Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
THE MARVELS
Starring Brie Larson (Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel), Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau), Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), and Zawe Ashton (Dar-Benn) with Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) and Hailee Steinfeld (Kate Bishop), a special appearance by Lashana Lynch (Maria Rambeau) and a mid-credits scene featuring Kelsey Grammer as Hank McCoy / Beast
Directed by Nia DaCosta
Produced by Kevin Feige
Written by Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, and Elissa Karasik
Music By Laura Karpman
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes
World Premier: November 7, 2023, in Las Vegas, Nevada
Opening Weekend Box Office: $46 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $206 million
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 62%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun The Marvels Facts
At the 2019 San Diego Comic Con, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirmed that a sequel to 2019’s highly successful feature film Captain Marvel was in the works. In the Spring of 2020 and with the COVID-19 Pandemic raging, Marvel Studios announced that The Marvels would release theatrically on July 8, 2022. This date would not stick due to the cataclysmic effects that COVID-19 had on the movie industry. The Pandemic forced numerous production delays and release date changes. At the end of the Summer of 2020, Nia DaCosta was hired to direct the Captain Marvel Sequel. Kevin Feige confirmed this during his “Investor’s Day” presentation on Disney+. A new release date of November 22, 2022, was also announced.
Nia DaCosta, a self-professed “comic book nerd” was the first Black woman to direct a feature film for Marvel Studios. Filming on The Marvels commenced on July 26, 2021. Filming took place in Italy, England, and Los Angeles. In the Fall of 2021, the film’s release date was pushed back yet again to February 17, 2023. Production wrapped in the Spring of 2022 and the release date of The Marvels was pushed back to July 28, 2023, as the film swapped places with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.
In the Spring of 2023, the movie industry was crippled once again, this time by the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild of America strikes. The Marvels was consequently delayed again, pushed back to November 10, 2023. Due to the strikes, the cast of The Marvels were not able to promote the film in any way ahead of its release.
Brie Larsen reprised her role as Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel in a credits scene in 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, sharing a scene with Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi, Awkwafina’s Katy, Benedict Wong’s Wong, and Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner, expressing interest in the continued evaluation of the mystical relics known as the Ten Rings. This was Larsen’s first MCU appearance since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and she would also be featured at the end of the Ms. Marvel series on Disney+.
The Marvels reveals that Brie Larsen’s Captain Marvel fulfilled her vow to take down the Kree Empire led by The Supreme Intelligence. Danvers became unaffectionately known as “The Annihilator” due to the cataclysmic impact the death of The Supreme Intelligence had on the Planet Hala and its inhabitants.
Teyonah Parris debuted as Monica Rambeau in the 2021 Disney+ series WandaVision. She was introduced as an Agent of S.W.O.R.D. It was revealed that she had been erased from existence by Thanos and that during her absence, her ill mother Maria passed away. Monica was a character in mourning and a woman who harbored a great deal of resentment for her “Aunt” Carol due to Captain Marvel’s extended absence after leaving Earth in the mid-1990’s. During WandaVision, Monica Rambeau mingled with Wanda Maximoff and received superpowers after being repeatedly exposed to Wanda’s Hex. At the end of the series, she is greeted by a Skrull, who informs her that Nick Fury wants to meet with her.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Iman Vellani debuted as Kamala Khan in the 2022 Disney+ series Ms. Marvel. She was introduced as a young super-fan of The Avengers and more specifically, a fan of Carol Danvers. Kamala’s life of high school, boys, and hero worship got turned upside down when she received superpowers after being exposed to a mystical Bangle and she became a beloved hero to her New Jersey neighborhood. The Marvels reveals that Kamala’s Bangle is one of a pair that are renowned as the “Quantum Bands.”
In The Marvels, Samuel L. Jackson makes his thirteenth live action appearance as Nick Fury within the MCU over the course of 15-years. Beginning in 2008, Fury has appeared in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Secret Invasion, and The Marvels. Jackson has furthermore voiced Fury in two Seasons of the Marvel Studios animated series What If …? Chronologically, The Marvels takes place after Secret Invasion, which starred Jackson as Fury, exploring his complicated life following the Battle of Earth as well as his strained relationship with The Skrulls. That series sees Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos (introduced in Captain Marvel) die at the hands of a fellow Skrull (Gravik) while saving the life of the President of the United States (Ritson).
The villainous Dar-Been was gender-swapped in The Marvels, portrayed by Zawe Ashton. Zawe is married in real life to the MCU’s primary Loki: Tom Hiddleston!
