The 'Captain Marvel' Screenwriter Wants to Avoid 'Green Lantern' Comparisons — For Very Good Reasons
The comic-book Captain Marvel (Marvel)
By Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter
Ryan Reynolds has successfully left the stench of 2011’s Green Lantern behind — and when Captain Marvel hits theaters in 2019, its screenwriter hopes the Marvel hero can do the same.
Captain Marvel co-writer Nicole Perlman spoke out about some of the challenges of cracking Carol Danvers’ story for the big screen on the Any Time with Vin Forte podcast (as spotted by Screen Rant), with her also addressing the pressures of writing Marvel Studios’ first female-toplined movie.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a project where I’ve been more mindful about the impact that it could have and the importance of it. She’s such an incredibly kick-ass character and [comic-book writer] Kelly Sue DeConnick did a great run with her story arc recently. But here’s the thing, if you were just going to do a straight adaptation of the comics, her origin story is very similar to Green Lantern. And obviously, that’s not what we want to do,” said Perlman.
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Brie Larson has been cast in the role of Carol Danvers, who in the comics is an ace fighter pilot who eventually retires from the Air Force with the rank of Colonel to join NASA as its youngest head of security. Through a freak encounter with some alien Kree technology, she is transformed into a half-Kree and given superhuman abilities, becoming Captain Marvel.
Meanwhile, In DC Comics lore, Hal Jordan is an Air Force test pilot before encountering a dying alien, receiving the alien’s power ring to gain amazing powers and become a member of the Green Lantern Corp.
Ryan Reynolds in ‘Green Lantern’ (Warner Bros.)
“There’s a lot of reinvention that needs to happen. And also, she’s her own person and she’s a great character,” continued DeConnick. “We have to be aware of what’s happened in other Marvel film and makes sure that her particular storyline is unique and fun and also fits in within this world that’s going on at the same time.”
The problem for Captain Marvel is that fighter pilot-turned hero with alien powers has already been shown on the big screen with 2011’s Green Lantern, which starred Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan. The film was so reviled that Reynolds made a joke about it in this year’s Deadpool, with his Wade Wilson insisting that his superhero suit not be green and CG (as the Green Lantern suit was). The Green Lantern brand was so damaged for the big screen that Warner Bros. is holding off on introducing Green Lantern — a founding member of the Justice League — until a 2020’s Green Lantern Corps movie, rather than in next year’s Justice League.
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On the podcast, the screenwriter also opened up about writing Peter Quill (Chris Pratt) for Guardians of the Galaxy, sharing some tidbits that could give some clues as to her mindset for Captain Marvel.
“A couple of my very early drafts from 2009, he was like, 'Woah, space! Wow! Aliens!’ It’s like, oh God, so boring! You don’t want to watch somebody doing that, so you want to get right into it,” she said. “One of the things [Marvel Studios head] Kevin [Feige] said right away was, 'Do 10 minutes on Earth and get them off planet … you just need to see something that will ground us in who he is and make us care about him, and then take him to space.’ ”
Captain Marvel is slated for March 8, 2019.
Watch the ‘Green Lantern’ trailer:
