Captain Marvel: Here's Why Goose's Name Was Changed From the Comics

CBR

By Nicole Sobon

Published Feb 23, 2019

Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck explain Goose the Cat's name change for Captain Marvel.

Much like every other Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Captain Marvel makes some changes to the source material. One of changes was to name of Carol's beloved cat, Goose. In the comics, Goose is actually named Chewie, referencing Carol's love of Star Wars. So, why did the film opt to change that element of the character? Well, according to the film's directors, the change was for a pretty simple reason.

In an interview with Collider, directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck were asked why they decided to change Chewie to Goose for the film. "It wasn’t a big thing. It just felt like Star Wars was so part of the culture that, it just felt like we wanted to remove it a little bit, you know, the nostalgia for the Star Wars movies which there are so many of around us," Fleck answered. "You know, when we were kids, Star Wars felt like it was something from the 70s and 80s, and I think that was the spirit of Chewie from the comics but we felt like we wanted to sort of just slide away from that slightly."

"Yeah, and just the idea of having a reference that would have been so specific to Carol Danvers’ past, as her past in the movie itself being a pilot in the 1980s when Top Gun was out and having a reference that felt a little bit more specific to her," Boden explained. "Whereas Chewie, when the comics were being written was a very specific reference in time but now with all the movies out it feels more contemporary and not so specific to her past."

Regardless of the name change, there's a lot of indication Goose might just, like Chewie, be more than just a cat. Early reactions to the movie have also praised the cat as one of the best parts of the film.

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, Ben Mendelsohn as Talos and Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau. The film arrives on March 8.