REVIEW -- The Marvels (2023)

Much like the original Captain Marvel film, I know people are going to be HIGHLY skeptical and even more critical of this film - if they decide to even see this film at all in theaters before it hits Disney+ via streaming. Whether you don't like Brie Larson as a person/actress due to her outspoken nature or God knows what else people hate her for (I honestly haven't been keeping up) this film still deserves a fair chance, especially with Iman Vellani's Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan and Teyonah Parris' Monica Rambeau attached as to share the spotlight with her as the leads of this film. Marvel Studios were VERY wise to go with that decision as it takes off a bit of the heat off of Larson and gives her character some much needed depth when she's allowed to play off of these two other heroines. 

When this film was first announced, there wasn't a shadow of doubt in my mind that Iman Vellani's Ms. Marvel wasn't going to steal the spotlight here and she's as much of a delight here to watch as she was in her Disney+ series. 

For those wondering, you don't need to do any extra "homework", as how many MCU detractors and critics put it nowadays, to understand the plot of this film nor to "get" who these characters are. Monica and Kamala both give a loose explanation where they came from and how they got their powers that pretty much sums up what viewers need to know if they haven't watched the Ms. Marvel nor WandaVision series on Disney+. It doesn't spoil anything from those shows either, so if viewers want to see more of those characters and want to know about them, they can go back and check those shows out on Disney+ if they desire to do so. Seeing those shows prior do provide some addition insight on this story though. 

I could tell whoever wrote the script for this film did their homework in that regard as the Quantum Bands are definitely tied to control of the electromagnetic spectrum and can be used to drain most forms of energy from beings or mechanisms in their vicinity, much like Dar-Benn exploits consistently in her skirmishes against Captain Marvel in this film.

Captain Marvel Isn't Perfect (Much Like This Film), And That's Okay

What's Carol's mistake you ask? It's actually something I'm glad that they finally addressed her disappearance from Earth for 30+ years. Captain Marvel killing/destroying the Supreme Intelligence brought forth civil war among the Kree on Hala, rendering the planet into a barren wasteland as it lost air, water, and sunlight. 

This is the driving force for Dar-Benn's plans as she sought out to use the Quantum Bands to steal the valuable resources from the worlds that Captain Marvel holds dear as "repayment" for her sins upon their world. She takes the air from the atmosphere from a world that a group of Skrulls have established as a refugee colony of sorts. Then the water from a water-rich world, Aladna, before finally going after the Earth's sun to restore that of Hala.

A part of me was going to question how does Dar-Benn have an Universal Weapon like Ronan the Accuser, but then I remembered that it's a standard Kree weapon issued to any Accuser and not just Ronan. I just thought it was odd that it was still glowing with that purple glow as if it was still enhanced by the Power Stone that Ronan slapped onto his at the end of the original Guardians of the Galaxy film. Maybe I'm thinking too much into it, but maybe the SFX (special effect) department left that effect in there to clue the (casual) audience that it's got the strength to knock Captain Marvel around like Thanos did in Avengers: Endgame when he pulled out the Power Stone out of the Infinity Gauntlet. I personally felt that wasn't necessary when we already knew that Dar-Benn's bangle was siphoning off Captain Marvel's powers at every exchange they had, so it makes sense that she was able to hold her own against her.

The "quantum entanglement" between Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau is goofy as all hell early on into the film, but it makes for some very creative fight sequences throughout this film. The MCU uses that term again - "quantum entanglement" - which was first used to describe how Janet van Dyne and Ghost were tied to each other in Ant-Man and The Wasp. I think this is a clever tongue-in-cheek method to get around to them codenaming Monica Rambeau "Photon" or "Spectrum" like her comic book counterpart down the road since she is the one who deduced this phenomenon occurring between them. Their entanglement causes them to teleport whenever one of them uses their powers. (Snaps fingers) Quantum teleportation would be a more accurate description of what's going on with their powers, but I guess that doesn't roll off the tongue as well. There's a pretty cool montage about halfway into the film where the trio train together to work on the chemistry and teamwork to make this shortcoming into their greatest strength as they learn to work together as a team.

