Captain Marvel is quickly becoming one of Marvel's most iconic characters, and next year her star will shine even brighter thanks to the release of her much anticipated Marvel Studios feature film, Captain Marvel. Part of the reason for the character's meteoric rise is she's an incredibly versatile combination of the everywoman and cosmic hero archetypes. Her working class Boston background endowed her with a sense of justice, adventure and a never-say-die attitude. Her vast superhuman powers and newly discovered Kree heritage means creators can explore Carol's heroic qualities and flaws against both larger than life earthbound backdrops and interstellar ones.

For the past couple of years, Danvers' adventures have tended to focus on the cosmic landscape, but next year she'll return to Earth and attempt to reconnect with some old friends, make some new ones and punch some supervillains in the face. It all starts in January with the launch of a new volume of Captain Marvel by writer Kelly Thompson and artist Carmen Carnero, which will find Carol face to face with a number of major Marvel heroes like Spider-Woman, Iron Man and War Machine, as well as fan-favorites like Avengers Academy alumnus Hazmat.

CBR spoke with Thompson about the role those characters will play in the new series, her plans for Captain Marvel's rogues gallery, and the kinds of adventures Carol will become embroiled in upon returning to Earth.

CBR: So Kelly, in Captain Marvel #1 you're returning to a character you've clearly enjoyed writing before both during your first Marvel project, the Secret Wars era mini Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps, and as part of A-Force. But you're also coming back to her in the aftermath of The Life of Captain Marvel, a miniseries that's revealing some things Carol thought about her family weren't exactly true. So what's it like returning to Carol? What kind of headspace will she be in when you pick up with her Captain Marvel #1?

Kelly Thompson: It’s incredible to get to come back to Carol and an honor to get to be doing it at this very pivotal moment for the character. In our first arc, Carol is really just trying to get back into the swing of things after the traumatic and revealing events of Life of Captain Marvel, and also after a long time in space living a pretty different life than her one on Earth. We’ll be addressing some of that very directly in Issue #1. But we will also pick up on a lot of the fascinating threads and developments set up in Life in more of a slow burn story that’s going to start paying off in the second and third arc, rather than the first. There are a lot of layers here!

NEXT PAGE: Carol Danvers Is Coming Back Down To Earth

As you mentioned, Carol is coming back to sort of the main Marvel Earth hub of New York after several years spent primarily having adventure above it as part of Alpha Flight. What does that mean for the stories you can and are telling in Captain Marvel? Initially, will this be a book about Carol battling supervillains? Cosmic threats that have come to Earth? Or will there be a mix of both earthbound and outer space adventures?

I think ultimately the book will be a mix. You can’t (and shouldn’t) take the “space” out of Carol. It’s core to who she is and always will be. By the same token, sometimes when characters are doing cosmic stories for an extended period you can get this disconnect… where even though Carol’s been fighting to save the world every day she’s become slightly disconnected from the actual people she’s trying to save. So, a lot of what we’re doing will be “reconnecting” her to the things she’s been away from.

One person Carol will reconnect with is her old friend, Jessica Drew (Spider-Woman) What's your sense of Jess? What do you find most interesting about her and Carol's friendship? And will we see another of Carol's friends who is also a dark haired private eye and mother named Jessica, whose adventures you also write?

I love Jessica Drew, but even more than that, I think she and Carol have a terrific dynamic that I think I first really fell in love with in those early Kelly Sue DeConnick Captain Marvel issues.

While Carol is showing up in my Jessica Jones book, I don’t have plans for Jessica Jones in this first arc of Captain Marvel, maybe a bit later though.

Romance has also been mentioned in connection with this book. Can you talk a little bit about that side of Carol's life and what we'll initially see of it?

Hmmm. Not much that I can say without fear of giving too much away, but it’s not a new character that Carol gets involved with… how about that?

Nice! Speaking of romance, Carol's former significant other, James Rhodes, is now back among the living. Can you talk about how that's affected her? Do your initial plans for the book call for appearances by Rhodey or his best friend, and Carol's former trusted friend, Tony Stark?

Rhodey and Tony are both in Captain Marvel #1 -- we are wasting no time throwing Carol back into her life on Earth! And while they will be less in the rest of the first arc for story reasons that will make sense later, I definitely plan on both of them being regular fixtures for the book. Carol and Tony have a fascinating dynamic -- they have been through so much that would tear apart lesser friends. And we’ll be dealing with the Rhodey situation head on!

NEXT PAGE: Captain Marvel Will Battle Foes New And Returning Alike

Who are some of the other supporting characters you're excited to write in Captain Marvel? Will some of the Alpha Flight staff continue to play roles in this series? Or are you initially focusing on an all-new supporting cast?

Because this is largely back on Earth, Alpha Flight will not be a big factor, at least initially. But Jessica Drew, as mentioned above. And we’ll be bringing in the former Avengers Academy character Hazmat... which is one of my favorite new dynamics. Echo and She-Hulk will also be appearing in the first arc, and at least one very interesting surprise guest star.

What's your sense of Carol's rogues' gallery? What kinds of foes are you interested in pitting her against? Will we initially see new creations? Established Marvel threats? Or a bit of both?

A bit of both. I think Carol is so powerful at this point that some of her more emotionally earned nemeses that I’m a fan of (Deathbird and Mystique – for example) only work if they like… assemble teams (or armies) to fight her. Because toe to toe, one on one, she’d just wipe the floor with them. And Deathbird bringing an army to fight Carol is definitely a thing we can do [laughs] -- but I just think it’s a good reminder for us to think big in developing some of her existing rogues into very serious threats, and in creating some new ones that can go the distance.

X-Men Red artist Carmen Carnero is joining you for Captain Marvel, and what I loved about her preview art is the sense of both innate heroism and everywoman qualities she gives Carol, and her ability to do largescale action and threats. What's it like working with Carmen on this book?

Carmen is such a treat to work with. She’s a fantastic collaborator who really cares about her craft and about getting it “right.” She’s as hugely invested in Carol, as I am. She’s a terrific storyteller and she’s excellent with smaller moments and expressions and body language, but she can also really handle big crazy action set pieces -- as evidenced by that opening page spread with the giant “Kraken thing.” And colorist Tamra Bonvillain is a lovely match for Carmen because she too is very flexible. She can bring the more realistic colors of Carol’s life forward effortlessly, but she can also give us this otherworldly super-saturated, almost cartoonish pop of the larger than life stuff. Yeah, we have an incredible team. I’m very lucky.

Finally, we talked in general about your initial approach to the book, but can you leave us with some more hints and teases about the action Carol becomes embroiled in during your first Captain Marvel arc?

The first arc starts with issue one in a very traditional way. It’s very “New York City superhero antics" -- Carol punching big things and making them go boom. But by the end of that first issue we really pull the rug out from under all of that to set up for what I think is a truly unexpected first arc. I think fans will get a taste of both the Carol they have always known and loved, and also a very cool glimpse at a whole other side of her.