Essays · Movies

Everything You Need to Know About Captain Marvel’s Cat

Because who doesn’t love a furry feline?
Goose The Cat
Marvel Studios
By  · Published on March 7th, 2019

In this series…


After years of keeping us waiting, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally brought a cat into the fold. You can’t talk about the history of Captain Marvel without mentioning Chewie, her trusty feline sidekick. In the movie, the character has been renamed Goose as an homage to Top Gun and Carol Danvers’ Air Force career. But that’s irrelevant; the point is that the MCU has just gained a cute little furball that isn’t a grizzled raccoon. We should be celebrating that.

Since Captain Marvel fever is in the air, I figured meow is as good a time as any to get to know Chewie/Goose. So, grab a saucer of milk, sit back, relax, and learn all about this cool kitty.

This Ain’t No Normal Cat

Chewie made her debut in Giant-Size Ms. Marvel #1 back in 2006. Since then, she’s been a loyal compatriot to Danvers, and they’ve traveled the universe together.

At first glance, Chewie looks like a regular old housecat. Don’t let her common feline features fool you, though, as Chewie is not of this world. She’s actually a member of an alien species known as Flerken, and she’s pretty good at posing as a domesticated feline from this planet. Danvers didn’t even know about her pet’s true origins until the Guardians of the Galaxy brought her up to speed.

Captain Marvel Goose

What Makes a Flerken Different from a Normal Kitty?

Unlike the cats of this world, Flerkens can reproduce by laying eggs, defend themselves with their vicious fangs, and teleport through time and space courtesy of pocket dimensions they store in their mouths. These pocket dimensions allow them to store weapons and tentacles as well, which come in handy during altercations with foes.

No one should ever mess with one of these alien furballs when it’s in a bad mood, and Chewie has been known to be temperamental at times.

She Doesn’t Get Along With Rocket

The events surrounding Chewie’s reveal as a Flerken were dramatic, to say the least. When Carol bumped into the Guardians while exploring the galaxy, Rocket didn’t take too kindly to the Flerken and more or less tried to eliminate the cat.

At first, didn’t believe Rocket Raccoon’s claims that her cat was an alien species. She became more convinced later on when Chewie laid 117 eggs, all of which hatched into wild kittens. Since then, Chewie and Rocket have learned to tolerate each other, but they’ve never seen eye-to-eye. In fact, Chewie is prone to hissing at the angry raccoon whenever they bump into each other.

The rivalry between Chewie and Rocket is entertaining in the comics, and it’d be nice to see some of that comedic tension brought to the MCU. The character has been renamed, sure, but everything that makes her so unique and awesome in the comics needs to remain.

If Chewie is indeed a Flerken, though, then she’ll likely play a big part in the MCU going forward as a mighty warrior. Once those tentacles come out, Flerkens can really hold their own. That’ll be useful in the fight against almighty foes.

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Kieran is a Contributor to the website you're currently reading. He also loves the movie Varsity Blues.