[Short Read] Which DC Superhero is Comparable to MCU’s Captain Marvel?

MCU’s Captain Marvel has become a very popular superhero recently, thanks to her appearance in two recent movies. Comparatively, not all DC superhero movies have done justice to the Justice League characters. In my opinion, several DC characters are better represented by the DC animated movies rather than by the live-action movies. So, I am going to include a DC animated movie in the discussion of this article.

With that being said, the DC superhero I compare with the MCU’s Captain Marvel is Green Lantern. To explain my point, I shall refer to 2009’s animated movie Green Lantern: First Flight, instead of 2011’s live-action Green Lantern movie.

This article is going to be different from my other ones. Here I shall not describe my point of view directly. Instead, I shall tell you the two origin stories in a certain way; and you yourself will make the comparison. Also, I guess most of you have watched Captain Marvel, but not the animated Green Lantern movie. So I shall tell the storylines much like trailers, instead of giving significant spoilers.

The Green Lantern Storyline

The protagonist (Hal Jordan) is a skilled human fighter pilot. One day, after a high-tech test flight, he gets to know about a group of intergalactic peace-keepers (the Green Lantern Corps) from a dying alien (Abin Sur) in a crashed spaceship. He also receives superpowers at that time. These powers allow him to create and manipulate light as a weapon; and also to fly in space. Some members of the intergalactic group then take him to their planet (Oa). He then joins the group as a member. He gets trainings there. He meets the powerful higher authority (the Guardians of the Universe). He also starts going on missions with other members of the group, in a special green-and-black uniform bearing the symbol of the group on the chest.

Image : Abin Sur tells Hal Jordan about the Green Lantern Corps. Image Source : Green Lantern: First Flight (2009).

And thus the story continues. A conspiracy in the intergalactic group is eventually revealed; and he fights the antagonist to save the day. In the long run (not shown in the movie) he becomes a part of a group of superheroes (the Justice League) on earth, and also continues his intergalactic operations.

Image : Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) in space. Image Source : Green Lantern: First Flight (2009).

The Captain Marvel Storyline

The protagonist (Carol Danvers) is a skilled human fighter pilot. One day, after a high-tech test flight, she gets to know about a group of intergalactic peace-keepers (the Kree) from a dying alien (Mar-Vell) in a crashed spaceship. She also receives superpowers at that time. These powers allow her to create and manipulate light as a weapon; and also to fly in space (eventually). Some members of the intergalactic group then take her to their planet (Hala). She then joins the group as a member. She gets trainings there. She meets the powerful higher authority (the Supreme Intelligence). She also starts going on missions with other members of the group, in a special green-and-black uniform bearing the symbol of the group on the chest.

Image : Mar-Vell tells Carol Danvers about the Kree. Image Source : Captain Marvel (2019).

And thus the story continues. A conspiracy in the intergalactic group is eventually revealed; and she fights the antagonist to save the day. In the long run (not shown in the movie) she becomes a part of a group of superheroes (the Avengers) on earth, and also continues her intergalactic operations.

Image : Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) in space. Image Source : Captain Marvel (2019).

Coincidentally, the name of Hal Jordan’s love interest is Carol. She is also a human, working in the air force.

Do you see the similarity? There are similarities between the antagonists and the final battles also. But I am not writing them here, for the sake of not giving spoilers. Let me know in the comments below what you think. Give your opinion especially if you have watched Green Lantern: First Flight. (But don’t give spoilers for other readers...)

[Short Read] Can the Time Stone Resurrect Iron-Man?

We know from the Doctor Strange movie that the time stone can be used to transform an object to its past or future form. One of the most impactful uses of this process has been seen in Avengers Infinity War, when Thanos has used the stone to resurrect Vision and recreate the mind stone. Then, why can it not be used to resurrect Iron-Man, or the other deceased people?

The simple explanation is that, Vision is not really a living person — he is a humanoid super-robot. So, the time stone has treated him in the way it treats any other non-living object; and has brought him back to his past form. However, to understand this better, we have to look at the beautiful connection between the body and the soul which the MCU has established.

The sorcerers of Kamar-Taj can form an astral projection of a person. This means, they can take the soul out of the body to the astral plane. But the soul still stays connected to the body; and can be taken back into the body at any time. On the other hand, when a person dies, the body seems to get some serious damage in such a way that the soul cannot stay within the body any more. The soul leaves the body; and the connection between the body and the soul is permanently lost.

Image : The souls of the Ancient One and Doctor Strange. The soul of the Ancient One has left her body because she is dying; whereas, Doctor Strange has purposefully formed an astral projection of himself. Image Source : Doctor Strange (2016).

