I didn’t grow up reading superhero comics.
There wasn’t any real reason why, except perhaps that none of the adults around me did. It does mean, though, that when I talk to people about comics, and specifically how they got into them, I sometimes feel a little weird or self-conscious about how late I came to the game. Which is, of course, ridiculous: superhero comics are for everyone, and it’s never too late to get into them, and I will say so loudly and repeatedly to anyone who asks.
But this article isn’t about my superhero comic origin story. This article is about me and Captain Marvel.
I started reading Marvel comics around 2012—coincidentally around the same time I started really getting into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Funny how that happens. I sort of fell into them in the most random and haphazard way possible, with basically no idea what I was doing. That was basically how I first encountered Carol Danvers: someone telling me “hey, there’s this new series coming out that you should try.” Possibly, the pitch also included, “and some men are really mad about it.”
So I picked up Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel series and started reading, and I remember very clearly the line that sold me on the book and the character both: “I’m taking the damn name.”
The first Captain Marvel—Mar-Vell—is dead. Carol has a new costume (the now iconic one designed by Jamie McKelvie) and Captain America is suggesting that now’s a good time to consider a new name as well: Captain Marvel. Carol is resistant to the idea; she sees it as taking something away from Mar-Vell. Steve argues that she’s earned it, and that her old name, Ms. Marvel, marks her as an adjunct, secondary—which she clearly no longer is. By midway through the issue, Carol has shaken off her reservations and made up her mind to take up the mantle.
Comics have an interesting—and difficult—relationship with legacy names. Did you know that there have been three different Iron Men? (Tony Stark, James Rhodes, and Victor Von Doom.) How many Captains America can you name? (There have been at least seven, depending on how you count.) And yet the names, sooner or later, tend to gravitate back to their original owner. Carol was Ms. Marvel from 1977 to 2012—but since 2012, she’s been Captain Marvel, and now that there’s a movie coming out where she bears that name…it’s going to be hard to pry it off her.
I’m taking the damn name.
Women in comics tend to suffer from a lack of visibility. (The first of Marvel’s superheroines was Sue Storm, “Invisible Girl.” Ha, ha.) They tend to have fewer prominent storylines, less of a presence on teams, and fewer solo books. Right now, out of 49 comics that Marvel is currently publishing, ten of them are solo titles featuring female characters—and that 20% strikes me as relatively high. Team books have gotten better at featuring more than a single token female character, and yet the current Avengers comic features eight members on the team and only two women.
Carol Danvers is the opposite of invisible. She is a tank, an unstoppable force, an unapologetically badass. She’s brash, loud, bold, confident. She takes up space and never backs down from a fight. She punches sharks.
I could use this space to talk about how Carol is a compellingly flawed character. She’s struggled with alcoholism. She can be overconfident, or sometimes self-righteous. She is, like all of Marvel’s best characters, impeccably human. And all of that is important—all of it is valuable, speaking as someone who tends to like her female characters best when they’re messy, when they struggle and stumble and sometimes fail. But that isn’t what Carol is about, and that isn’t actually what I like best about her.
What I like about Carol is that she doesn’t apologize. She’s the best, and she knows it, and she won’t let anyone get in her way. She knows herself, owns herself. We all need power fantasies, and that’s mine—and, based on the number of people, particularly women, who have embraced her, I’m not the only one.
Women are taught to make ourselves small. To speak softly, and stand back, and step aside. “Ambition” is a dirty word. So, in its own way, is “confidence.” None of this is revelatory to say; feminists have been talking about it ad (their own) nauseam for a long time. But it’s part of what makes those women—fictional and non-fictional—who refuse to back down and shrink themselves to fit the limited space they’re given, so inspiring, so moving, so empowering.
How about another Kelly Sue DeConnick line?
“We’re gonna get where we’re going, you and me. Death and indignity be damned… we’ll get there…and we will be the stars we were always meant to be.”
When the announcement about the Captain Marvel movie dropped in 2014, I remember saying that I’d believe it was happening when I was sitting in the movie theater watching the end credits. What can I say? I’m a pessimist; a part of me doubted I would ever see Marvel make a female-led superhero movie. The fact that it was pushed back by the studio—twice—only made me feel more like we might never really see it happen, like it would be one of those things that was always supposedly coming but was never quite a priority. Even now, even armed with set photos and trailers and cast interviews and a premiere date just around the corner, I still sort of struggle to believe it. It’s a crying shame that it’s taken eleven years for the MCU to get around to its first female-led superhero movie.
