Maybe I’m older than I thought, but when I was a kid, Captain Marvel was a man.
That’s what I remember too, but I saw Captain Marvel on the cover on a comic in the store and that’s as far as I ever got. Never read the comics. Just knew of the name.
THAT’S the Marvel of it.
Maybe they addressed that by making this one BUTCH? I mean that does seem to be how their program rolls. Maybe this Captain Marvel gets called on the carpet a lot ; )
Many characters have taken the role of Captain Marvel over the years. Some male, some female.
So depends on which Captain Marvel.
The original was a Fawcett character similar to Superman, now known as Shazam.
Fawcett didn’t renew the rights in the 60s and Marvel comics created a new male character from space. Likely the one your thinking of. He died of cancer - big to do in the late 70s/early 80s.
This character got her powers from being around him as a supporting character somehow (as I recall) and has been around since then.
Carol Danvers, USAF as I recall, was introduced just a couple issues after Mar-Vell, Kree warrior, debuted, both c. 1968.
They became personally involved, also as I recall. An alien technology explosion imbued her with his DNA, hence his powers, c.1977.
She became Ms. Marvel. He eventually died. Another female character became Captain Marvel for a time. Danvers eventually donned the persona as advised by Captain America, c. 2012. This is all within Marvel Comics.
The very original Captain Marvel was Fawcett, long before. DC sued them in the ‘50s for stealing Superman and calling him a different name. DC won.
CM comic books eventually died - along with all superhero comics except The Big Three (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman), in the aftermath of the Red Scare and the Senate hearings inspired by Seduction of the Innocent, a condemnation of superhero comic books as subversive to children, leading to the Comics Code Authority and the taming of the sexual and violent imagery (think: pulp, noir) previously prevalent.
Timely became Marvel in 1961, reintroduced superhero content (The Fantastic Four, et al) and subsequently appropriated the trademark rights to the name, Captain Marvel.
When DC ironically decided to resurrect their former publishing nemesis, they could not call him Captain Marvel. They renamed him Shazam, after the magic word used to conjure him.
I will give Marvel this: Carol Danvers has been part of Marvel Comics’ milieu, and directly linked to their Captain Marvel, since the ‘60s. They did not create her now to satisfy SJWs, although they are revising her character to do just that.