Identity Issues in Space

[lynnenne]

Hello, and welcome to your weekly Sunday discussion post! I finally saw Captain Marvel, and this week's topic is related to that movie.



There were many things I loved about this movie, and one of them was the exploration of Carol's identity. She literally does not know who she is at the beginning of the story, and she finds herself through friendship, affection, exploration, and the discovery of her own power. Finding one's identity is one of my favorite storytelling tropes, and it seems to be one of the common threads among my favorite characters:

• Carol, as described above
• Loki, who thought he knew himself, only to find that his entire life (even his species!) was a lie
• Thor, who thought himself the first-born, only to learn in Ragnarok that Hela had preceded him (and that their father had hidden her existence)
• Valkyrie, who used to have a purpose but ran from it after she lost the person who meant the most to her
• Bruce, who is literally two people

What other characters have identity issues in the MCU cosmic universe? Peter Quill? Gamora? Rocket? What identity issues to you see them suffering from? And is it a story you relate to?
 

Comments

[kore]

In particular I am super into the unrealized narrative potential stemming from Carol's backstory and her experiences with the Kree, and how that might shape her going forward, especially if she only recovers some of her memories of her former life on Earth. Like, how does she integrate her remembered Earth-self with the Kree-self she thought she was AND the person she actually lived as for six years? I want to read so much fic about this

YES PLEASE

[snickfic]

I NEED IT. Realistically, I need to sit down and start thinking about how to write it, but I want it so much and it's such a big topic that I haven't found an in yet.