Lee Pace’s Ronan Should Have Had a Bigger Role in ‘Captain Marvel’
The villain list in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is more voluminous than some may remember, especially for a few of the minor players. One of those is Ronan, or more appropriately: Ronan the Accuser.
As a member of the Kree, Ronan joined the Accusers, a Kree Empire military force. During his time with the Accusers, he declared war against the Skrulls, leading him, eventually, to earth after Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers came to live there.
No one should consider him a minor villain since he did gain considerable power for a brief time. Only the direct involvement from the Guardians of the Galaxy managed to defeat Ronan in the end. Still, fans wanted more from him.
How Captain Marvel thwarted Ronan
When Ronan came to earth with the Accusers to wipe out Skrull refugees, Captain Marvel stepped in. Those who saw Captain Marvel will know that she intervened to stop Ronan from bombing the Skrull opposition, hence striking back at the Kree as a result.
Ronan vowed revenge on being stifled by Carol Danvers, something he took eventual action on. The problem is many of the details behind the actions he took were not covered enough.
As noted by fans on Reddit, many saw potential with Ronan as a super villain to Captain Marvel, despite being mostly set aside in the storyline. A thread on Reddit posted a pic of Ronan to remind just how nefarious he was thanks to being played by a stellar actor: Lee Pace.
Was he really a wasted opportunity, or should he have stuck around before finding his inevitable demise?
The death of Ronan was still dramatic
As a reminder on Ronan’s revenge: He linked up with Thanos to obtain the Orb in exchange for former wiping out the Xandarians. Ronan became one of the classic villains turning drunk on power once seeing how much destruction he could cause having possession of the Orb.
He ultimately betrays Thanos and takes the Orb for himself to attempt to destroy the Xanderians on his own. One has to wonder what more he could have done with the Orb, particularly on earth while gaining payback against Captain Marvel’s thwart.
As every MCU fan knows, the Guardians of the Galaxy took the initiative on stopping Ronan. They killed Ronan while he was in the process of destroying Xandar.
Despite the dramatic send-off, little was really known about Ronan’s backstory, basically robbing him of real character development. No doubt Lee Pace was a little frustrated by this, especially with news he originally auditioned for the part of Star-Lord, per Slash Film.
Will Ronan be back in flashbacks?
There was a brief mention of Ronan in Avengers: Endgame, yet still seemed like a wasted chance for a truly effective villain. Said one Reddit user above: “I’m hoping he returns for CM2. Ideally I’d like it to be another ‘prequel’ that shows how CM was involved in the fall of the Kree empire (destruction of the Supreme Intelligence).”
Yes, considering Ronan was a part of the Kree Empire, he has a lot of interesting powers to him that should be explored. Will Marvel explore this in a Captain Marvel 2, particularly in the Kree ability to have superhuman strength, durability, and healing abilities?
Some MCU analysts note the Kree’s interest in earth could prove problematic down the line, leading to more Kree battles in the future. Also, it seems that Captain Marvel 2 may have some flashbacks on Carol Danvers’ history, if not necessarily any story fill-in for Ronan.
If so, it may be a valuable lesson for the MCU to utilize the top actors they land in better ways so it won’t create detailed essays like this one.