At the end The Marvels, Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan meets with Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop in order to invite her to form a team comprised of young superheroes. Vellani’s speech is worded in such a way to reflect the speech that Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury gave Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark in the revolutionary post-credits sequence of 2008’s Iron Man. Steinfeld debuted as Kate Bishop in Marvel Studios’ 2021 Disney+ series Hawkeye.
The mid-credits scene of The Marvels reveals that Monica Rambeau has crossed over from the MCU 616-Universe into an Alternate Universe where Maria Rambeau is still alive and works with The X-Men. Kelsey Grammer appears in this scene as Hank McCoy / Beast. Grammer first portrayed McCoy in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and appeared as the character in 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past as well. Grammer is the second former member of the X-Men cast from the Fox movies to reprise the role as a Variant within the MCU, following Patrick Stewart, who appeared as Earth-838’s Charles Xavier / Professor X in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
Releasing in 2023, The Marvels was part of what was probably the worst calendar year in the history of Marvel Studios. Kevin Feige and his team would churn-out three of their worst-received productions ever in 2023. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania was the first. It had the worst Rotten Tomatoes score for any MCU film produced by Marvel Studios (46%) and its $476 million box office was very disappointing. Next came Secret Invasion in the Summer and it too was deemed “rotten” (53%), with its finale in particular getting heavily bashed and receiving a staggering 7% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Then came The Marvels. It landed a 62% score on Rotten Tomatoes but was the least-grossing MCU film produced by Marvel Studios of all-time, accumulating a mere $206 million worldwide. All of this, AND they lost their intended Big Bad of The Multiverse Saga (Jonathan Majors / Kang the Conqueror and his many Variants). The critical and financial (and legal) troubles of 2023 combined with the aforementioned lengthy writers and actors strikes of that same year to give Marvel Studios pause and provoke them to reconsider some things about their creative direction.
The Marvels dropped on Disney+ on February 7, 2024. The film was released on Blu-ray, DVD, and Ultra HD Blu-ray on February 13, 2024.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My The Marvels Review
From the ashes of the once prosperous Kree Empire that was decimated by Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel of Earth, the bitter Dar-Been comes to possess one of the mystical Quantum Bands that allow for rapid interstellar travel. Activating an interstellar network comprised of Jump Points, Dar-Been interferes with the stability of the network and this is tracked by former Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Nick Fury aboard the S.A.B.E.R. space station near Earth. On opposite sides of Space, both Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau investigate the damage to the network and consequently become entangled with one another, as well as the young Muslim superhero Kamala Khan back on Earth. The Quantum Entanglement causes all three of the women to switch physical places as Rambeau arrives where Carol was, Danvers arrives in Kamala’s bedroom, and Kamala arrives where Monca was, meeting Nick Fury for the first time.
The swapping continues whenever either of the three women use their powers simultaneously, and this leads to as much destruction as it does confusion. Once things settle down, Fury and Rambeau visit Kamala in New Jersey to assess the situation. It is determined that the three women are entangled due to the similarities in their superpowers as each are light-based.
Carol, Monica, and Kamala align, venturing to the Skrull refugee planet Tarnax IV where a peace treaty between the Skrulls and The Kree is actively being negotiated. The mere presence of the Destroyer of Hala causes the talks to break-down and when Dar-Been begins wreaking havoc on the planet, cataclysm occurs. Carol, Monica, and Kamala save everyone that they can, but many people perish. In the fallout of the destruction, Carol arranges for King Valkyrie of New Asgard to take the surviving Skrull refugees in on Earth.
Realizing that Dar-Been is targeting planets that are significant to Captain Marvel, Carol, Monica, and Kamala (dubbed “The Marvels” by Kamala) venture to the planet Aladna. As it turns out, Carol is actually a Princess here, as she had previously wed Prince Yan of Aladna. This is a civilization that communicates through song, which makes for a unique sequence! Dar-Been soon arrives as Carol had feared and after draining the atmosphere of Tarnax IV of its air for Hala previously, Dar-Been now drains the water of Aladna for Hala.
Deducing that Earth’s sun will be Dar-Been’s next target, The Marvels regroup and rush out to cut her off, uniting with Fury and using a group of Flerkens to evacuate the S.A.B.E.R. crew. From there, the showdown is fierce and takes a significant turn once Dar-Been is stabbed during a collapse of rubble. With Dar-Been badly wounded, Carol offers to use her powers to create a new sun for Hala, but Dar-Been is too blood thirsty to be satisfied by such a thing and resumes her physical assault against The Marvels. When Dar-Been comes to possess both Bangles, and attempts to use them, a Multiversal Rupture is opened, and Dar-Been is destroyed by its energy.
