Kelly Sue DeConnick bet Jamie McKelvie she could get Marvel Comics to pay for his Captain Marvel redesign, and she was right. Now that the Captain Marvel trailer and poster are out, here’s the backstory behind the costume (and the pseudo-mohawk).
Captain Marvel’s iconic red, blue and gold costume is on full display in the new trailer for her upcoming stand-alone Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, which finds Carol Danvers searching for her origins, fighting intergalactic battles against the Kree, and preparing the universe for whatever the heck is happening in Avengers 4. But we also get a glimpse of her pre-hero threads: a green suit that with a blink-on/blink-off mohawk helmet.
The flight-suit inspired look, and the accompanying mohawk that has the internet buzzing over Brie Larson’s on-screen translation, might not exist at all if not for a dumb bet that writer Kelly Sue DeConnick made with artist Jamie McKelvie.
You see, when Carol Danvers became Captain Marvel in the comics, it wasn’t her first time as a superhero. She’d already been doing the saving the world gig for years, under a few different names — but mostly as Ms. Marvel. Her Ms. Marvel outfit was basically a swimsuit, thigh-high boots and a sash, not really the look the new series was going for.
DeConnick is the writer who forged Carol’s relaunch as Captain Marvel, which drove the character to a new prominence among Marvel fans and likely inspired a lot of the movie. She told Polygon that getting the right costume design was not an easy process, because Carol and the Captain Marvel name just didn’t have the cache they do now.