I’m also incredibly grateful that it’s here. And—even though I’ve always been rooting for a Black Widow movie, and will continue to do so—I’m incredibly grateful that it’s her. Captain Marvel. It just feels somehow right.
One of the remarkable things that came out of the Kelly Sue DeConnick run on Captain Marvel was the group of fans who called themselves the Carol Corps. It wasn’t something organized, wasn’t institutional—it arose, entirely organically, out of people who found themselves congregating around a single character. Captain Marvel became a rallying point for the female comic book fans who frequently find themselves treated as outsiders, and later for people of all genders who felt marginalized by mainstream comics fandom. The Carol Corps was representative of something bigger than a single superhero and a group of people who rallied around her to champion inclusivity and openness. The title of a panel Vulture hosted at NYCC in 2014 indicates how formative, and how significant, Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps were for the development of a new, specifically female comic book fandom: “Carol Corps and Beyond: The Future of Female Fandom.”
Looking back, it feels like Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel was the starting point for a flowering—a series of ripples that are still echoing in Marvel’s comics today. Carol Danvers became Captain Marvel in 2012; in 2014 a new Pakistani-American hero named Kamala Khan took up the Ms. Marvel mantle. Five years later, Kamala is in multiple team books and there are purportedly ‘plans’ to introduce her into the MCU after Captain Marvel. She-Hulk became (at least for a while) Hulk. X-23 became Wolverine. Jane Foster transformed into Thor for four years. Female characters aren’t just moving forward into the spotlight, but taking up named legacy roles—no longer adjuncts or love interests. True, most of these changes haven’t lasted, but they happened. Captain Marvel wasn’t the first, but she played a crucial role in starting this wave.
One of my hopes for the movie is that she does the same for the Marvel Cinematic Universe—that she blasts through the stratosphere and blazes a trail. That she marks the beginning of Marvel’s reaching past their stable of white male superheroes and shows us all how far we can go. I’m heartened by the presence of Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau and the inclusion of her daughter, named Monica, in the film—Monica Rambeau, who in the comics was the first female bearer of the Captain Marvel name back in 1982.
Another hope, both smaller and so much larger, is for those little girls I fully expect to see in costume this Halloween as Captain Marvel. (Or the big ones, for that matter.) If I can quote another issue of Captain Marvel:
“Have you ever seen a little girl run so fast she falls down? There’s an instant, a fraction of a second before the world catches hold of her again… A moment when she’s outrun every doubt and fear she’s ever had about herself and she flies. In that one moment, every little girl flies.”
I want all those girls to come out of this movie having absorbed Carol’s fighting spirit, her self-confidence, her determination and refusal to back down in the face of adversity. I want them to have that sense of freedom and possibility where there’s nothing holding them back.
So let’s fly: Higher, further, faster, baby.
Elise Ringo is an enthusiastic nerd putting her English degree to good use by writing about anything other than the literary canon and thinking far too much about pop-culture. She runs a blog at Becoming the Villainess and tweets as @veliseraptor.
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I’m happy that I keep hearing favorable reviews for Captain Marvel. I liked what I’ve seen of the character in comics that weren’t her own, she was great in the Brood saga of the X-Men for instance even though she was de-powered at the time. I really wanted to like her movie, but if the movie is good than this movie has been terribly marketed. Every subsequent trailer made the movie look worse and worse, to the point that I’d decided not to ever watch it until favorable reviews started coming in.
I am a dinosaur showing my age; I understand about licensing and copyrights etc but when there are two movies released the same year, and in one Billy Batson says “Shazam” and turns into some guy named “Shazam” and in the other Captain Marval is just, well, Captain Marvel, then I feel old.
Even in the relatively purile TV show from my childhood when Billy Batson got his powers from a bunch of long-dead Greek philosophers, he shouted “Shazam” and turned into Captain Marvel.
I know that this change in the comic book character took place long ago, but I still think of Shazam=I am now Captain Marvel.
And while we’re on the topic, can someone get those kids off my lawn?
I just wish they’d picked a less controversial star for this movie, someone who had less of a pre existing hatedom. It makes me nervous.
random22@3: I think they picked a perfect star for this film, and I hope she makes a lot of people nervous.
