Captain Marvel is more of a title than an actual character name, and one that's been held by various characters over the years. Skipping over the DC character who used to have the same name before totally unsurprising legal troubles got in the way, the original was Captain Mar-Vell of the Kree (who've appeared briefly on screen in Guardians Of The Galaxy), who abandoned his alien race when it turned out they were a bit iffy, and decided to protect Earth instead. He eventually died and his incredible cosmic powers were passed onto Monica Rambeau, a New Orleans police lieutenant; then Mar-Vell's cloned son; then that same son's daughter; then finally, after a good four decades of using similar cosmic powers (which she got after being caught in an explosion with the original Captain Marvel), Carol Danvers finally graduated to the title. That's quite a legacy.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