Now, in principle, the time stone can treat the body as an object. So it can restore the body into its earlier healthy form. But the stone has no control over the soul. It cannot summon the soul back into the restored body. It cannot re-establish the lost connection between the body and the soul. So, the time stone cannot resurrect a deceased person.

Vision is just the body, along with some installed programs and the mind stone. But he has no soul. So the time stone has successfully resurrected Vision. But Iron-Man, the Ancient One, and the other deceased people have actually been living people with souls. Because of this reason the time stone is unable to resurrect them.

P.S.  Can the time and soul stones work together to resurrect Iron-Man?

The answer is, ‘No’. In a previous article (click here to read) I have explained that, to place a soul into a recreated body, the soul stone needs to work in collaboration with the reality stone, which takes care of certain quantum information about the body-soul connection. Such information is available for the people who die because of Thanos’s snap; but not for the ones who die in a regular physical way. So, the time and soul stones — in fact all the infinity stones — cannot resurrect Iron-Man and others even when working together. We have seen a glimpse of this unfortunate fact in Avengers End Game. As Professor Hulk has said, he has tried to resurrect Black Widow while wielding the Stark gauntlet — but he has failed!

[Short Read] Why Little Morgan Loves Her Daddy 3000

Morgan, the little daughter of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts, has a significant role to play in Avengers End Game. How significant? It is probably more than what you may think at first.

End Game is a story of defeat and victory; a story of loss and gain. All of these happens at a universal scale. The story involves fundamental building blocks of nature and life, from a unique perspective where both scientific and mystic concepts merge together. It is easy to lose track of the storyline in the web of complicacy. But if there is one character who reminds us of how simple life can really be, it is our little Morgan. She is the symbol of the underlying simplicity of life in a highly complex universe. She is the symbol of a true and unconditional love in the midst of a cosmic war.

Remember the scene from End Game, where Morgan goes to bed. Tony says, 'Love you tons.' Morgan replies, ‘I love you 3000.’ What does she mean by saying this?

To understand a child, you have to think what a child thinks. And this is what I think about Morgan’s reply. She wants to express that she loves her daddy way more than how much daddy loves her. But she doesn’t know how to express that. So, she figures out a simple way. She has probably learnt in school that a ton means 1000 kg. So she innocently says, 'I love you 3000,' simply meaning that she loves her daddy 3 times more than how much daddy loves her.

Image : 'I love you 3000'. Image Source : Avengers End Game (2019).

Imagine this alternative conversation between Morgan and Tony :

Tony : Love you tons.

Morgan : [smiling innocently] I love you 3000.

Tony : [smiles, gently kisses on her forehead].

Morgan : Do you know why I love you 3000?

Tony : [gently] No baby, you tell me!

Morgan : [being disappointed] I knew you wouldn't understand.

Tony : [in a caring voice] What is it?

Morgan : My math teacher says that a ton means 1000. [Pauses, checks if daddy understands the clue, then continues] But I love you more, so I love you 3000.

Tony : [feels the touch in heart].

Hearing ‘I love you 3000’ from Morgan is already adorable. Hearing her expressing her thoughts and feelings can be even more heart-touching.

With her simplicity and innocence, Morgan has turned a seemingly simple dialogue into an iconic quote. In some sense, Morgan’s feelings actually represent the combined feelings of all Iron-Man fans in the world. Because, if you are an Iron-Man fan, then you don’t just love Tony Stark — you love him 3000.

The Semi-Science of Jump Points and Lightspeed Engines in the MCU

There are many space travel methods known in the MCU. Most of them basically utilize wormholes in different forms. A wormhole is an Einstein-Rosen bridge, that connects two different places in space through a higher-dimensional short-cut path, even if the places are lightyears apart from each other in the regular space. These short-cut paths can transport people and objects between the two connected places in no time.

Bifrost bridges, magical portals, and the portals created by the space stone work in the same basic principle. However, these methods work for a single person or a group of people; and cannot be used to maintain an actual space traffic.

So, advanced civilizations like the Kree and others use the jump point technology. As shown in the movies, jump points look like sets of hexagonal-shaped portals, which are permanently placed at many locations in the universe. They are usually invisible, but appear when spaceships approach to enter inside. Spaceships travel to distant planets in very short time through these jump points. With these observations, I have come up with my theory of what the jump points are.

Image : A spaceship coming out of a jump point. Image Source : Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

In my version of the story, a long time ago one of the advanced civilizations took the first step of setting up a permanent space-traffic system. They created a huge grid of wormholes, with openings near the destination planets. These openings are the jump points we see. By going through a jump point, a spaceship enters the wormhole grid. Through the grid they conveniently travel to the destination planet.

