Everything you need to know about The Marvels
The Marvels has finally arrived in cinemas to continue Phase 5 of the MCU and it has promised a game-changing reveal that might involve the X-Men.
The Captain Marvel sequel sees Carol Danvers team up with Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan to take down new villain Dar-Benn, with a little help from the returning Nick Fury and, of course, Goose.
"There's something immensely powerful about seeing Monica and Kamala and Carol together in a frame," said Marvel boss Kevin Feige as he compared the movie to 2012's The Avengers. "It's chill-inducing. They're so great together, and they all have different histories with another."
That's a big claim, but while we wait to find out if it's true, here's everything you need to know about The Marvels.
The Marvels release date: When is The Marvels released?
We don't have to wait any longer as The Marvels has finally arrived in cinemas.
It was originally set for release on July 28, 2023 before it was shifted back four months to November 10, 2023, one of a number of release date delays, but thankfully also the final one.
It was meant to be out in July 2022 before a shuffle of the entire MCU slate saw it pushed back to February 17, 2023. Then in April 2022, The Marvels swapped places with Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, pushing it to its previous release date.
The movie completed filming as of May 2022, with some reshoots in August 2022.
The Marvels runtime: How long is The Marvels?
Ahead of release, The Marvels has set a new record for the MCU as it's the shortest movie yet at 105 minutes long.
Director Nia DaCosta explained to Digital Spy that she always wanted to keep it under two hours' long.
"I always think about the runtime actually, when I go into a film. I just feel like there's no need to have it long if you don't need to, because 1 hour 45 minutes is pretty average for a movie, so we were all really excited," she explained.
The Marvels credit scenes: How many credit scenes does The Marvels have?
Credit scenes are an MCU staple, and it will be no surprise to learn that The Marvels carries on the tradition by having one credit scene.
It comes mid-credits and it is not to be missed. No spoilers here though.
The Marvels trailer: Watch the trailers for The Marvels here!
The first trailer for The Marvels was released in April 2023 and if you need a reminder, check it out below:
Since then, we had another trailer in July 2023 which revealed more about the movie's villain Dar-Benn. There's also been a series of teasers, including one that led fans to believe there was a surprise MCU cameo in store and another about a potential X-Men link.
One final full-length trailer arrived in the week of The Marvels' release in November 2023, confirming that cameo was none other than Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie.
If you haven't seen it, check it out below:
The Marvels cast: Who's in The Marvels?
We already knew that Brie Larson would be back as Carol Danvers and at the Disney Investor Day in December 2020, it was confirmed that she'll have some exciting company.
Having debuted the role in WandaVision, Teyonah Parris will appear as the grown-up version of Monica Rambeau, while the sequel will also feature Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, aka Ms Marvel, who made her debut in the Disney+ series of the same name.
Vellani revealed that she actually only found out about her role in The Marvels just before it was announced, during a night shoot the day before.
The title could just refer to Carol and Kamala as the two Captain Marvels, but the events of WandaVision saw Monica gain superpowers. In the comics, Monica became Captain Marvel before Carol, so there could be another Captain Marvel in town.
Talking of WandaVision, the show also confirmed the sad news that Maria Rambeau died during the five years that Monica had been dusted by the Snap. That seemingly rules out a return for Lashana Lynch in the sequel.
However, Lynch isn't totally ruling out a surprise return in the sequel. "Weirder things have happened in the franchise. I had a wonderful time on the first one and it would be great to have a wonderful time on another one," she said in August 2021.
Lynch has since popped up again in the MCU as Earth-838's Maria Rambeau who is (or was) Captain Marvel in that universe in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Here's hoping that paves the way for her to return in some form in the sequel.
It's clear that Monica and Carol have some issues to work through though (potentially about her not being there for her mum), so maybe they'll be explored in flashbacks which could see Lynch reprise her role.
The main villain will be played by Zawe Ashton as Dar-Benn, a Kree warrior who possesses an accuser's hammer like the one used by Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy.
The character was originally depicted as male when he debuted in Silver Surfer comics in the 1990s, but we'll see a gender swap for The Marvels.
Parasite's Park Seo-joon is also making his MCU debut in the sequel, while a deleted Instagram post revealed that Saagar Shaikh, Zenobia Shroff and Mohan Kapur will be back as Kamala's brother Aamir, mother Muneeba and father Yusuf, respectively.
The first movie passed without any major casualties beyond Starforce member Minn-Erva (Gemma Chan), so she's about the only character we can say for sure that won't be back.
Samuel L Jackson appeared to confirm his return as Nick Fury in August 2021 and hopefully, we get to see him reunite with Goose, with the trailer confirming that everybody's favourite Flerken is back.
The Marvels plot: What is The Marvels about?
Along with the first trailer in April 2023, we got the official plot synopsis for 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 destabilised universe," it reads.
"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 SABER astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau.
"Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as The Marvels."
WandaVision hinted that not all is well in the relationship between Carol and Monica, so that friction could form part of the sequel's storyline. We don't think it'd go as far as Monica being a villain of any kind, but it might not all be smooth sailing.
The post-credit scene of Ms Marvel saw Captain Marvel unexpectedly swap places with Kamala Khan, a teaser for what's in store in the sequel as the trailer shows them changing places every time one of them uses their powers.
If you're hoping to get some plot details from the cast, you're out of luck as they're staying tight-lipped. Larson did say that when she read the "bonkers" script, she "couldn't believe what I was reading".
"It's the thing that I love about Marvel, is that they continue to reinvent. They continue to do the thing that you just would never think would be possible in these films. And they're not afraid to go there," she added.
And all Parris will tell us is that the sequel is "gonna be pretty epic", which is good enough for us.
The Marvels is out now in cinemas. Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel and WandaVision are available to watch on Disney+.
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