the name "Chewie."
Directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck from a script they wrote with Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch, Meg LeFauve, Nicole Perlman and Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Captain Marvel stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Jude Law as Mar-Vell, Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, Lee Pace as Ronan the Accuser, Djimon Hounsou as Korath the Pursuer, Gemma Chan as Minn-Erva, and Ben Mendelsohn, Lashana Lynch, Algenis Perez Soto, McKenna Grace and Annette Bening in as-yet-undisclosed roles. The film arrives March 8, 2019.