Through this unlikely partnership through their teamwork, I thought it was this film's greatest strength above everything else. For all of that power that Captain Marvel THINKS she has whereas she thinks she can fix anything and everything on her own without any help, this film goes out of its way to prove that she's not without flaws. This shows that the filmmakers are conscious of Captain Marvel's "Mary Sue" label and tried to address her "savior complex" as a character flaw. Captain Marvel makes mistakes; with her greatest one prevented her from returning home and turning her back on those that she called family. I thought it was great that they addressed that between Carol and Monica, especially after we saw Monica's mother, Maria Rambeau, die of cancer in WandaVision. That was a genius choice to replay that scene in this film for those who haven't watched that series for emotional context. Carol missed out on a lot, including the death of her best friend, who died alone during the Snap. When Monica was forced to relive that painful memory, Kamala Khan was there to provide a much needed hug to her and remind Carol what it means to be human and vulnerable. Kamala isn't without flaws either as she got slapped with a dose of reality when she got to see the not-so favorable side of her beloved heroine Captain Marvel. Carol allowed a large portion of Skrull refugees to die during the destruction of their colony so the few that they could save to escape. Kamala was taught the harsh lessons that being a hero comes with having to make tough calls like that as sometimes there's no way to save everyone. Even though it pained her to do so, Kamala learned to dial back a bit with that blind hero worship too. 

Dar-Benn wouldn't meet her end at the hands of the Guardians as uses Captain Marvel's good-nature as a crutch to hold Kamala hostage and take her bangle as her own. Dar-Benn then uses both Quantum Bands to tear open a hole into time and space, killing herself in the process all on the gamble of restoring Hala with the Earth's sun. I was honestly surprised that Kamala's powers still work without her wearing the bands in this continuity, but I couldn't remember if they merely enhance her natural latent powers or not. Monica quickly deduces that the only way to close the tear is to have both Kamala and Carol overcharge her with their powers while she flies into the tear to close it from within. Carol realizes that the tear is closing with Monica having no way back, but Monica says she knew that was the plan all along and they are helpless to watch it seal up with her trapped on the other side. The Earth's sun is safe, but Monica is trapped somewhere in time and space. I thought that tear looked suspiciously like the tears in the sky during the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home when all of the other Spider-Man villains were trying to bleed into the main MCU universe. 

Armed with the knowledge from Monica's efforts, Carol is motivated now more than ever to restore the damage done to the Kree homeworld and uses her powers to restore their sun, thus revitalizing Hala. Her and Carol return to Earth shortly thereafter, where Carol allows Kamala's family to move into the Rambeau's home in Louisana after the events of the film left their Jersey City home in shambles. 

It was a nice gesture, but a little fucked up, given the fact that the home was still essentially Monica's. I wonder how that worked out in terms of legal mumbo jumbo in terms of ownership claims and all of that after Maria Rambeau died while Monica was still snapped out of existence. Is Kamala going to merely stay at that home while her home in Jersey City is being repaired temporarily or is this a permanent move to Louisana? That would seem like a big deal to establish in either capacity for that character's adventures going forward, especially if they wanted to set the stage for a possible Ms. Marvel Season Two. Then again, I'm sure the director of this film didn't want to feel burdened to feel obligated to have this movie serve as a gateway point to another streaming show that people are going to bitch, whine, and complain about, so I'm going to give them a pass in that regard. 

I should mention that I loved seeing that Kamala's family got the chance to share the limelight with her debut on the silver screen as those characters all definitely deserved a check from a big budget MCU film properly. They haven't changed from the Ms. Marvel Disney+ series, but that's not a bad thing. Kamala's parents and older brother are as overprotective and concerned about their superheroine daughter as before, but they are a tad more accepting of her going off to engage with her heroics after seeing what Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau are capable of firsthand. 

Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is in this too and while he engages in a lot of comedy with Kamala's family, I have to admit that I was a little taken back at his more laid back attitude and demeanor in this film, especially after the events of Secret Invasion. I think a lot of people can breathe easily knowing that the events of that Disney+ series aren't referenced at all in this. The common consensus is that series has been universally panned by most audiences, mainly for the questionable (read: low quality) CGI used in the final episode and how much it deviates from the source material to how the story really doesn't resolve anything. I'll get around to rewatching and reviewing that series properly (someday), but I didn't think it was the worst thing the MCU has put out to date. It's definitely ripe of flaws narratively, but I'm not going to ignore the stellar acting performances in it either. Then again, I didn't have my expectations high for that series, much like this film, especially when the Skrulls' position in this continuity is completely different in the MCU in comparison to their role and history in the comic book canon.