@3 can you please explain to me the so-called controversy you’re referring to? You mean the one where it’s a superhero movie led by woman and minority? Or Brie is a self-proclaimed feminist just as her marvel character always was? Or the one where she wants more inclusivity in her interviewers beyond white males? Or the fact that trolls hate bombed Rotten Tomatoes reviews of the movie BEFORE seeing it, proclaiming it a failure just like they did with Black Panther and Wonder Woman?
Please elaborate on her “controversy” to us, please. I really don’t understand it.
The only controversy I’m aware of, if you can call it that, is the belief that Brie Larson is a bad actress. Specifically, she’s not very good at displaying emotion. At least, that’s the complaints I’ve heard around her.
@3
If you listen to the haters you’ll never get anything done. This is as true in life as it is in the movies.
^ This, is what I’m talking about. I wanted a good movie with a female star, not another front in the ongoing outrage war. As far as I’m concerned, both sides are teeing me off now. Couldn’t we have had that Black Widow movie instead, or a Wasp movie? Or just an actress that doesn’t bring a hatedom and an outraged response squad with her?
I have been a Captain Marvel fan since the character was a Kree warrior hiding among the NASA staff, and Carol was a USAF security officer he worked with. I enjoyed seeing her take up the mantle, and with the most recent incarnation in her red and blue suit, she has really hit her stride.
I really realized the importance of female characters when I went to Disney World last year, and saw all the tiny little girls dressed as Rey, excited to meet the character in person. So from my perspective, the more female role models with lots of agency, the better. I thought Bree Larson did a good job in Skull Island, another big, CGI-laden adventure movie. What I have seen of her in the trailers fits the character pretty darn well. All the backlash I have seen is shameful.
My birthday is Thursday, and I can think of no better way to celebrate than to see Captain Marvel on the big screen.
@8 the point I am making that there is NO REAL controversy here. That ANY movie with a non white male lead will be a controversy with those trolls. They were the same with Black Panther and Wonder Woman. They were screaming sexism and worse when some theaters organized women only screening for Wonder Woman. (Not even premiere). They also bombed those movies Rotten Tomatoes scores initially too. And harebrained media picked up “controversy” scream and run with it, even though there is none, except in those guys minds.
Time will tell if it’s good or not. People get crazy over this kind of stuff.
I just hope they don’t turn her into “Civil War” Capt. Marvel.
I troll the snowflakes back. I tell them to grow up and then they’ll understand the movie. And so on. It doesn’t do any good really but it damn sure makes me laugh at the MRA scum. Social Justice Warrior? Damn right Snowflake, here’s my sword – oh and by the way that’s “bellator iustitia socialis” to you.
i’ll be there for the Captains – America & Marvell and consider myself goddamn lucky we have both.
@2. Thanatos: to be fair, teenage Billy Batson was never a Captain of anything. The name never made sense for him, whereas calling a woman in the military that makes sense.
Aside: I enjoyed Jane Foster’s run as the wielder of Mjolnir, but calling her Thor never made sense. It’s a name, not a title. Yes, there were versions of Thor in Secret Wars (2015), but Jane is Jane. A gender change for Thor himself, a la Loki for awhile, would’ve made more sense.
Very much looking forward to this movie. I haven’t seen anything with Larson in it, so no preformed opinions about her at all. Sounds like a kneejerk sexist fanboy response to her casting.
This conversation has became personal in tone rather rapidly–please keep in mind that this thread isn’t about scoring points off of the people you happen to disagree with. Here are our commenting guidelines; let’s find a civil, constructive way of discussing this article and the upcoming movie that doesn’t involve finger-pointing and dismissiveness.
@11 I doubt it. This kind of change with characters requires a) several movies worth of history to establish core character b) catastrophic (and personal) incident. It took several movies and huge guilt trip for both Tony Stark (Ultron) and for Steve Rogers (Hydra /shield and Bucky killing Tony parents) for them to end up where they were in Civil War. Even then, both were depicted with far more sympathy and more relatable than in original comic storyline.
@8: “I wanted a good movie with a female star, not another front in the ongoing outrage war. As far as I’m concerned, both sides are teeing me off now. Couldn’t we have had that Black Widow movie instead, or a Wasp movie? Or just an actress that doesn’t bring a hatedom and an outraged response squad with her?”
