Listen To The 'Captain Marvel' Theme Song If You Want To Feel Like A Badass Superhero
Captain Marvel is a first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for many reasons. It's the first superhero movie the franchise has put out with a female lead. It's the first where digitized de-aging will be used on a character wholesale, moving the ball forward in what CGI can do. Also, it's the first Marvel film to occur in the 1990s, a fact the trailers have made use of, setting each one to a different grunge era hit. However, the Captain Marvel theme song is not a rock-tinged genre specific sound, but the sort of song that stands as an all-time classic.
People underestimate how much a good soundtrack can contribute to a film. Superman's theme song, for instance, is one of those instantly recognizable pieces that both immediately feels like a 1940s era piece and the kind of thing one can sing while running around the backyard in a cape. (The legendary John Williams also wrote it, around the same time as he did the Star Wars soundtrack, and there are definite echos from one to the other.)
Captain Marvel isn't quite as hummable, and it takes a little while to get going, but once the bass kicks in, it's got the kind of uplifting quality to it that will make perfect background music for any young superhero on her way to school or getting ready to kick some butt in her favorite hobby.
It is also a recognizably Marvel sounding track. While the nostalgic fuzz of the guitar and bands like Elastica and Hole will undoubtedly be the force driving people to rush out to purchase the soundtrack after seeing the film, the original compositions have to pull double duty a lot of the time. They both have to establish a unique theme for the star in question while also tying back to the franchise universe. (Which at this point is over 20 films and counting.)
Also, the soundtrack also has to play well with cats. Marvel has been marketing the Goose angle heavily to the cat lady population of the superhero fanbase. Here he is on the red carpet, proving this soundtrack also works as excellent "chill out and groom yourself" music.
As for the soundtrack as a whole, Captain Marvel co-director Ryan Fleck said the songs that wound up getting used were a collaborative effort. According to Den of Geek, Fleck said the following:
We made like a big playlist at the beginning of the movie and we shared it with the crew and some of the cast and some of those songs are in the movie... in post[-production], we put the scenes together and just threw songs in and see what stuck. It was very much a collaboration with Kevin [Feige, President of Marvel Studios] and the whole team at Marvel, to figure out which songs really worked the best.
The uplifting theme song and downbeat of grunge rock make for a contrasting combination. Captain Marvel sounds better all the time.
Captain Marvel arrives in theaters Friday, March 8, 2019.
