Peter Parker was a typical teenager before he was bitten by a radioactive spider. Steve Rogers was a frail, rejected military enlistee before he was given the super-soldier serum. We watched their lives change as they became powerful versions of themselves, but Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel’s origin story is not as linear.

When we first meet Carol (Brie Larson) in CAPTAIN MARVEL, she has already gained her super powers. Believing she’s one of them, she’s fighting alongside Kree warriors against the Skrulls in outer space. When her aircraft crashes during a mission, Carol gets captured by the enemy and ends up on Earth, where she’s reunited with Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch) — only, Carol doesn’t remember Maria or anything else about her past life.

CAPTAIN MARVEL is heavily focused on Carol’s journey of self-discovery; we learn about her as she learns about herself, with help from Maria and a young Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

Carol and Maria served in the United States Air Force together and were best friends — like sisters, with a deep love for each other. Through flashbacks, “you do get touches of moments to see how happy they were before and how happy they made each other,” said Lynch. “Because of that, when she comes back, you see why it affected [Maria] so much. You see why [Carol’s] death was such a big deal.”

At first, Maria doesn’t believe Carol and reacts sarcastically to her claiming she has super powers. “I’m just frozen in time,” Lynch said, “because the last memory I have of you is so fond and so normal and so graceful, that now you have a different shell of strength that is great, but you need to also remember that you’re a human being, but I don’t know how to do that for you yet.”

With a little time, Maria becomes more understanding — the “one thing that Carol needs” as she tries to find her true identity and stop the Skrulls’ plot on Earth.

“We wanted to make Carol really inspirational,” producer Jonathan Schwartz said, “and not inspirational because she was perfect, but inspirational because she was flawed. There’s a lot of great stuff to draw from, both from Kelly Sue’s [DeConnick] run and elsewhere in the comics. Certainly, some elements of her story needed an update for modern audiences.”

In the comics, before she becomes Captain Marvel, Carol is also known as Binary, an alter-ego fans will see in the film, with the capability of generating the power of a star.

“[Carol] was always a character that excited us from the comic books,” Schwartz said. “Her powers are super cool; her story is super cool; the worlds she gets to take part in are super cool.”

See for yourself — get your tickets to CAPTAIN MARVEL today.