 activism, and the film pulls that together more so than Stranger Things due to the nature of its character and story. Captain Marvel succeeds at depicting complex trauma because it interweaves Carol’s traumas into the story’s political conflicts, reflecting the relationship between interpersonal and systemic violence. It acknowledges the perpetrators and the forces that empowered them.
Though considered by psychologists before her, Herman codified complex trauma as a diagnosis, centering it as an extension of the better-known P.T.S.D. She worked with and treated targets of abuse for decades, realizing that, “Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life,” (p. 33). And so complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) entered academic literature in 1992. She placed it as a long-needed diagnosis in a field rife with victim blaming.
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder […] is a disorder that may develop following exposure to an event or series of events of an extremely threatening or horrific nature, most commonly prolonged or repetitive events from which escape is difficult or impossible (e.g., torture, slavery, genocide campaigns, prolonged domestic violence, repeated childhood sexual or physical abuse).
With Herman’s work in mind, I did some quick Googling on Captain Marvel and trauma to see what critics might said. I quickly found two blog posts on women with C-PTSD who connected to the film, one of whom even brought up Trauma and Recovery. Their writings confirmed my theory that Carol’s story would resonate for people with this diagnosis. To be clear though, I am not suggesting C-PTSD as a diagnosis for Carol. I only use it as a lens for analysis to better understand character dynamics and themes. Due to her situation and the short timespan of the film, she technically does not go through the stages. And it’s still useful to use the stages as a way to conceptualize her arc. Her time as Vers hints towards a disruption in her socialization and sense of self, stemming from her abduction and grooming.
Stage one focuses on establishing safety. When we meet Carol Danvers, she is living on Hala, the central homeworld of the Kree Empire. She suffers from amnesia and goes by the name of ‘Vers’, training as a superpowered soldier under Yon-Rogg. The film explores the relationship between identity and memory as Carol discovers her earthly origins, reconstructing her time as an Airforce pilot. Eventually, she learns that Yon-Rogg was the alien who murdered her mentor and abducted her, training her to become an emotionless weapon.
Because of her amnesia, Carol’s abuse shares more similarities with people in abusive interpersonal relationships than with political prisoners. Her conscious mind is not aware of what actually happened to her, making it easier for the Kree to manipulate her as they can pass themselves off as her savior. Her earliest memory symbolizes the Kree’s colonialization of her mind: She remembers waking up to a blood transfusion, Yon-Rogg’s blood injected into her veins. It reinforces her hybridized genetics, the blue alien blood overtaking her red, human blood. The slowness of a transfusion fits as a metaphor for the slowness of abuse and its warping of identity, the sense of ownership that a perpetrator has for their target.
When the film starts, we see Carol in a nightmare, reliving a version of her abduction: she watches as a Skrull prepares to kill her and her original mentor, Dr. Wendy Lawson. It differs from the original memory as she remembers it later, reflecting the story that she was told by the Kree. The camera stays close on her as she wakes up, obscuring any details of her personal quarters. When she walks over to the window, she is surrounded by reflections of the cityscape, subsumed in Kree identity and culture. She already belongs to the Collective in a way; we only know Vers as a warrior, severed from her inner world.
He stifles vulnerability with Carol, and by doing so, he discourages her to self-reflect. This itself is a form of gaslighting as he caused her amnesia and knows why she suffers. In a deleted scene, Yon-Rogg meets with the Supreme Intelligence, revealing the person he most admires: himself. It is the ultimate collaboration between personal and political forces.
Indeed, the Supreme Intelligence’s method of communication parallels Yon-Rogg’s transfusion. The Kree allow the A.I. to ‘plug’ into their body and mind, visualized as fluid-like vines, and the imagery recalls a creeping infection as a perpetrator infiltrates the target’s consciousness. They hijack the target’s thoughts, and eventually their negative voice in the target’s head transfigures into the target’s own. The Supreme Intelligence takes the form of whoever the person most admires, another layer of emotional manipulation and pressure. It also subtly threatens to take away her powers if she doesn’t submit: “What’s given can be taken away.” It makes her safety and agency conditional on her ability to conform and obey. Kree propaganda, such as the citywide announcement about Skrull attacks, reinforces the Skrulls as terrorists, reminding Carol of her trauma. She lives in a state of low-level, constant fear that what happened to her will happen to others.
Though well-executed, the film could have used a scene or two to develop Hala and to develop Vers. We never see the Vers identity outside a military context, so she can’t be contrasted to Carol’s life on Earth. There is a deleted scene of Yon-Rogg and Carol speaking to schoolchildren about danger, but it lacks the power that comes from quiet cultural cues of propaganda. This is where safety comes in. As Carol gains physical and mental distance from Yon-Rogg and the Kree empire, her personality opens up. She can more fully express her emotions, and her bond with Fury offers the first known relationship in years not based in her abduction.
Carol: I found evidence that I… had a life here. […] Mar-Vell is who I see when I visit the Supreme Intelligence. I knew her. And I knew her as Lawson.
Yon-Rogg: This sounds like Skrull simulation, Vers.
Yon-Rogg: Stop. Remember your training. Know your enemy. It could be you. Do not let your emotions override your judgment.
Notably he does not ask about what kind of evidence she discovered or what she remembers. He instructs her to disavow herself and to only trust him and the Kree, the ‘authorities’ in her life. His implication that the Skrulls hijacked her mind, hence her reaction, is a red herring. Often emotions inform a person’s judgement. Like physiological responses, emotions help to shape one’s understanding of the world, inspiring self-reflection and insight. He infantilizes and gaslights her here, attempting to reassert his power over her by deriding her agency and sense of self. He knows that her subconscious mind holds the truth, and should that be unlocked, she could access her full power physically and psychologically.
Later, Carol and Fury discuss their status as outsiders in their respective units. Fury remarks that his coworker “went with his gut against orders” and connects it to humanity’s innate nature. Carol, laughing it off, says that following her instincts tends to get her into trouble. Counselor Kris Godinez has discussed in her videos that research now points to the gut being like a second brain. By attempting to quell even her instincts and emotions, Yon-Rogg tries to infiltrate the innermost levels of her humanity and independence, yet Carol is a resilient survivor. This resilience forms the backbone of her strong will as she charges forward toward the truth.
Arguably, the longest stage in the process is the second stage. That period in a target’s life centers on grieving, awash in memories. It creates a philosophical, existential crisis for the target: “She stands mute before the emptiness of evil, feeling the insufficiency of any known system of explanation,” (p. 178). The return of Carol’s memories about her powers and subsequent abduction trigger this crisis. She realizes that everything she knew about herself was rooted in lies and in blood. This is a hallmark of C-PTSD rooted in interpersonal abuse and exploitation, because targets like political prisoners know who their enemy is initially, even if they end up submitting later. In an abusive intimate relationship, such as a partner or parent, the target had to be groomed to accept maltreatment over time.
Abuse in general, but especially gaslighting, warps the memory-making process. Targets struggle with gaps and black holes, so it’s recommended that targets write down incidents of abuse to counteract the gaslighting. These written records function as externalized memories and consciousness, and in Captain Marvel, the file on Lawson and the black box from the plane crash serve a similar purpose for the narrative. 
Earlier in the film, Fury had summarized the Kree as “a race of noble warriors,” but Carol immediately and proudly corrected him, declaring that she comes from a race of “heroes.” She repeated her assertion: “noble warrior heroes.” By stressing “heroes” in the dialogue, the writers build up the inevitable trauma that comes from her disillusionment. The file on Lawson thus opens the door in her mind, while the black box turns on the light.
The betrayal shatters her trauma bond with Yon-Rogg and her understanding of