If you want a good movie with a female star, you’ve got it with Captain Marvel (at least according to all early reactions so far) and Brie Larson. The only “outrageous” thing she did was to point out the obvious — that we need more diverse voices and perspectives in film criticism, which is overwhelmingly male and white — and to say that she’d like to give access to more critics who are women and/or people of color. It’s quite a reasonable thing to say, and any “outrage” is the responsibility of those who for some reason object to it.
I guarantee you that the trolls would have been equally out in force for a Black Widow or Wasp movie. And no actress would have been spared the “controversy”; remember that Daisy Ridley and Kelly Marie Tran were both targets of Internet attacks simply for being themselves, when neither of them are as politically outspoken as Larson. And I would argue that any “outraged response squad” is simply people standing up on behalf of unfairly maligned actresses.
@2, 13: I admit, I grew up on the giant-size “Limited Collectors Edition” reprints of the Billy Batson comics, and I watched the 70s TV show… so for me, ‘Captain Marvel’ will always bring Billy Batson to mind. ^^;;
@2 I suspect DC’s decision to begin referring to the original Captain Marvel simply as Shazam is rooted less in the fear of copyright infringement and more in the fear of confusing non-comic book readers or new readers unfamiliar with the older character’s history, especially in the wake of Carol Danvers’ resurgence and the rise of the MCU. DC, if it chooses, is perfectly free to continue calling their character Captain Marvel. Indeed, they’ve just released a new edition of Jeff Smith’s “Monster Society of Evil” in which our hero is referred to as, yep, Capt. Marvel. They just can’t use “Captain Marvel” as the title of a series thanks, ironically, to the case they won back in the 1950s against Fawcett Publishing (Cap’s original publisher) alleging that Billy Batson’s alter ego was a rip-off of Superman (which, of course, he was).
@13: It’s true Billy Batson holds no military rank (he is just a kid, after all), but then, how many of the scads of superheroes over the decades who’ve had “Captain” in their names have had any military connection? If you look closely at Capt. Marvel’s original costume, it’s clearly patterned on a 19th century European military officer’s uniform. Which came first, the name or the costume? Beats me.
What I wonder about, ever since the Batson version officially became Shazam, is how he introduces himself without blowing his secret identity. If he says, “How do you do, my name is Shazam,” doesn’t he summon the lightning and transform back into Billy? And can Billy ever refer to Shazam by name without transforming? I haven’t read the comics in some time, so maybe they’ve addressed this.
Anyway, because I was exposed to him as a youngster, whenever I hear the name Captain Marvel, I will always think of The Big Red Cheese first. But really, there’s plenty of room in my head for both him and Carol Danvers, and I look forward to seeing the movie next week.
“But it’s part of what makes those women—fictional and non-fictional—who refuse to back down and shrink themselves to fit the limited space they’re given, so inspiring, so moving, so empowering.”
Yes. Absolutely!
@8: Any female-led superhero movie would have generated an identical response, whether it was about Black Widow, Wasp, or Dazzler: The Musical. Manufactured outrage is these people’s stock in trade.
”Couldn’t we have had … just an actress that doesn’t bring a hatedom and an outraged response squad with her?”
No actor brings trolls with them. Ask the trolls why they’re so scared of this actor playing this role. I’m in favor of objecting to trolls.
I really don’t see how this comic book movie is so revolutionary. By their very nature, all comic book story-lines have the same basic arc. Hero sets out on the journey, has setbacks, learns about him/herself and then triumphs. Sometimes that happens in a team or over a number of books but it is the same predictable story. And as for being feminist icon, we already had that a few years back with Wonder woman and from what I remember it got pretty good reviews. So how will this be so different? Now, if they would plug the same amount of money and more importantly a good script into a REAL science fiction movie that would be revolutionary. There have been a few, but so many more have been disappointing. But another comic book money, I’ll save my money for the next 2001, Blade Runner or even Minority Report that actually isn’t so predictable and is also based on some literary roots.
@20,
I think it would be hilarious if there was a superhero whose powers were activated by saying an utterly mundane word.
In addition to Captain Marvel, I am looking forward to seeing young Fury and young Coulson and the SHIELD of an earlier era. And also hoping we might get another cameo from Agent Carter, Haley Atwell. She would be nearing the end of her career in SHIELD at that point in history, but it would be fun to see her again.
