Warning: The following contains spoilers for Avengers #29, by Jason Aaron, Ed Mcguinness, Paco Medina, Mark Morales, and VC's Cory Petit, on sale Jan. 15
When Captain Marvel joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the character and the film were bombarded by online smear campaigns. However, the movie nevertheless became a massive success for Marvel Studios, with the character going on to play a major role in Avengers: Endgame.
Now, one of the unwarranted criticisms of the 2018 smash hit surfaces in Marvel's Avengers. Captain Marvel just made a pointed reference to one of the most absurd attacks of her solo film and made her feelings on the point very clear -- by punching out the man who brought it up.
CAPTAIN MARVEL VS FIRELORD
In the main Avengers series, the titular team has been sent to space to deal with some of the most powerful figures in the galaxy while on their way to finding the new Starbrand. While they've been largely overpowered by cosmic figures like the Silver Surfer and Terrax, the Avengers have refused to give up. One of the brawls that's broken out is between Firelord and Captain Marvel, who has engaged her firey Binary powers for the duel.
While they trade blows, Firelord proves to be very patronizing during the battle. He demeans Carol and her power level, even going so far as to insult the entire human race in the process. Carol obviously can notice it too, as she asks Firelord if he's going to ask her to smile next. While he tries to bring up that would be a nice thing for Carol to do, she slugs him right in the mouth. On top of being a satisfying moment for Carol within the context of the battle against a former Herald of Galactus, it also takes on additional weight when taken into account with recent real-world history regarding Carol Danvers.
DON'T TELL CAPTAIN MARVEL TO SMILE
During the early promotion for Captain Marvel in 2018, a segment of fandom became fixated on the facial expressions of Brie Larson's Carol Danvers. The character is a fairly serious person in a universe with more jokey heroes, which was reflected in the trailers. Some were so committed to making Carol smile that they digitally altered screenshots of Captain Marvel to make her smile. The trend, with its sexist undercurrent, became such a controversy that both Larson and Anna Boden, co-director and co-writer of Captain Marvel, addressed it during their press tour.
Funnily enough, a moment similar to the one depicted in the comic actually occurs in the film. After crashing on Earth and trying to find out more about Project Pegasus, Carol is told by a man on motorcycle to smile more. She steals his bike, an act the film excuses because of his dismissive attitude toward her. But while that does make a statement, punching out a cosmic being with the fiery power of a sun is maybe even more effective. It's a nice reminder that even if people are going to try to make Carol nothing more than just something pleasant to look at, then she's going to stand up and prove why it's a bad idea to patronize her.