Monica volunteers to resolve the anomaly but ends up getting trapped on the other side of it, landing in a Universe in which her mother Maria is still alive and that is inhabited by a mutant superhero team known as The X-Men.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Back in the 616-Universe, Carol uses her power to restore Hala’s sun before returning to Earth and spending some bonding time with her biggest fan: Kamala Khan. Inspired by the Cosmic exploits of her three-woman team, Kamala decides to try and put together a new Earthbound team comprised of young heroes in the spirit of her beloved Avengers. The first person that she reaches out to is expert archer Kate Bishop!
Addressing the proverbial elephant in the room, I’m simply going to say that this movie was nowhere near as bad as it had been made out to be. In fact, it wasn’t bad at all … it’s actually quite good and I had a lot of fun with it! I guess if you’re a person that gets annoyed with women in power in general, or Black woman in power specifically, or of a female Muslim superhero, then this movie is not for you. I don’t share nor do I understand those viewpoints, but I’m well aware of how the world works and I know that all of the Girl Power is a big turn-off for a lot of people. Championing diversity and inclusion and equality just doesn’t appeal to a lot of folks, but I am not one of those people. While it should absolutely be everyone’s individual right to watch what they want to and to not watch what they don’t want to, I also think it sucks to lash out at a movie that you haven’t even watched, just because you don’t agree with its cast or its premise. If you watched The Marvels and you hated it, fine! But if you insult and berate a movie that you never bothered to watch, I just think that’s unfair and stupid.
Personally, I really hate how much hate that young Iman Vellani has been the subject of. It is completely unwarranted, and it is quite frankly, disgusting! Iman Vellani was the BEST PART of this movie for me! Her frequent fan-girling, youthful exuberance, and natural charm made her funny, captivating, and entertaining, and just as easy to cheer for as her Ms. Marvel series (which a lot of people neglected to watch because it wasn’t “their thing” eitherr) was on Disney+. Look, Iman Vellani is one of US! An MCU geek, and she is living her dream and hers is such an amazingly wonderful story! I adore her and appreciate everything that she has brought to the MCU! This is a character that my little girl and so many other little girls can live vicariously through, and I cannot get enough of Kamala and her MCU family!
Coming off Secret Invasion, I especially enjoyed Samuel L. Jackson in this film as well. Secret Invasion felt like such a downer for the character, and while The Marvels doesn’t feel as organically connected to Secret Invasion as it probably should have, I’m fine with it, because I liked having the jovial Nick Fury back! He had some of the funniest lines in this film, and his interactions with Kamala herself, Kamala’s family, and of course, those adorably horrifying Flerkens were a lot of fun!
Brie Laersen gets a lot of flak because, well, agendas, but I really like her as Captain Marvel, and I thought she did a great job throughout this movie. Being able to interact with Iman and Teyonah really bolstered her performance and I liked the mercy and the companionship that her character boasted in this film!
Beyond the cast, The Marvels had a lot of humor and a little drama and a lot of stunning cinematography! Maybe it was because I finished a lengthy binge of The Defenders Saga before I watched The Marvels for the first time (didn’t see it in theaters due to budgetary reasons), but I felt like I needed what was a fun, light-hearted, and easy-to-understand MCU film! And that’s what The Marvels was. It was bright, vivid, and charming and we need these kinds of MCU projects from time-to-time!
Of course, I have to express my love for the film’s two cameos! Ms. Marvel proposing a team-up with Kate Bishop? Yes, please! And The X-Men? Well, duh! Who isn’t excited to see more of that!?! Here in The Multiverse Saga, I do wonder if Monica’s presence in Beast’s Universe will spawn the threat of an Incursion, and I’m looking forward to seeing more traditional Fox X-Men characters get the Marvel Studios treatment!
Oh yeah, and all of the Flerkens were awesome! I sure do want one!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of The Marvels:
Iman Vellani is Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel
Flerkens Galore!
Brie Larson is Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
Girl Power!
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Humor
Chemistry Between Brie Larsen and Iman Vellani
Cinematography
Kate Bishiop Cameo
Hank McCoy / Beast makes the credits Memorable!
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