Oh, and I am looking forward to Goose the cat, and wondering if, like Chewie the cat in the comics, she is more than she appears.
@25
“Blathering Blatherskite!”
https://darkwingduck.fandom.com/wiki/Gizmoduck
@24. jd: Dune?
Yeah Carol took the damn name….. from Monica Rambeau, the first female Captain Marvel who deserved to have it back especially since Marvel thought it’d be a cute joke to have Genis-Vell, Mar-Vell’s kid, steal her codename not once.. but twice. (the first time was pure by accident, Genis had no desire to be Captain Marvel he just was, but he was also the Captain Marvel out in deep space, no where near Earth. Marvel brought him to Earth and decided Monica couldn’t use the codename too.. so she switched to Photon, then decided randomly before killing Genis that he’d steal Photon and Monica would be Spectrum). Would have been so much better if the title had been returned to Monica as it was never intended to leave her.
Also no, Sue Storm, the Invisible Girl, was not Marvel’s first superhero. She was predated by Golden Girl, Sun Girl, Namora, Black Widow (Claire Voyant), Venus, Miss America, and the Blonde Phantom.
Thank you for mentioning Monica Rambeau/Captain Marvel — I’ve always been fond of her as a character, and I really hope that they follow through with this, either passing the Captain Marvel mantle on to her, or making her a her in her own right — while there are certainly enough names to choose from (Photon, Pulsar, Spectrum), I’d really love to see them use _Binary_ (the name under which Carol Danvers got powers back after losing them to Rogue).
@24: “I really don’t see how this comic book movie is so revolutionary. By their very nature, all comic book story-lines have the same basic arc. Hero sets out on the journey, has setbacks, learns about him/herself and then triumphs. Sometimes that happens in a team or over a number of books but it is the same predictable story.”
When Jackie Robinson played baseball, the rules and structure of baseball didn’t change; it was still the same game. Was his inclusion still revolutionary? I bet we all agree that it was. It wasn’t a revolutionary change in the game, it was a revolutionary change in the possibilities of who could play it, and a change in our imaginations of who would be able to play.
Superhero films have been dominated by (white) men. (And even when the stories are about a team, they’re usually about a team mostly composed of white men.) And so when the hero happens to be a woman and/or a person of color, it IS revolutionary, because it lets women and minorities see themselves in the hero’s role, instead of being supporting characters or, worse, not represented at all. It shouldn’t be revolutionary, but because it happens relatively rarely, it is.
“And as for being feminist icon, we already had that a few years back with Wonder woman and from what I remember it got pretty good reviews. So how will this be so different?”
Are you saying there’s only one superhero feminist icon, and that one movie about her should be enough? Captain Marvel is a feminist icon too — just ask all the longtime fans of the Carol Corps. And boys can look up to and identify with dozens of male superheroes onscreen; there’s no reason we can’t put dozens of female superheroes onscreen as well, to inspire the girls (as well as boys who have no problem being inspired by women!).
@33 Bluejay My son is totally looking forward to seeing Captain Marvel, so I agree boys can be inspired, too.
We are huge MCU fans. I know a little about the Captain Mar-Vell, Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel history, but not the 2012 series. The MCU takes place in our current timeline, so it makes sense to use a current incarnation of a character. I know the MCU differs from the comics on many points, but still, having a character closer to a modern day version makes more sense than using one that is from the 50’s. And with the tie in to Agents of SHIELD and Agent Coulson’s past, Captain Marvel seems like a good choice for the next character to add to the MCU. We also have the impending showdown with Thanos on the horizon, so it has to be someone powerful.
As for Carol Danvers being brash, loud, bold, confident, some times overconfident, self-righteous, unapologetic… hmm that sounds like Tony Stark, and Thor, and Dr. Strange, so I think she fits right in!
@24 and @33 I’m also hoping this will be different from Wonder Woman in that we might see female characters past the first 30 minutes. I really enjoyed WW when I saw it, but it wasn’t perfect. And even if we got a perfect female-led superhero movie, why would we stop there?
Also Amen to hoping to see some Agent Carter!
@34: “I know a little about the Captain Mar-Vell, Ms. Marvel, Captain Marvel history, but not the 2012 series. The MCU takes place in our current timeline, so it makes sense to use a current incarnation of a character.”
Yes… Are you responding to something I said? I don’t think I mentioned anything about older versus current versions of Captain Marvel. Oh, and you should definitely check out the Kelly Sue DeConnick run on the character — that’s what the film takes most of its inspiration from.
