Exclusive: Kelly Thompson unveils Captain Marvel's mystical new look for upcoming comic arc

Carol Danvers has been through a lot since the current volume of her ongoing series launched two years ago under the guidance of writer Kelly Thompson. She's battled villains in alternate dimensions, made some new friends, become an Accuser in the Kree-Skrull Alliance, and been forced to hunt her Avengers teammates. She's even discovered she has a half-sister.

But this spring, Thompson's run on Captain Marvel will put Carol through something that will force her to confront things she's never confronted before in an effort to address a longstanding weakness. As that new story launches this April, Carol Danvers will atempt to master the mystic arts, and she'll get a whole new look to do it. 

Today, SYFY WIRE can exclusively reveal Carol Danvers' brand-new Captain Marvel costume for the upcoming arc beginning in April's Captain Marvel #28, written by Thompson with art by Jacopo Camagni. Then of course, there's the cover art and the new costume itself, which were drawn by Marco Checchetto in consultation with Thompson.

Check it out:

"He was very patient with me as we tried to figure out what this look for her should be," Thompson said of the design process with Checchetto. "I think the breakthrough happened when we stopped trying to give her just a regular 'new look' that was a variation on things that had come before and instead leaned hard into something wildly different that was story specific and thus not permanent. So this is a story specific costume the same way The Last Avenger 'Dark Carol' look was (though for completely different reasons). And Marco is a genius, so I think fans are going to have A LOT of fun with this very unexpected look. At a minimum I expect to see some great cosplay!"

Carol's new look is obviously darker and a bit more magical, particularly when the hooded cape comes into play, but why did this design come about in the first place, and why is Carol convinced that magic is now something she needs in her arsenal? It all ties into the resolution of the current Captain Marvel arc, "The New World," which hasn't yet wrapped up its story. That meant Thompson couldn't tell us much about the plot just yet, but she did explain it all ties into Carol's determined, military mindset when it comes to tackling problems. 

"I have to be a little careful here, because this story spins pretty directly out of the fall out from our current arc, so I don’t want to spoil that. But yes, not everything goes Carol’s way in that story, and there’s real loss mixed in there with the win," Thompson explained. "And it leaves her feeling more vulnerable than ever to magic and characters that can attack her with magic. And Carol’s military mindset especially is not going to see an Achilles’ heel like that and just ignore it – she’s going to look into ways to address that."

In "The New World," Carol finds herself transported to a post-apocalyptic future where few of her friends are left alive, and many of the surviving heroes are in fact the children of friends she once fought beside. According to Thompson, that version of the future, in which so much of the world she knows has been wiped away, has a huge role to play in motivating Carol going forward. 

"Carol’s currently in an apocalyptic future right now in which literal billions died," Thompson said. "So even if she can save the day for them there in the future…how does she prevent that apocalypse from happening…and also what’s the cost of doing that?"

And so, Carol Danvers will attempt to harness the power of magic for the sake of the future, for the sake of her own strength, and for the sake of the world and the people in it that she hopes to protect. But of course, Marvel heroes suddenly trying to learn to be magical hasn't always gone well before, which means there's no guarantee it'll go well now.

"Oh. This will not go well," Thompson said. "Literally nobody wants Carol to know magic. [Laughs]"

Captain Marvel #28 arrives this April. The current arc continues with Captain Marvel #25 on January 27.