Before I get into this review, I would just like to say that I’m not praising it because I’m a woman, but because it genuinely deserves the hype.

Captain Marvel debuted on Feb. 8., starring Brie Larson as the heroine Carol Danvers and Samuel L. Jackson as her counterpart, the famous Nick Fury.

As I do with every Marvel movie, I went to the Thursday premiere along with my mother whom I corrupted into liking superhero movies. I had been waiting for over a year for this movie, and I was blown away.
Now, I was hesitant at first given that Marvel did ridiculously bad marketing for the movie. I mean, no one was excited — even the crazy devoted fans like myself.

But when the movie started, I was caught off guard with the heart of it all. It was witty, fast-paced and empowering.

Captain Marvel AKA Carol Danvers is trying to deal with her lost past while simultaneously training to become a Kree warrior, just wanting to feel like she belongs somewhere. Like most superhero movies, we don’t see her start off without powers, but we are thrown into after she got her powers and work backwards in a sense. I was a little confused at first, but it kept me interested in the plot and found myself waiting in anticipation for the truth about her.

And yeah, I wasn’t alive during the ‘90s, but you can bet I’ve listened to every song during that decade, and when Carol fought off aliens to the tune of Gwen Stefani, I was very pleased.

I had almost forgotten that this was the first main Marvel superhero that’s a woman, despite my feminist tendencies, and I think that was a good thing. It wasn’t throwing it in your face, but instead made it seem like every other MCU movie.

The best thing that’s happened to me this year, besides discovering pills that could let me eat dairy, were the brilliant plot twists Captain Marvel pulled out of nowhere, stunning the viewers. Of course no spoilers here, but let’s just say the entire audience gasped when some facts were revealed at the end.

My only complaint — and it isn’t even a real complaint if I’m being honest — is the amount of gags it had. Some of the events kind of seemed like something out of a tumblr fanfiction, but not so ridiculous that it caused upset.
It was definitely not the best Marvel movie out there, but given the fact that for weeks leading up to the release a bunch of angry men were giving it terrible reviews to lower it’s rating, I can say with confidence that Carol proved them very wrong. As my AP Human teacher Kaith Young said, “A bunch of fanboys are just angry for no reason.” Be like Mr. Young.

It had laughs. It had sorrow. But most importantly — it had Samuel L. Jackson. No movie can be bad with Samuel L. Jackson.

Also, can I just say that (again, no spoilers), the freaking end credit scene was the most surprising and goosebump-inducing one they’ve done yet. If you’re a fan of Marvel, you cannot skip this movie if you want to understand Avengers: Endgame. So just get over it. Women can have superpowers. Hooray!!!

So, go see this movie. Take your daughters, your sisters and your grandmothers. Take your sons, your brothers and your grandfathers. This is a movie everyone will enjoy.