Oh, the confusion of the middle-aged one-time comic book fan! As a kid in the late 1970s/early 1980s, I knew “Captain Marvel” as a DC hero, a Superman-esque character with the alter ego Billy Batson.

Did I also know that Marvel enjoyed their own “Captain Marvel”? Yeah, but only in a modest way, as their Captain was a barely-used hero in those days.

In 1982, Marvel put out a title called The Death of Captain Marvel, the first graphic novel from the company. The title character enjoyed little public profile and seemed eminently killable, thus making this book his main claim to fame.

I stopped actively reading comics around 1984, so imagine my surprise when the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) announced a Captain Marvel movie – and the Captain would be a woman! Obviously the situation changed a lot over the years between 1984 and 2019 – and “my” Captain Marvel now just goes by “Shazam”. Thanks, copyright disputes!

The 21st film in the MCU, Marvel takes place in the mid-1990s and depicts a war between humanoid Kree and goblin-esque shapeshifting Skrulls. Vers (Brie Larson) belongs to the Kree Starforce and she ends up captured by Skrull commander Talos (Ben Mendelsohn).

When Talos places Vers in a memory probe, she manages to escape and she winds up in Los Angeles. There she finds herself confronted by SHIELD Agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), and the pair form an improbable partnership to deal with the Skrulls who pursue her and also solve the mysteries of her origins.

As I mentioned earlier, my comic-reading days ended long ago, but I still enjoy the genre – mostly. I admit I never much cared for sci-fi oriented superhero tales, so I went into Marvel without a lot of enthusiasm.

I like sci-fi films - given the Alien and Star Wars series are all-time faves, that's a given - but I've never much enjoyed sci-fi-oriented superhero stories. That dampened Guardians of the Galaxy for me as well as some of the Thor stuff.

That said, I liked Marvel for the most part. The first act is something of a mess, at least for those of us without a great background in the comics.

As I noted, my main superhero mag days took place in the early 1980s, and I have only vague recollections of the Kree/Skrull stuff at best. This meant I knew little about the dynamic there.

The first act requires a lot of exposition in that regard, and I don't think the film handles it all that well. Through in the vague allusions to Vers' backstory and the opening of the movie brings more confusion than I'd like.

Once Vers reaches Earth and pairs with Fury, though, the movie becomes much more interesting. It's still not the most coherent plot, but the chemistry between Larson and Jackson works really well, and the film simply starts to become fun at that point.

I can understand some sentiments that the movie can be too light at times, as some of the comedy feels out of place. That seems especially true for Talos, who goes from "intimidating baddie" to "comic relief" in record time.

Still, I think the movie works pretty well overall, and the third act offers a lot of excitement. Does it all make sense? Not really, but the thrills manage to overwhelm the negatives.

And I love the movie's soundtrack - it's better than the highly-touted GotG mixes. Much of the music comes from female artists, and this offers a delightful subtext to the movie’s understated feminist sensibility.

Ah yes – the elephant in the room. I made it almost the whole way through this review without a comment about the anti-Marvel campaign waged by those who fear any form of positive female portrayal in the manly-man world of superhero movies.

Message to those losers: get over yourselves. If Marvel engaged in self-conscious “Social Justice Warrior” territory, I might get these complaints, but instead, it keeps its message subtle.

Yes, Marvel features a powerful female hero, but despite the wails of the critics, it doesn’t pursue her narrative in an anti-male manner. “Positive female” doesn’t inherently take away from the male experience – not unless you’re so insecure that you feel threatened by any portrait of women as strong and heroic.

Marvel bolsters females and “neuters” no one. After a slow start, it becomes a fun adventure that introduces its lead character in a dynamic manner.

Footnote: expect the usual mid-credit and post-credit scenes.

Captain Marvel appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As expected, the movie came with good visuals.

Overall sharpness seemed strong. Only a hint of softness impacted the image on a few occasions, so it usually remained tight and concise. I saw no shimmering or jaggies, and both edge haloes and print flaws remained absent.

Like every other modern action movie, Marvel opted for an orange and teal orientation. These choices became more dominant than I’d like – and bordered on Michael Bay levels – but the Blu-ray reproduced them as intended.

Blacks showed good depth, and shadows offered largely nice clarity and smoothness. A few low-light sequences came across as slightly opaque, but these weren’t a major issue. In the end, the movie provided pleasing visuals.

