MCU: 10 Real World Issues Addressed In Marvel Films
3. Captain Marvel: Xenophobia And The Refugee Crisis
For what was marketed as a feminist movie, Captain Marvel's most prominent theme was not that of "girl power", but that of propaganda, imperialism, and warmongering, and how all of these have generated today's real-world refugee crisis.
Even with an air force pilot for a protagonist, and a lot of military-related narrative elements, this film was able to criticise the warmongering of the military it seemed to support, represented by the Kree as the self-proclaimed "heroes" who went to other planets to conquer and destroy.
It's not even obvious until someone drops the word "terrorist", and suddenly the Kree are every Western country that's launched military attacks on foreign soil, turned natives into refugees, then spread the propaganda calling those refugees "terrorists" and fighting to keep these desperate people out of their borders. The xenophobia and paranoia with which the Skrulls are described are even reminiscent of anti-immigrant rhetoric used today.
The central message of Captain Marvel seems to be compassion, and the call to question the propaganda of previously established "heroism". And the fact that the film was at its best when Carol committed herself to protecting the victims of war shows where its priorities really lay.