In relation to this film, I thought it was rather strange that Fury never brought it up or said anything of the sort to Carol, especially when she was one of Talos' friends too. 

Once again, I feel like that lack of connection to the events of Secret Invasion was another conscious decision by the director of this film to not have this film feel bogged down and burdened by having viewers to have done their "homework" for a reference/connection that didn't have any impact on this overall narrative. That being said, the Skrulls are still in worse off place than they have ever been following this film as they are without yet another refugee planet/colony that they were calling their home, thus forcing more of their kind to inhabit Earth, thanks to King Valkyrie offering to take them in as part of New Asgard. 

The Flerken stuff with Goose was worth a few laughs in this film, but I can understand if it's not as entertaining to other viewers of this film, especially if they aren't cat people. I personally didn't mind it as it was a callback to Captain Marvel's comics with similar antics, so it was fun to see in a live-action setting. 

My only regret is no conversation between Rocket and Carol in Avengers: Endgame about her having a Flerken as a pet and how much money he could get for selling one. 

Where Do We Go From Here?

The film ends with two teases for the future. 

The first being that Kamala visits Kate Bishop after reading up on her on Nick Fury's files. She proposes the idea of a "team" and pleads with her to join. 

I'm guessing that this is leading into what a lot of people have been expecting to have been in the works for a while now, especially given the influx of young men and women who have debuted into the MCU in Phase Four alone as new heroes or off-spring/successors to current Avengers. That either means we're getting a Champions or a Young Avengers movie at some point in the near-future. Hell, I wouldn't mind a live-action equivalent of Marvel Rising either. 

I've seen some theories already floating around about this scene, but I have some takes of my own. It's obviously somewhere in the Multiverse, but I don't agree with the takes that are trying to tie this into the upcoming X-Men '97 animated series. That would be too much of a chore to tie all of that lore and history into the MCU, even as a cameo. We can't consider this the first time that the X-Men have shown up in the Multiverse Saga either as we just saw Charles Xavier in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness film as part of the Illuminati, despite being killed off by the Scarlet Witch. I think this is a glimpse at the X-Men that we might see in the MCU proper, especially after the fact that we still have Deadpool 3 on the horizon. I honestly forgotten that Binary was part of the X-Men briefly after Rogue drained away Carol Danvers' powers. The Brood would experiment on her unique physiology and she would take on the Binary form after manifesting those powers. Instead of Carol, Maria Rambeau is Binary in this universe, much like the Illuminati's Captain Marvel in Multiverse of Madness.

I think that there's a place for this character in this ever-growing and expanding universe, especially when they start focusing on more stories in the space and away from Earth out in the cosmos. This film does a great job of laying out the foundation for that as there's worth for this character, despite how powerful and one-dimensional that she came across initially. There's plenty of room and time to fix that.

And hell, if those rumors about Brie Larson looking to step down from this role for she can be recast turn out to be true, then people might have another reason to give this character another chance. 

Watch It or Don't Bother?

Unfortunately, a lot of people have convinced themselves the moment this film was announced that they weren't going to watch it and that's their loss. For everything following Avengers: Endgame, the common opinion floating around the Internet is that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is "dead" and it lost the magic. I personally find that statement to be false. The magic isn't lost, it's just that they have a lot more competition in terms of what is out there to digest in the superhero genre. Sure, there's a bit of burnout along with oversaturation in the genre and the medium as a whole, but I don't see the MCU nor the superhero genre as a whole going anymore. 

Is The Marvels something that you should race out and go out of your way to see? No. Is it a complete failure like almost everything the most anal of critics frown upon in the MCU as of late that's not Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3? No. The Marvels is a fun diversion for two heroes that definitely deserved their time to shine on the silver screen while providing much needed rehabilition to the overall reception of Captain Marvel up to this point for most audiences. The film features a villain that I'm sure no one will be talking about nor remember after this film, but that's okay too since the MCU has a notorious problem with killing off their villains in almost every single one of these projects so it's fine for a one-and-done villian that didn't offer any major stakes to the bigger narrative of the Multiverse Saga. Even if the Multiverse Saga hasn't been your cup of tea thus far, you can enjoy this film without any connections to that story as well. 

I implore my readers to give this film a fair chance. Put your hatred for Brie Larson on the bench for two hours and check this out. Who knows, you might actually like it.