“As for Carol Danvers being brash, loud, bold, confident, some times overconfident, self-righteous, unapologetic… hmm that sounds like Tony Stark, and Thor, and Dr. Strange, so I think she fits right in!”
I agree. I suspect, though, that we’ll be hearing complaints about those qualities from fanboys who for some reason have no problem seeing those same qualities in the male Marvel heroes. We shall see.
@22: I would like to make it clear right now that I will definitely go and see Dazzler: the Musical. There are not enough mutant rock opera in my life.
The character is awful and unlikable even in the comic books, which is one of many reasons the series has seen 8 reboots and low sales figures beyond the first two or three issues every time (mostly due to speculators looking to invest on new #1 issues). Her most interesting moment was having her powers stolen by the X-Men character Rogue.
How else would you describe a character who created her own gulag, imprisoning anyone she wants without representation, trial or hope of appeal. She’s no hero. And never mind the fact that she started off as Monica Rambeau, a black super hero that sometimes lead the Avengers.
I saw it last night, and it was great. Great interplay between the various characters, some clever twists and turns, and it fit very cleverly within the continuity of the MCU. And my granddaughter, who sat next to me, absolutely loved it.
@41: You’re talking about the Civil War II storyline, a writing direction that I also had problems with. But the acclaim and fandom for Carol-as-Captain-Marvel started before that, with Kelly Sue DeConnick’s run, which had nothing to do with the plot developments you’re describing. I doubt the movie will touch on those elements, either.
(Having said that: Comics writers often have characters go to dark places and then figure out how to redeem themselves. It’s interesting to see which fallen heroes the fans are willing to forgive. Captain America was just recently a fascist Hydra leader who took over the American government. Will you write him off with “he’s no hero” too?)
@43 Wasn’t that an alternate time clone of Captain America, not the real one?
@44
Apparently, the I’m-a-good-guy-again Cap we’re rooting for now is actually the alternate clone.
https://www.polygon.com/comics/2017/9/14/16307304/secret-empire-ending-explained
“Hydra-Cap survived the fight and changes to reality and is currently in custody, a supervillain available to return at a writer’s whim, just like any other. Though his personal history and memories were altered by the Cosmic Cube, this Captain America is the original Captain America of the Marvel Universe; the [good] red, white and blue one… is an artificially created Cap with all of the original Steve Rogers’ memories.”
Regardless, to further address Jim @41’s point, the comics aren’t the movies. No matter what Fascist Cap does in the comics, it doesn’t–and shouldn’t–bleed over into how we receive Chris Evan’s portrayal. And no matter what questionable things Carol Danvers may have done in the comics, it shouldn’t play a part in evaluating what we see Brie Larson do onscreen.
@45 Well as long as someone is a clone, for comics that is what we can call close enough.
@45. Bluejay: Damn. That’s worse than I thought. I gave up on the series early on.
DeConnick is the one who grew the fandom, but I think Carol Danvers’ rise really started around the end of “House of M’ and during “Secret Invasion”. The Brian Reed Ms. Marvel series was very good — not tightly plot-driven but a very interesting character study. I think that series, along with Danvers’ time in the Avengers really boosted her profile and cleaned up a lot of the confused history of the character, laying the groundwork for the Captain Marvel book to come.
The costume redesign that came with Captain Marvel surely helped a great deal too. It feels like it should have looked that way from Day 1.
@45 I read all the Cap comics, and that’s not the way I interpreted the current situation at all. The Cap who came back from being trapped in the cosmic cube is the real, original Cap. The Hydra Cap that Original Cap defeated was the alternate version.
Although, since the Red Skull once implanted his brain into a clone of Steve Rogers, it wasn’t the first time Cap faced an evil dude wearing his face. Comics can be confusing…
@Alan: It can be confusing, but the trapped personality was just that, Steve’s consciousness. The Cube created a new housing for it. Maybe that begs the question of whether it includes the serum coursing thru his veins or he’s just enhanced this time.
If you go back to just prior the Secret Empire event, Cap was in his 90s, as the serum wore off. The Cube de-aged him, while also changing his history. Why? It’s Marvel and they just do things. So HydraCap appears to be Steve’s original body. Maybe at some point he and NewCap will be merged and EvilCap will cease to exist.