By Jong Lee

#HigherFurtherFaster. That’s what Marvel Studio is striving for with Captain Marvel. Did it hit all the notes to take the Marvel Cinematic Universe beyond what it is at the moment, yes and no. It hit big key notes that will have you sit there and say the MCU will be ok after Iron Man, Cap (I like to think we’re friends) and Thor leave us. There were parts of the movie that left me a little unsatisfied, but those moments were few (I like to nitpick sometimes).

But what does all this mean for the MCU and the to the fans that fear that this bubble will pop? I expect a regression with box office numbers. Black Panther and Spider-Man will still draw a lot fans to the theaters, but don’t expect Black Widow, Eternals or even the next Avengers movie to do what Infinity War and Black Panther did. Is the Studio or us as fans in trouble? The short answer is no.

Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios (pictured above) and the genius behind the MCU, won’t let that happen. His vision when he started with Iron Man was to create this vast connecting universe that would expand over multiple movies and years. He simply created a monster. The original plan was to conclude the first 10 years of the MCU with the overarching villain, Thanos. The outline was laid out early but details changed over the years (originally Inhumans was set as a movie before being made into a debacle of a TV show).

We fell in love with Tony, Steve, Point Break, Bruce, Natasha and Clint. These relationship took years of trial and error (Thor: The Dark World) and in some cases, mastered what a movie should be (Captain America: Winter Soldier). We invested countless years going to the theaters, buying merchandise, purchasing BluRay and digital copies and binging interviews. We grew alongside RDJ and Chris Evans. We watched Chris Hemsworth and Chris Pratt go from unknowns to megastars. We laughed with and at Tom Holland and Mark Ruffalo for spoiling movies. And we pretended to be ScarJo and Chadwick Boseman. For these past 10 years, they were family.

How does Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) fit into all this? Carol now becomes the third piece to the current trinity Marvel has (Black Panther and Spider-Man being the first two). She’ll play a few important roles, connecting Earth to the cosmic, serving as the moral compass of the MCU and ultimate badass. We gave the first 10 years to the Godparents of the MCU and they didn’t let us down. Let’s give the next few phases over to the new generation. The future isn’t as clear as it once was half a decade ago, but we have a great pilot in Feige and the MCU will be going Higher, Further, Faster.