Monica Rambeau Is the Hero We’d Love to See in Avengers: End Game

Captain Marvel is so packed with standout characters and empowering moments we hardly know where to begin discussing it.

On top of being a film that stands entirely on its own merits, it also serves as the perfect segue into Avengers: End Game, coming out April 26. We're confident that Carol Danvers will be pivotal to the plan of finally kicking Thanos' butt, but there's another Captain Marvel we're longing to see in the next Marvel flick.

That person is Monica Rambeau. Portrayed by actress Akira Akbar, she's the daughter of Carol's best friend, Maria, and goddaughter to Carol. Though she has a relatively minor role in Captain Marvel, her giant heart helps us get to the soul of Carol Danvers' character. Even the iconic colors of Captain Marvel's suit are inspired by Monica's U.S. Air Force tee in bold red, blue and gold.

Carol also lovingly gives Monica the nickname "Lieutenant Trouble" because she's so feisty and vivacious. In the comics, she actually bestows the name to a young girl named Kit Renner. On top of being Carol's biggest fan, Kit is also tasked with giving Carol "Captain Marvel lessons" after Carol loses her memory—a role Monica also plays, to a degree, in the film.

Monica appears to be 12 or 13 in Captain Marvel, meaning that by the time of the events of Avengers: End Game, she'd be in her 30s. To us, that sounds like just the right age to join a ragtag group of superheroes. But to understand why we think Monica Rambeau is such a big deal, it helps to know a little bit of her history, not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but in the comics that led to it.

In those comics, Monica had a different history entirely. She was Captain Marvel. In fact, she was the second to use that title after the original hero—Mar-Vell—and the first woman to be Captain Marvel, predating Carol's use of the moniker by three decades.

According to those stories, Monica got her superpowers from exposure to extra-dimensional forces, giving her the ability to transform her body into pure energy. She quickly started using these abilities for good, capturing the media's attention. They gave her the name Captain Marvel, though she didn't actually know or have a connection to Mar-Vell.

Eager to master her powers, she decided to seek out the Avengers for their guidance and soon became a part of the team before briefly becoming their leader. That ended when Monica lost her powers after accidentally spreading her life energy across an energy ocean, nearly losing her life.

After that incident, she slowly but surely began to regain her powers. But by the time she was fully recovered, Mar-Vell's son, Genis-Vell, has started calling himself Captain Marvel. Monica was understandably frustrated with this at first, but eventually changed her own hero name to Photon to honor the name of Mar-Vell.

Then, Genis decided he wanted to rebrand, and started calling himself Photon. Again, Monica was not happy with this, but after deciding that she'd prefer to call herself Pulsar, she let him have her title again. Rude. Later, she decided to change her name again, becoming Spectrum. At least Genis wasn't responsible this time around.

That gives the MCU writers a lot to work with in terms of Monica's potential in the films. While some people might be disappointed that movie Monica Rambeau is straying so far from her superpowered origins, it's not too late for that to happen. There's still great opportunity to avoid erasing her superheroism entirely.

We've scoured the Infinity War IMDb page for a mention of Monica or an actress who could potentially play her, but we haven't been successful so far. That doesn't mean we're not still crossing our fingers for at least a cameo hinting at her future. Maybe it's a single scene reintroducing us to Monica as an adult, or something showing us that she's been a super-competent S.H.I.E.L.D. agent this entire time.

Merely including her would leave us extremely satisfied, and making her a hero would be even more spectacular. Plus, if Photon, Pulsar or Spectrum don't work out as her superhero name, we think Lieutenant Trouble would do just fine.

Want to know how much like Monica you are? Click HERE to find out which Captain Marvel character you are, based on your zodiac sign.