MOVIE REVIEW: The Marvels (2023)

For a solid two months leading up to opening day, I’ve heard nothing but bad press about The Marvels from almost every corner. It’s supposed to be the nail in the coffin for the MCU, and the reasoning from all the pundits is the “woke” agenda. So many people have had a problem with three female leads (two of which are people of color), the story not making sense (welcome to comic books, everybody!) and not feeding into anything interesting. I had a plan to watch it this weekend because of an earlier engagement with friends to see the film off the opening-day weekend to avoid foolishness. The Marvels was worth the wait, but it’s not the type of movie that lends itself to easy learning — a big issue with movie-goers in general — as it rewards people who pay and have paid attention. For many people, this is considered “homework”. Most people aren’t paying attention (see fighting the “woke” agenda), so I’ll try to break it down.

Thanks to intermittent flashbacks, we learn Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers (Brie Larson, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Free Fire, Room, Kong: Skull Island) returned to the Kree home world of Hala almost immediately after the events of 2019’s Captain Marvel. She destroyed the Supreme Intelligence — a planetwide AI dictator rendered with comic-book accuracy. Destroying the AI created a power vacuum, and the Kree had a civil war that destroyed their oceans and air. Some of their weapons were so powerful they destroyed the planet's sun. Once the dust settled, all Kree were running out of time before everyone on planet Hala died. The Kree did not blame each other for damaging their world but instead blamed Captain Marvel (because she destroyed the machine that did all the thinking and problem-solving for them), and they called her “the Annihilator”.

DAR-BENN: She’s a Kree warlord played by British actress Zawe Ashton, bearing a Quantum Energy Band and wielding the Universal Weapon (she’s the one holding the big hammer).

Enter Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton, “Doctor Who” [TV-BBC]), a Kree warrior that took the place of the dead Kree warlord Ronan the Accuser (who died in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy), who wants to find a pair of bracelet-shaped artifacts called “Quantum Energy Bands” to open portals over other planets to steal their resources. In her search Dar-Benn has only found one bracelet, but its power alone is enough to rip open wormholes in space time to accomplish her task. Thankfully, the other bangle is in the possession of a superhero…who’s not really as experienced to handle such a threat.
Kamala Khan aka “Ms. Marvel” (teenage actress Iman Vellani) is living her best life in New Jersey when her bangle — a treasured heirloom from her grandmother — begins to act up. At the same time, Captain Marvel is in space investigating the strange wormhole radiation left behind by Dar-Benn…and Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris, Chi-Raq, They Cloned Tyrone, Candyman [2021], “WandaVision” [TV-Disney+]) is investigating mysterious wormhole radiation over Earth from the orbital headquarters of SABER Organization (a replacement to the compromised SHIELD Organization). Exposure to the radiation does a funny thing: Kamala’s bracelet causes her to switch places with Monica, Carol ends up in Kamala’s house, and Monica ends up fighting Kree soldiers where Carol was previously.

NO ESCAPE: “HA! Got you, little firefly…”

Later investigations explain all three ladies are now “quantum entangled”: for this movie, that means whenever one of them uses their powers they switch places with another random member in their quantum-entangled trio. It will take all three ladies to stop Dar-Benn, and to find her they travel around the known galaxy. One particular adventure takes place on a water-world where the people sing for talking…and Carol is married to the ruling prince Yan (Seo-joon Park, Parasite [2019]), making her a Disney princess replete with flowing dress and singing number. During this journey Kamala begins to learn the cost of being a hero, Nick Fury becomes father to a litter of Goose’s flerken-kittens, and we meet the Khan family (Mohan Kapoor, Zenobia Shroff, and Saagar Sheikh — each member reprising their roles from the Disney+ “Ms. Marvel” TV show). Filled with emotional breakthroughs and resolutions, the movie’s uncommon subject matter for the MCU takes us to a whole new dimension of storytelling…literally.

FLERKEN-KITTENS: If you know anything about kittens, this won’t end well — especially since these all-consuming aliens only LOOK like kittens right now.

