At San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige announced the MCU’s wild Phase 5 lineup and even a little bit of Phase 6. This ensures the franchise remains an ever present part of our lives for years to come, and will also introduce all new characters and stories. But the slate revisits some of the characters we know and love too—characters like Carol Danvers. Brie Larson will reprise the role of the hero in Captain Marvel 2, officially known as The Marvels, and she’ll be joined by Iman Vellani’s Ms. Marvel and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau.
Here’s everything we know about The Marvels.
Title
In a video released by Marvel Studios on May 3, 2021, we learned that Captain Marvel 2 is titled The Marvels. Why the plural? It has to do with someone else joining the cast…
The Marvels’ Plot
We don’t quite know what Brie Larson’s intergalactic warrior will be dealing with in her next venture. She became a full-fledged Avenger after the Snap, but she’s served more as a cosmic independent contractor than as one of Earth’s regular protectors. She was busy keeping the entire universe safe, only returning to Earth to help defeat Thanos. But a synopsis for The Marvels, along with its latest trailer, reveals more about what we can expect from the movie. It shares:
In Marvel Studios’ “The Marvels,” Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as “The Marvels.”
Of course, past Marvel outings fill in a few more of the blanks for The Marvels. A post-credits scene in Spider-Man: Far From Home revealed that the film’s Nick Fury and Maria Hill were actually the Skrulls Talos and Soren. The pair were filling in on Earth while Nick Fury was overseeing the construction of a massive space station. We thought that structure would prove to be S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient World Observation and Response Department), a companion organization to S.H.I.E.L.D., but it looks like it’s named S.A.B.E.R. And if any Avenger is going to visit it, it’s Nick Fury’s old friend who can fly through space.
Additionally, we also know that, unlike the first Captain Marvel film, the sequel takes place in the present.
Finally, the Ms. Marvel post-credits scene introduced Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel back to the MCU. In the scene, Kamala vanishes only for Captain Marvel to take her place. This seems like it is an allusion to some occurrences from Marvel’s comics. Specifically, in the comics, Rick Jones, a superhero sidekick, dons Nega-Bands similar to Ms. Marvel’s bangles. The Nega-Bands allow him to become an alter-ego of Captain Marvel. And they also let Rick swap places with Mar-Vell. But whichever of them isn’t donning the bands gets sent to the Negative Zone. The Negative Zone is “ an anti-matter continuum that exists alongside the continuum Earth occupies.” Could this have happened to Kamala and Carol? We can’t say for sure, but we bet the Ms. Marvel scene sets the stage for the events of The Marvels.
We love everything about this movie so far. And we’re glad that Carol Danvers has brought Goose with her. We don’t mind waiting so long for a sequel. But that “cat” better be involved.
Behind the Scenes
Candyman‘s Nia DaCosta will direct The Marvels. This is a change from the first film; Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directed that one. In January 2023, Marvel revealed the film’s slate of writers including DaCosta, Megan McDonnell (WandaVision), Zeb Wells (Amazing Spider-Man comic series), and Elissa Karasik (Loki). All of these people are obviously well-versed in the Marvel universe, so we can expect this film to fall in line with our MCU norms.
The Marvels‘ Cast
Brie Larson will return. But who’s joining her? At the Disney shareholders meeting in December 2020, we learned that Iman Vellani, who will play Ms. Marvel in a Disney+ TV series, will also appear in Captain Marvel 2, hence its pluralized title, The Marvels. Teyonah Parris, who plays a grown-up Monica Rambeau in WandaVision, will also reprise her role for the sequel.
According to Deadline, Velvet Buzzsaw actress Zawe Ashton will play the villain in the film. We don’t yet know which character she’ll play. Park Seo-joon has also joined The Marvels‘ cast.
And unsurprisingly, Nick Fury will return. Samuel L. Jackson shared the below photo of Nick Fury’s facial hair coming out of the box in preparation for film.
The Marvels‘ Release Date
The Marvels is scheduled for release on November 10, 2023.
Originally published on January 23, 2021.
