EVER since Thanos clicked his fingers to herald the beginning of the Endgame for Marvel superheroes such as Captain America, Thor and Iron Man, fans have been waiting with baited breath for the arrival of Captain Marvel.

Heralded as one of the most powerful forces in the cinematic universe, the character also arrives in the wake of Black Panther’s boundary pushing success and with her own agenda to fulfil in terms of striking a blow for feminism. Yet while hugely entertaining for long periods, her debut outing also struggles at times to juggle every one of its lofty ambitions, particularly given that it also has to contend with being an origins story.

Co-writers and directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (the indie stalwarts behind critical darlings such as Half Nelson and Mississippi Grind) try their best to keep things fresh and provocative by mixing tones, blending styles and avoiding the temptation to resort to anything episodic.

But they sometimes struggle with the film’s emotional range, being thwarted by the need for the type of fan-pleasing spectacle that, by necessity, pushes some of their more character-driven inclinations to the wayside.

They overcome the origins constraints by playing with the timelines, opening the film with a mystery that Captain Marvel must solve concerning her identity. How did she become so powerful when her fractured memories also paint her as a fallen fighter pilot and a plucky child racer? In struggling to understand herself, however, Marvel – aka Carol Danvers (and played by Brie Larson) – also finds herself involved in a war between two alien civilizations, the Krees and the Skrulls, which eventually brings her to Earth in 1995 and into an unlikely alliance with SHIELD’s Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson).

The ensuing adventure establishes Danvers as a kick-ass heroine who likes to have fun, as well as one of life’s battlers. And it’s here that Boden and Fleck lay down the film’s feminist agenda, pitting Danvers against stereotypes without feeling too heavy-handed in doing so.

Larson gives Danvers plenty of range and is hugely likeable, whether bantering with Jackson’s younger, less uptight Fury, or reuniting with her former best friend (a fellow pilot played by Lashana Lynch) – scenes which deliver most of the film’s emotional heft. But while these elements excite, the central conflict driving the narrative – which alludes to real world issues such as refugee crises - does eventually settle into a more familiar Marvel routine and causes the film to stumble when it should soar.

Yet while lacking the social impact of Black Panther or the leftfield delight of Guardians of the Galaxy or Thor: Ragnarok, Captain Marvel still does enough to emerge as another winning entry into Marvel’s continually impressive universe.