Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for ‘The Marvels’
The Marvelsis a surprise on many fronts. Not only does it delivera fun, fast-paced, and slightly flawed sci-fi adventurecourtesy of director/co-writerNia DaCostabut it also runs on the chemistry between its three leads:Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers,Teyonah Parris' Monica Rambeau, andIman Vellani’s Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. The trio becomes entangled - quite literally - when Monica’s chance encounter with one of the many “jump gates” across the universe interlinks their powers, causing them to swap places with each other.
Carol, Monica, and Kamala embark on a universe-spanning journey to stop the path of destruction being carved out by theKree warrior Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), while dealing with a number of other challenges. For Carol, it’s the guilt over her past actions; for Monica, it’s the anger at Carol for leaving her behind on Earth to deal with her mother Maria’s (Lashana Lynch) death; for Kamala, it’s the idea that her hero may be as flawed as the rest of the human race and her own place in the superhero world.So how does this journey eventually end?
The Marvels
Carol Danvers gets her powers entangled with those of Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, forcing them to work together to save the universe.
Carol And Monica Push Themselves To Save The Universe
Throughout the film, it’s revealed that Carol’s traveling the universe is born out of guilt from the actions she took followingCaptain Marvel. When she had regained most of her memories from when the Kree mind-wiped her, Carol decided to free the rest of the Kree from the Supreme Intelligence - the computer program that ruled the Kree Empire. Though she was successful, she ended up causing massive damage to the Kree’s home planet of Hala; particularly its sun, which is dying. This caused Dar-Benn to travel from world to world - especially those where Carol had helped others - to drain their resources to fix Hala.It’s also saddled Carol with the un-superheroic name of “Annihilator”.
During her quest,Dar-Benn finds one of the lost Quantum Bands- a pair of objects that can fold time and space - while Kamala discovers the other one during the events ofMs. Marvel. She attempts to use them to create a hole between Earth and Hala to drain the energy of Earth’s sun, but winds up disintegrating in the process - and tearing open a hole to another universe! Monica then asks Carol and Kamala to use their powers to supercharge hers, while she flies in and seals the hole. Though the universe is saved, it comes at a cost as Monica is trapped in the other universe (though the mid-credits scene reveals that she appeared in a world very familiar to superhero fans.)Carol once again returns to the stars, using her powers to reignite Hala’s sun and save the Kree Empire from being destroyed.
Kamala Is Putting Together Her Own Superhero Team
As for Kamala, the events ofThe Marvelsend up shaping her heroic career. She not only has to deal with a world-ending threat, but also her family - including mother Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), father Yusuf (Mohan Kapur), and brother Aamir (Saagar Shaikh)- being dragged into things when the entanglement draws Kree soldiers into the mix. Muneeba continues to worry about Kamala, to the point where she threatens to end Carol’s life and even gives the normally unflappable Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) a piece of her mind. However, by the film’s end, Muneeba and Kamala have come to an understanding that Kamala will need to use her abilities to protect the Earth.
‘The Marvels’ Review: Oh Yeah, MCU Movies Can Be Fun!
Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani are a winning trio in Nia DaCosta’s first foray into the MCU.
Working with Carol and Monica also inspires Kamala to seek out her team.Her first recruit: none other than Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). Marvel Comics fans will recognize thatthis is the beginning of the superhero team known as the Young Avengers, of which Kate was a founding member. But this isn’t the first time Kamala has formed her own team. During the events ofCivil War II, her disillusionment with the conflict between Captain Marvel and Iron Man led her to form a team of superheroes known as the Champions. Much like the Young Avengers, it was formed by teenage superheroes - the most notable being Sam Alexander’s Nova and Miles Morales, the spectacular Spider-Man himself. This final scene more or less hints that aYoung AvengersorChampionsproject is in the works at Marvel Studios - and given Vellani’s stellar performance as well as her love for the source material, it would be a welcome change of pace.
The Marvelsis now available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
