“The Marvels”, an all-new adventure featuring a trio of female Super Heroes teaming up to save the universe, is the next exciting movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Brie Larson, who starred as the titular character in “Captain Marvel” and truly embodies the character of Carol Danvers, explains the state of mind of Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers at the beginning of the film:“The last time we saw Captain Marvel in action, she took a big blow. She wasn’t able to defeat Thanos. So, although she was a huge part of the team, and she was able to make some big moves, there is still a sense of insecurity, and she’s grappling with that power. There’s also this sense of recognizability and fame as well.”
But when Captain Marvel unintentionally kicks off the mind-bending space adventure, the perennial solo artist becomes literally entangled with two newer MCU faces—Jersey City’s local teen hero, Kamala Khan, and scientist/astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau, as in the late Maria Rambeau’s daughter and Carol’s estranged niece. Realizing their powers are entangled, Carol reluctantly teams up with Monica and Kamala to stop the Kree Supremor, Dar-Benn, from unraveling the space-time continuum.
Kamala Khan, played by Iman Vellani, was introduced in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ series “Ms. Marvel,” and Monica Rambeau, portrayed by Teyonah Parris, was rediscovered as an adult in another Marvel Studios series, the award-winning “WandaVision.” They are all in very different places: Carol is literally floating in space in a vast abyss, Monica has a new career as a S.A.B.E.R. astronaut, and Kamala Khan has become Jersey City’s very own Super Hero. But when their powers become entangled, everything changes.
Writer Megan McDonnell explains, “The Marvels are entangled with each other, which means that whenever they use their powers at the same time, they switch places. That puts them together and sticks them together until they get it all figured out, because they each need to be able to use their powers. This entanglement is great thematically because now Carol has a team, whether she likes it or not.”
Brie Larson adds, “Quantum entanglement takes us a little bit to figure out. What we start noticing is that we all start switching places, and it takes a little bit of time, and what we realize is that it’s when we use our powers at the same time, we switch places. It can be different galaxies and different planets. It doesn’t matter; the distance does not matter. It’s just that we, for very specific reasons, become entangled. It’s a tough one for Carol because she’s sort of decided to work alone because it’s too painful to try and deal with loss.”
Continuing, she says, “Carol doesn’t want to put anybody in danger. She’s just kind of holding it all in. So, this idea that if she uses her powers, it could potentially put someone else in a situation that they might not be ready for is hard for her. And so, there’s a bit of this self-protective attitude that is telling her to just stay in her ship and not use her powers.”
In time Carol realizes she needs the help to get this done, and that they can’t solve the problem unless they figure it out together. “It’s just a wonderful, beautiful metaphor about where we are at in the world that we need everybody, everybody must pitch in,” says Larson. “I think it’s part of the metaphor that for us to progress as a people we have to learn to work together, and we have to learn to use the specific skills that we each have.”
This realization frees Carol in a way, and that was important for Larson to convey. “It’s really important that we understand that Captain Marvel really can’t be the only thing standing between life and destruction…it takes all of us. It’s absolutely unreasonable to believe that one person is the savior for us all. This is our way of poetically telling the story about the importance of all of us working together.”
Nia DaCosta tells us, “I think the three of them together is going to be an exciting combination, and I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to be a part of that. The most important thing for me as I dug in and approached the script and the characters was really making sure that within all the exciting set pieces, chases, fights and intergalactic intrigue, there’s really at the core of this an emotional character-driven story about these three women.”
Writer Elissa Karasik adds, “I like to think of ‘Captain Marvel’ as the story of Carol coming into her powers and finding out who she is. One way to look at ‘The Marvels’ is as the next chapter for Carol Danvers, in that she now knows who she is, but does she like that person and can she live with who that person is? So, it’s a different kind of more complex place we find her in.”
Mary Livanos sums up, “The theme and ultimate message of ‘The Marvels’ is one that we can all internalize. It’s about self-discovery, having the awareness to examine what is right, and finding deeper empathy in situations that are more complicated than you might have originally thought.”
“The Marvels” is in local cinemas from next Friday, 10 November 2023.
