Do we still get a thrill from seeing Marvel’s ever-growing ensemble of superheroes team up? Maybe we’re over Iron Man (RIP) and Captain America by now…but another Captain and her two new besties might do the trick. Goose the Flerken disguised as an adorable tabby cat will be there, too. Don’t you worry.
The Marvels
Here’s everything we know about the 33rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from where our returning characters are at as the film begins to what’s coming next from the franchise’s Phase Five.
1. The plot involves space-swapping, power-activated shenanigans
The Marvels trailer above really gets exciting when teen hero Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) gets sent through her bedroom door, only for Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) to land on the other side. What’s going on here? It all has to do with a power new villain: “she’s entangled our light-based powers so we switch places whenever we use them”, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) figures out. For an MCU entry that doesn’t seem to be introducing any big new heroes, this change-up will be a very welcome obstacle for the gals, who will surely learn to control their uncontrolled transportation in epic team fight scenes.
2. Brie Larson says that Captain Marvel has become “kind of a workaholic”
Carol Danvers was once a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot, but after an accident altered her DNA and imbued her with the powers of energy projection, flight, and superhuman strength, she’s been denying her human side a tad too much. Now spending most of her time away from Earth—in deep space, in fact—after the events of her 2019 origin story Captain Marvel, the character has “lost touch with her heart and her family and friends”, says actor Brie Larson. Maybe a pair of new gal pals are just what the Avenging cap needs.
3. Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau share an emotional family connection
We all know Monica Rambeau as the badass S.W.O.R.D. agent who got her cells super-heroically boosted back in season one of WandaVision. But her surname might be familiar for another, heartbreaking reason: she’s the daughter of Carol Danvers’ late friend Maria Rambeau, portrayed by Lashanna Lynch in Captain Marvel. As a child in the 1990s, Monica looked up to Carol, a.k.a. Captain Marvel: and at the end of WandaVision, a Skrull told the newly powered-up woman that an old friend of her mother needed to talk to her. That might just take us to the events of this new chapter.
4. Villain Dar-Benn wears the same energy-harnessing bangle as Ms. Marvel
A Jersey city native and serious superhero fangirl, Kamala Khan’s dreams came true when she gained the ability to create “hard light constructs”. She’s definitely going to spend a lot of The Marvels freaking out over her collaboration with Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau…but it’s hard to say whether she’ll be quite such a fan of Dar-Benn, an intimidating new foe who shares similar cosmic energy abilities to Khan. Iman Vellani returns as the hyperactive Kamala, and British actress Zawe Ashton is the vicious Kree revolutionary Dar-Benn.
5. It’s directed by Nia DaCosta, who gave us 2021’s Candyman remake
Raised in Harlem, DaCosta got her first big break when her indie thriller Little Woods—starring Marvel fave Tessa Thompson—premiered to rave reviews, shooting her to the top of the shortlist of contenders to direct the “spiritual sequel” to 1992 horror classic Candyman. DaCosta is a self-professed comic book nerd who claims that developing The Marvels’ script and direction with WandaVision producer Mary Livanos gave her “creative latitude…so the film would not be a puppet on a string.”
6. …and it might end up being the highest-grossing film directed by a Black woman ever
DaCosta’s work on Candyman made her the first African-American female director to have a film debut at the top of the box office. But with The Marvels projected to earn an estimated $70-$80 million on its US opening weekend, she might just outdo herself once more. Cash those big studio checks, Nia.
7. Samuel L. Jackson filmed The Marvels at the same time as two other Marvel projects
Sam Jackson is probably spending too much time wearing the Nick Fury eyepatch lately: we hope his vision stays symmetrical. Talking to the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Jackson revealed that he’d been racing around London filming The Marvels, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and season one of Secret Invasion, the latest MCU series in which his character is finally the lead. “It was like, three Marvel movies on one lot”, the iconic, and likely exhausted, actor said: “I was kind of running around from place to place.”
8. It’s the third film in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Can you believe we’re in Phase Five already? Quantumania and GotG3 already took the sprawling superhero franchise into new dimensions, and now The Marvels will synthesise together the MCU’s film and TV canons even further. It’s the first time Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan will appear in a feature film, alongside Captain Marvel who’s been making plenty of super-team-up cameos since her 2019 debut. Next up is Deadpool 3, Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts, and finally a reboot of Blade to close out the latest phase.
9. It’s the shortest film in the MCU yet!
Marvel features aren’t known for being particularly economical. So maybe it’s not that impressive to note that, at a bladder-friendly 105 minutes, The Marvels is the franchise’s shortest entry so far. That’s a breeze compared to the three-hour runtime of Avengers: Endgame.
10. The production designer described the film’s scale and scope as “massive”
With filming taking place once again in England’s Pinewood and Longcross Studios, The Marvels required a staggering 54 sets to be built, depicting five different planets and spaceships, the S.A.B.E.R. space station, and the Khan and Rambeau family homes. Cara Brower, the film’s production designer, worked with DaCosta on the eerie housing projects of Candyman, and has said that this next collaboration took place on a far more epic scale. Brower and her director wanted each location to “feel distinct”, so hopefully there’s not too much CGI tacked onto ‘em.
11. The Marvels swapped release dates with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
We could’ve got The Marvels much earlier this year—but alas, the third Marvel feature to star Paul Rudd as scaleable hero Ant Man was further along in its production, nabbing that February release slot. This gave mega-producer Kevin Feige and the team behind The Marvels a little more time for rumoured reshoots, finally landing the film’s release over here in November.
12. Laura Karpman composed the film’s score to represent each main character
Five-time Emmy award winner Karpman has previously worked on the MCU series What If…? and Ms. Marvel, already giving her some insight into how each character’s world should sound. Her spectacular compositions for The Marvels have already been performed a few times live, too: by the Philadelphia Orchestra in June, and in this glorious clip from the BBC Proms on September 9.
The main theme above, “Higher. Further. Faster. Together.”, features elements of “power, drive and play” according to Karpman: components representing Carol, Monica, and Kamala respectively. What a neat, shared leitmotif for a group o’ light-channeling gals. Wish that me and my mates had our own personalised orchestral theme.