Imagine a hilly land with dense jungles. Compare it to the regular space. Travelling from one place to another by climbing the hills and walking through the jungles is seriously inconvenient. But now imagine a number of tunnels through the hills. Compare these tunnels to the wormholes in the grid. Roads passing through these tunnels can easily sustain a healthy traffic.

Permanently sustaining such a cosmic grid of wormholes requires energy at a cosmic scale. The only natural way to obtain such energy is to harness solar energy. So, in my theory, many jump points are created near massive stars to harness solar energy at a reasonable rate. This energy can be transported everywhere in the grid through the grid itself, assuring its stability.

Thus, the jump point technology seems to be a very convenient way of space travel. In fact, the spaceships themselves don’t need to have lightspeed. All types of spaceships, from large motherships to small space-pods, can access these jump points. Then, why was Mar-Vell trying to build a lightspeed engine for space travel?

To find an answer, first we need to understand the inconveniences of the jump point technology. The basic problem is that, while creating the grid, the number of wormholes and jump points had to be minimized in order to minimize the energy consumption. So, jump points had to be created only at selected places, from where nearby planets could be accessed. With this restriction, the creators of the grid obviously could not build jump points at all places. This means, not all places in the universe are accessible through jump points. A regular space traffic may not require to access all places; but scientific explorations and army operations, like those of the Kree and the Nova Corps, may require going to deserted planets and other new places in the universe where jump points are not set up. This kind of places must be accessed by travelling through the regular space from the nearest available jump point. With the regular spaceships, such travels can take hours, days, or even months!

There is another problem — a much bigger one! The observable universe is billions of lightyears in diameter. Setting up a wormhole grid everywhere in the universe would take probably trillions of years — more than the age of the universe itself! So, obviously, whichever advanced alien civilization started building the grid, got enough time to cover only a very tiny part of the universe — probably one galaxy, or a few nearby galaxies. Probably that’s why most of the times we see the Guardians and other alien groups talking about galaxies only, but not about the entire universe, since their field of operation is limited by the reach of the wormhole grid only.

Compare the jump point technology with old machines in our real world. As years pass, we always realize the need of newer and more efficient machines; and that’s why technology evolves. Similarly, the MCU civilizations eventually realized that newer and more efficient technologies were required for real space exploration at a universal scale.

Meanwhile, Asgard’s Bifrost technology, earth’s magic portals, and most importantly, the tesseract were already known to work for groups of people to help reach distant places in the universe. Inspired by these, Mar-Vell took up the project to build spaceships which would work in a similar way. That’s when she came up with her design of a lightspeed engine, powered by the tesseract.

This brings us to the concept of how the lightspeed engine works. In my theory, this engine works by using the principle of space warp, as shown in the Star Trek movies. Einstein’s relativity says that nothing can move faster than light. But his theory also says that spacetime is warpable. The Star Trek movies show that, using the principles of relativity and quantum mechanics, the space itself on a path can be shrunk. Then a spaceship can travel through that shrunk space at a regular speed; but to the rest of the universe it would look like as if the ship is travelling at a superluminal speed. This is the basic principle of the warp drive technology.

Image : Space flight using warp drive. Image Source : Star Trek Beyond (2016).

Of course, there are technical problems in building a warp drive using real-world physics. (You can Google-search ‘Alcubierre drive’ for some fascinating real-world information.) But the MCU scientists can ‘easily’ build it by using the tesseract/space stone. In fact, the tesseract doesn’t need to be physically placed inside the engine; because Mar-Vell already found a way to extract the tesseract’s power and to store it into the engine itself. So, many spaceships with lightspeed engines can be built using Mar-Vell’s technology. These can be used for space exploration at distant parts of the universe, as well as for eventual traffic-system operations.

Image : Mar-Vell's lightspeed engine. Image Source : Captain Marvel (2019).

Unfortunately, Mar-Vell never got the time to complete her project. So, none of the civilizations in the MCU currently possess lightspeed engines. The jump point technology is their only stable space traffic option right now. But hope still remains. Mar-Vell’s space-lab and her research notes are still there, waiting for some new scientist to work on them.

This summarizes my ideas on jump points and lightspeed engines in the MCU. Let me know what you think about this. Also you can share your own ideas in the comments below.

P.S.  Ego’s Spaceship

We have also seen a different faster-than-light spaceship in the MCU — the oval shaped white spaceship that Ego was using in his human form. That ship was probably working in the same principle of space warp; but being a Celestial, Ego surely had his own way of building it.

Image : Ego's spaceship. Image Source : Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).