I gotta say the weirdest part about The Marvels media attention was all the hate and rage. So many people got to see this movie before its general release date and they ALL said bad things about it. Watching this movie and knowing it was made by people who barely cracked a comic book spine and don’t listen to those that have did not give me pause. Knowing the internet pundits created hit piece after hit piece to play into the collective hatred of select individuals about the nature of change (i.e., they were mad their superheroes were no longer White and/or male) did not stop me from watching this movie. Instead, I see it for what they ALL have made this unique opportunity to be: a money-making piece of content.
Despite the lies told and the reality of the above media content product, I do appreciate the effort put forward by all three actresses playing the Marvels: Teyonah Parris lets all that technobabble flow off her tongue so easily, Iman Vellani’s positive energy is infectious and endearing even as she learns the cost of heroism, and Brie Larson continues to embody the character — now as a brooding 90’s comic book hero. To simplify: Monica’s the brains, Carol’s the muscle, and Kamala’s got the youthful energy. Whatever changes get made, let’s not lose our trio — because they are amazing and their relationships make the movie fun for anyone, whether or not they’ve done their homework.

HAND-DRAWN HEROES: We should also keep the hand-drawn fantasy comics made by Kamala Khan, carried over from the “Ms. Marvel” Disney+ series. It brings back amazing memories of my own works.

CHOICE CUTS <SPOILERS AHEAD>:

• Including the animated elements from the Ms. Marvel show was a brilliant choice.
• Brie Larson’s past as a pop music star really came in handy here, as all her singing has to be her; she’s come so far!
• Hearing Captain Marvel shout in a Kree warrior’s face “I DON’T LIKE THAT NAME” after he called her Annihilator to her face must have been cathartic. Especially when she kicked him through the ceiling.
• Zawe Ashton is married to Tom Hiddleston (“Loki” [TV-Disney+]), meaning they both get Marvel/Disney money.
• Tessa Thompson makes an appearance as Valkyrie, probably taking the Skrulls to a new home via the Bifrost. There is a suggestion she and Captain Marvel dated in the past, but that’s gone from the movie for more conservative international markets.
• Yet another Black Asgardian shows up on the SABER station! His name is Dag, played by Abraham Popoola.
• Monica and Kamala groovin’ in the corner while Carol gets her princess singing on was top tier for me. I truly believed there would be dancing well before the trailers featuring the song-and-dance planet were shown.
• THE X-MEN ARE HERE: Kelsey Grammer reprises his role as Dr. Hank “Beast” McCoy , and mentions Charles (as in Professor Charles Xavier, aka Professor X). This might mean they’re part of the MCU and will grace the screen sooner than you think. Stay tuned for the introduction of Deadpool in the MCU, called Deadpool and Wolverine.
• FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: The scene where Lashonna Lynch has to sit there and have Teyonah Parris blubber apologetically all over her must have been a weird one to shoot. It might also be an Oscar clip, because I believed all of it.
• Now that Monica Rambeau has traveled to another universe, note that the stars and skies of outer space are remarkably different: red bands of cosmic dust were all over, and planets were far too close. It almost looks like a comic book.
• And then there’s Maria Rambeau as Binary, a form of Captain Marvel. Lashonna Lynch played this role before in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as a member of the Illuminati. The version here not only is not a member of the Illuminati, she also has BOTH Quantum Energy Bands in addition to her Captain Marvel powers.
• According to the flashbacks, Maria and Carol had a footrace to see who would escort the scientist who would be called Mar-Vell. Carol won in the current Marvel Cinematic Universe and became our Captain Marvel. So far, we have seen TWO outcomes where Maria wins the footrace and becomes Captain Marvel. Does that mean the only way to become Captain Marvel is to be part of this footrace?
• Kamala reenacting the end credits scene from 2008’s Iron Man when recruiting Kate “Hawkeye” Bishop (played by Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit, Bumblebee) was a nice touch.
• I sat through the credits and noticed they had a cultural consultant for the Khan family. Good on you, Marvel Studios.
• Samuel L Jackson is ALSO in this movie.