The Marvels (2023) Poster

THE MARVELS (2023) dir. Nia DaCosta

“Oh captain, my captain”.

Still can’t get over with their chemistry and I miss them already !!

Me, watching people online call ‘The Marvels’ the worst MCU film ever:

In The Marvels there's a vulnerability to Carol that we don't really get in her earlier appearances. There's a few glimpses of it in Captain Marvel, but not much, and it's certainly not visible in Endgame (not as a fault of that movie, she's just not very close to the center of that movie). But I find the exploration of that in this movie really appealing.

You have this woman who is incredibly capable, incredibly powerful, and generally very self-sufficient. And you see the way that over the years that's worn her down. She's the mighty Captain Marvel-- one of the most powerful people in the galaxy. And she's absorbed that view of herself, that that is who she needs to be all the time. She needs to carry it all, to fix it all.

As Captain Marvel that's meant that she works alone and she's always off to fix a new problem. More importantly, it led to her nearly disastrous decision to destroy the Supreme Intelligence, and from there to an inability to directly confront that failure (tactically or emotionally) or to accept help in fixing it.

As Carol, it's cut her off from anyone else except a few carefully distanced professional friendships-- she is friends with Fury, and Valkyrie, and Yan, but there's also a coolness there, and with all we're given the impression that she keeps them at arm's length and only comes around when necessary. And again its created an even bigger problem-- she stayed away from Maria until Maria was dying, and never came back to Monica at all.

It's never directly connected for us in the movie, but there's a pretty clear connection here back to the first movie. That careful distance wasn't present with Yon-Rogg. With him she was playful, open, she'd come to his room in the middle of the night. She trusted him. And she was utterly betrayed. He used her, trapped her, manipulated her, stole her life and her memories, tried to kill her. And back then, she only regained her identity when she broke free from him. That experience has made her wary.

But she's also just off-balance. Her memories were taken and she still hasn't fully gotten them back, so she's unsteady in those old relationships. And she's indestructible and powerful but it does her no good in dealing with actual relationships. She meets a problem that she can't punch or blast, and her flight instinct kicks in.

So when The Marvels starts out, those years of being alone and trying to be Atlas carrying the world on her back, have left her shaky. She's scared to talk to Monica. When she does come face to face with Monica, and Monica initially rejects her, Carol visibly shrinks. In dealing with Dar Benn, she's running scared--not scared of Dar Benn, but scared of failing again or messing things up more, and it makes her impulsive, and causes her to push away Monica and Kamala. And it's all a vulnerability that she covers up with cockiness and bravado. She doesn't show people that vulnerability. Instead she shows them the invincible Captain Marvel who can fly into suns and move planets.

And this movie uses the power-switching to handcuff her to two other people to force her out of that destructive pattern of total self-reliance and running from being close to anyone. It physically will not let her run away from Monica and Kamala, and it turns her attempts to do things by herself against her.

Kamala is there to model for Carol a sort of emotional openness that she hasn't known in a long time (if ever). Her heart is all the way out on her sleeve and Carol needs to see that. When Monica discusses her mom's death, Kamala literally shows Carol what to do on the simplest level by hugging Monica and forcing Carol into that hug. And it matters that Kamala is a child doing this, because that simplicity is key. Carol doesn't need to FIX the situation, and Kamala isn't burdened by that mindset. Kamala can approach with this childlike openness and simplicity, not overcomplicating it by trying to find the perfect thing to say or do, and it turns out that's all Carol needs to do too. And so simple hugs become incredibly powerful in this movie because it's just about being willing to be there with some and to hold them, and in the end Carol gives that back to Kamala when they hug after losing Monica.

And for her part, Monica models to Carol that you can be strong and part of a team. Monica has grown up and become a captain and become a superhero. She's incredibly capable. And also very very comfortable working as part of a team. So despite her tension with Carol, she's able to bring that easy team dynamic to the group and get Carol to embrace the team instead of being hampered by it.

Once Carol is able be at ease with being vulnerable, once she can open herself up to others, once she can share her burdens, that's when she finally is able to come home to Earth after nearly 40 years.

Carol Danvers | Prodigal Child of the Milky Way™ The Marvels (November 10, 2023)

Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan in THE MARVELS (2023) dir. Nia DaCosta | Teaser Trailer

if you want to battle you're in denial coming from uranus to check my style go ahead put my rhymes on trial cast you off into exile!

— Intergalactic, Beastie Boys [id in alt]

@lgbtqcreators creator bingo 💖 typography.

Higher. Further. Faster.

My favourite thing about The Marvels is that it's casually shown that Captain Marvel can transform into a Disney Princess at will and nobody brings it up for the rest of the movie.

I see people saying that The Marvels has nothing new to say. What exactly new would you like it to say???

This is the first film to feature a Muslim-desi lead and showcase her background. This is the first women led suphero movie that explored their relationship and vulnerabilities and their love for family.

The other aspects like the multiverse, powers, the Kree empire and the bangles are all old comic book stories. They've been recycled many times in comic books over the last few decades.

This is a superhero franchise. That is what it is about.

Like I'm being very serious, if someone wants to share what 'new' they expect?

It's incel behavior.

This movie also has the best action scenes I've seen in the mcu.

Marvel introduced the x-men and teased two of the biggest superhero groups in the comics (Champions and YA) in this film. What more could you want?

#I would give anything to see these 5 interact together. Just pure chaos and fangirling

#kamala and kate i would die for you#i could have included shang chi but i'm too lazy to download the movie rip#i have a part of my brain just for marvel unfortunately (via @kbishop)

#The MCU is back

New character posters for the upcoming "The Marvels"