Captain Marvel has always been a cool character — there’s no question about that. But she’s also received frustratingly little in the way of real character development. Most of her story in the first “Captain Marvel” movie is about her regaining her memories. It’s hard to make a character grow when they don’t even know who they are most of the time. And while she plays a pivotal role in “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Endgame,” she still doesn’t get much screen time to become more than a powerful warrior.
“The Marvels” makes Carol just one of three protagonists, but it still gives her the best character arc she’s had in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, and it does so by making her the villain. The Kree call her “The Annihilator” because of what happened to Hala in her wake. And even though the context of her attack was quite complicated, she believes this narrative about herself. She accepts that she is ultimately a killer and a destroyer, fit only to wander space in solitude. This is why she avoids rekindling her relationship with Monica, and it’s why she so rarely returns to Earth.
Dar-Benn is simply a reflection of this version of Captain Marvel. A flashback even shows how traumatizing Carol’s assault on Hala was for Dar-Benn. And while the film never says that Carol was wrong to destroy the Supreme Intelligence, it does show that restoration is a more worthy pursuit than destruction.