In addition, Marvel brought us a stellar Dolby TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack. As one would expect, the soundscape opened up best when it indulged in its many battle sequences.

These used the various channels in a vivid, immersive manner that placed the elements in logical spots and meshed together well. The track gave us a strong sense of place and action.

Audio quality also pleased. Speech remained natural and distinctive, while music was full and rich.

Effects came across as accurate and dynamic, with tight low-end. I liked this mix quite a lot.

The comments above reflect the movie’s 2D edition. How did the included 3D version compare?

In terms of picture quality, the 2D and 3D presentations felt similar. I noticed no degradation in the 3D version.

Actually, the 3D often looked better than its 2D counterpart thanks to one factor: an alternate aspect ratio for about 35 of the movie’s 124 minutes. That roughly 28 percent of the movie went 1.90:1 to replicate the framing used for IMAX screenings.

These scenes offered clear upgrades in sharpness over the 2.39:1 material. Even if you ignore the 3D factor, the 1.90:1 sequences looked terrific and showed superior visuals to the 2D 2.39:1 footage.

Though not shot native 3D, this presentation also brought pretty strong stereo imagery. With so much action – much of it in space or in the air – we found plenty of scenes that used the extra dimensionality in a vivid manner.

Bigger action bits brought useful pop-out and the entire package offered a strong sense of depth. It all came together in a natural presentation that never looked phony or gimmicky. The 3D Captain Marvel turned into a really dynamic and involving way to watch the film.

To complicate matters, Captain Marvel also appears in a 4K UHD version. That one brought Atmos audio, an upgrade over the Blu-ray’s 7.1 that might entice some folks.

Picture quality showed a moderate upgrade with the 4K that made it look better than the 2D Blu-ray. However, the visual improvements of the 4K didn’t seem significant enough to make it the best rendition.

I’ll take the 1.90:1 ratio and the terrific 3D imagery over the somewhat stronger definition and colors of the 4K UHD. I feel the 3D easily becomes the best way to watch the movie.

All the set’s extras reside on the 2D disc, and we encounter an audio commentary from co-writers/co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific view of cast and performances, sets and locations, story/characters, effects, music, and connected domains.

Though not a bad track, this also never becomes an especially good piece. Boden and Fleck give us enough insights to make the commentary worth a listen, but it lacks a ton of substance and can seem pretty bland much of the time.

We can view the movie with or without an Introduction from Boden and Fleck. In this one-minute, 51-second reel, they give us general thoughts about the flick. The intro lacks much substance but it seems painless.

Six featurettes follow. With a total running time of 23 minutes, 25 seconds, we get Becoming a Super Hero (6:40), Big Hero Moment (3:31), The Origin of Nick Fury (3:33), The Dream Team (2:44), The Skrulls and the Kree (3:31) and Hiss-sterical Cat-titude (3:23).

Across these, we hear from Boden, Fleck, producer Kevin Feige, Secretary of Air Force Public Affairs Leslie Finstein, Brigadier General Jeannie Leavitt, executive producer Jonathan Schwartz, visual effects supervisor Christopher Townsend and actors Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Lashana Lynch, Chris Hemsworth, Clark Gregg, Jude Law, and Ben Mendelsohn.

They discuss story and characters, cast and performances, training, Boden and Fleck’s impact on the production, and the movie’s feline star. Though some good shots from the set materialize, the comments tend toward the fluffy side of the street.

Six Deleted Scenes run a total of eight minutes, 47 seconds. The first three show more of the Kree from the first act, including a glimpse of who Yon-Rogg sees as the “Supreme Intelligence”.

The others extend existing scenes. We get a very T2-esque confrontation between Vers and the biker in LA as well as more from Talos in disguise. None of these seem crucial but they’re interesting nonetheless.

A Gag Reel goes for two minutes, two seconds. It presents the usual goofs and silliness, so don’t expect anything memorable. At least it ends quickly and doesn’t overstay its welcome.

The disc opens with ads for Rising as well as the Strike Force, Future Fight, Contest of Champions and Puzzle Quest games. No trailer for Marvel appears here.

As an origin story, Captain Marvel becomes one of the better MCU efforts. After a slightly sluggish start, it finds a groove and turns into an engaging superhero tale. The Blu-ray brings strong picture and audio along with a reasonable roster of supplements. This winds up as a top-notch MCU flick and one that gets a significant upgrade via this delightful 3D presentation.