The first trailer of all-female-led movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “The Marvels,” has been released online, and there is much to discuss in the first team-up movie of the fifth phase of MCU narrative progression. Being a direct sequel to “Captain Marvel” (2019), the movie will feature Brie Larson’s character of the same name, aka Carol Danvers, and also two of the legacy characters of Captain Marvel: Captain Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel. Aside from exploring the sprawling vastness of the MCU’s universe, the movie will be of significant importance, as after the D.C.E.U.’s “Birds of Prey,” it’s only the second comic-book-based venture to explore a female team-up dynamic. To help viewers assess what they can expect from the movie, I will try to highlight the key points shown in the trailer and discuss them accordingly.
Spoilers Ahead
The Switcheroo
The trailer opens with Nick Fury stationed in the S.A.B.E.R. space station, where he communicates with Captain Monica Rambeau, who, donning a spacesuit, is exploring a particular dimensional doorway. Soon as she touches the doorway, she gets thrown backward and seemingly gets interchanged with Kamala. Thrown right back to the window of the space station, Kamala sees Nick Fury, and the nerdy superhero-loving fangirl in her gets extremely excited and asks Fury whether she is being tested to be a member of the Avengers. All the while, a confused Nick Fury tries to figure out what happened to Monica, and we see her getting stranded on a planet on the other side of the dimensional doorway. As Monica uses her powers to fight an oncoming horde of aliens, we shift to Kamala’s room in Jersey City, picking right up from the ending scene of “Ms. Marvel,” where Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, suddenly finds herself inside her teenage admirer’s room.
The next sequence shows Jersey City, where Nick Fury and Monica Rambeau have decided to pay a visit to Kamala’s household. Once again, Kamala is over the moon at the prospect of getting enlisted in the Avengers and is now donning the costume made by her mother. Monica explains that somehow their powers got entangled, to which an overexcited Kamala tries to show off her powers, which results in her being swapped with Carol Danvers. Kamala gets transported apparently inside a spaceship, where we meet Goose, resembling a cat but actually a Flerken, who displays her power at once by using her giant mouth tentacles to devour several attacking Kree soldiers—much to Kamala’s shock and disgust.
Aside from being a sequel to the first Captain Marvel movie, “Marvels” takes elements from the Disney+ MCU series “WandaVision” and directly follows the aftermath of the series “Ms. Marvel.” In the last scene of the last episode of “Ms. Marvel,” we saw Kamala suddenly get swapped with Carol Danvers, and this trailer also highlights that Monica Rambeau is entrapped in this fiasco, where not only their positions but their powers are also getting interchanged with each other. The last time we saw Monica in “WandaVision,” she had received superpowers after crossing Wanda’s hex barrier a number of times had re-arranged her cells. She was still in the process of figuring out her powers when a Skrull notified her about a friend of her mother, Maria Rambeau (Carol Danvers), who had asked her to join in intergalactic missions. The trailer shows Monica working with Nick Fury and having little idea about the nature of her power, using a space suit, which we later see she didn’t need at all.
On the other hand, after coming to terms with her ethnic heritage, Kamala, who has barely started a small-time superhero career, is taken into the big leagues all at once as the switcheroo starts happening. Meeting her idol, Captain Marvel, is going to be a dream come true moment for Kamala, who is already almost swooning over the fact that a meeting with Nick Fury could be the key to opening up new possibilities. We won’t be surprised if the rumored Young Avengers project gets teased at the end of “Marvels.”
Also, Nick Fury’s appearance was another significant aspect we couldn’t afford to miss, as the movie was released in November, several months after we first saw him after a long break in “Secret Invasion.” There is no indication about the timeline of the movie following the aftermath of “Secret Invasion”; rather, the trailer shows Fury at the space station the entirety of the time he appears.
Prince Yan And Planet Aladna
Moving on, we see the three Marvels boarding a spaceship as they venture onto a new planet. A couple of action sequences led by Kamala and Monica, and some freefalling later, a set very similar to the decorated Southeaster festivities is seen, presumably on the same planet, and we also see Carol dressed in attire in accordance to the occasion. South Korean actor Park Seo-Joon of “Parasite” fame can be seen leading an army, and a bunch of cats or perhaps a bunch of Flerkens are seen climbing down a flight of stairs.
It has been confirmed that Park Joon is playing the character of Prince Yan, prince of the planet Aladna. The planet is also unique in the sense that the residents communicate by singing rhymes, which could also lead to some cheesy musical episodes in the movie. Prince Yan is also rumored to be portraying the role of Carol’s husband in the movie, just like in the comics.
Kree Accusers And A New Enemy
During the final few moments of the trailer, we get a brief glimpse of the possible antagonists of the movie. There are a number of Kree soldiers among whom the character Hala the Accuser can be spotted, and they are led by General Dar-Benn, played by Zawe Ashton, who also happens to be the wife of Tom Hiddleston, who plays the role of the god of mischief, Loki, in the MCU. The familiar cosmi-rod is also seen in her hand, along with the mystical cosmic band, which we first saw in “Ms. Marvel,” which granted powers of dimension travel and time warping and can be considered the MCU version of the comics’ quantum bands or Nega bands. General Dar-Benn is seen taking on Carol, Kamala, and Monica all at once as they try to switch roles in attacking her, and so far, except for Kree forces hunting Carol for her past transgressions, nothing much has been revealed about their motives. The trailer ends with Kamala asking the senior Marvels about the chance of the trio being a team of their own, which both of them refuse, but that’s hardly enough to keep the fangirl gasping in excitement.
The trailer does a decent job of hyping fans up for the next chapter in the MCU after the “Guardians of the Galaxy” franchise officially ends with its third chapter next month. The team dynamic will be an important aspect of the movie, and after the criticism the first installment of the Captain Marvel franchise faced, the makers will surely aim to make the lead character a bit more relatable to the viewers. Monica, the daughter of Carol’s friend Maria, already looks up to her superhero aunt, and Kamala basically worships her. It is now Carol’s duty to help her two protégés learn the ropes and share space in newer cosmic adventures.
