The Kabbalah of Captain Marvel

Despite Captain Marvel’s being a typical, classic superhero story (replete with white, blonde protagonist) steeped in unapologetic feminism, I gleaned a lot of mystical wisdom from the film nonetheless.

One of the main themes coursing through the film is Captain Marvel’s inability to remember her past. She essentially doesn’t know who she is and lives her life based on what she has been told by those who ‘rescued her’. I instantly got the connection between how humans react to trauma. We suppress our past pain, we forget who we are, and we believe what the voices in front of us tell us about ourselves.

Halfway through the film, “Vers” as she is called, in a big old mid-film plot twist finds out that everything she has been told about the enemies she’s fighting is completely wrong and they are in fact the victims of her team, the Kree. Lots of undertones and allusions to oppressed peoples worldwide wherein the ones who look like the ‘good guys’ have more technology, more advantages and cooler clothes – so they must be ‘better’ right? Makes me think of how many times we incorrectly judge others based on superficial standards only to find out they are in fact the most decent people in your story (including ourselves).

Once she finally accepts that the cause she has been fighting for is the wrong one, she changes her gang colours and promptly turns her green alien suit into the American flag (not unlike most classic old American superheroes). This signals her change of identity as she tries to distance herself from what she’s been deceived by for the past few years. Coincidentally some memories start coming back around the time when the deception was revealed. Not unlike how therapy or spiritual work can unlock suppressed memories once the person takes the time to be present to the pain and the truth.

The inner critic in the form of her Starforce Commander (perfectly portrayed by the duplicitous Jude Law) has throughout the years told Vers that she should endeavor to get by in life without using her superpowers or succumbing to her emotions. This has left her feeling defective as she’s often caught out by her emotions during training and in real life, which intuitively invokes use of her powers. This is a powerful reminder of people who try to manipulate others by getting them to think they are broken, not good enough or need to never be their true selves. This comes in many forms in life, but most often comes as our own inner critical voice and we keep ourselves caged from being all and who we are created to be. This subject requires several blog posts on its own but suffice to say that the fuel that feeds the fire of our inner critic comes from multiple sources including societal norms, our view of ourselves, limiting beliefs and reinforcing negative sentiments from those who shape us throughout life.

In the end, Vers inevitably remembers that she is in fact ‘only [a] human’ who happened to have absorbed an alien power that she has learn to weaponise. She finally has the good sense to stop fearing her greatness and remove the technology (installed by Starforce Commander) that has been keeping her powers at bay since she first acquired them. This is happening simultaneously while scenes throughout her life of times she’s fallen or failed are playing on the screen. Flashing back and forth between her having this epiphany while scenes of her getting back up after each failure or fall during her life culminates in an awesome crescendo of realizing who she really is.

The message I got was very clear. Although we are ‘only human’, we have the choice to not stay down when we fall or fail. In fact, it’s the power of choice that really separates us from the other species in the universe. I can’t help but think of one of my all-time favourite superheroes when I watch these films, the Messiah himself. When Jesus, one of the first ancient superheroes, walked the Earth he did nature-defying miracles (walking on water, calming storms, raising people from the dead, and feeding 5000 with some fish fingers to name a few) and then told us that we would do even greater things than He did. Being the Superhero buff, I am, I have always wanted to tap into the mystic side and figure out how/what these greater things are. Having witnessed miraculous things in my life, superhero movies are not that far-fetched to me. This movie was a great reminder that although we’re here and we’re ‘only human’ we were not left powerless. We have more power than we realise. The only thing stopping us from realising our full potential is our own limiting beliefs about ourselves. We have the power to choose to stop hindering and fearing our greatness, because it’s all there for the taking.