‘The Marvels’ Trailer Breakdown – X-Men Connections, Kree Villians, and Dance Numbers
A lot is going on in the first trailer for The Marvels – let’s slow it down and take a closer look!
A few things I noticed before I dive into characters – S.A.B.E.R. has no basis in Marvel comics. It looks to be S.H.I.E.L.D. reforming and merging with S.W.O.R.D. (the agency in WandaVision). I have a feeling we’ll learn more about that in Secret Invasion. The space station itself looks like the Peak from 2005’s Astonishing X-Men.
There are too many visuals of the Kree Nega-Bands not to mention the possible connection to Shang-Chi. Same with Skrulls. Is that actually Fury, or is that Talos? Where on the timeline are we?
Incursions. It’s the new thing – Re-watch Multiverse of Madness and Ant-Man 3 for details.
Who are The Marvels?
The three heroes are linked by something causing them to swap when they access their powers. Their origins give a clue as to what might be happening.
Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, gained her powers by absorbing energy from the Tesseract/time stone. The former U.S. Air Force Pilot was trained as a Kree warrior; before recovering her memories, she helped them colonize planets. These days she fights for oppressed folks across the galaxy. The last time we saw her in the MCU was at the end of Ms. Marvel – looking at fan art in Kamala Khan‘s closet.
Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, gains her powers from a Kree bangle (or Nega-Band) passed down through her family. So far, her superhero adventures and battles have been at street level, so being suddenly thrown into space with aliens is extra strange, scary, and kinda neat. She’s new to this, but she’ll be fine.
Monica Rambeau is known as Pulsar, Spectrum, and Photon in the comics but hasn’t gotten a superhero name in the MCU. Her mother was a pilot and close friends with Carol, which led her to join S.W.O.R.D. The last time we saw her, she investigated Wanda’s Hex with the organization. Crossing the chaos magic barrier led to her cells being rewritten, allowing her to manipulate energy in astonishing ways.
In the trailer, she examines a Kree Jump Point before initiating the first swap.
Goose
Goose is a flerken. He’s not linked to the whole swapping thing (as far as we know), but he’s part of the team. He’s an alien creature that has a bunch of tentacles that extend from his mouth, and he holds pocket dimensions in his body so he can store all kinds of things. Based on the trailer, he is not the only flerken in this movie.
Who is The Marvels’ Villain?
Captain Marvel turned on them in her solo movie, thwarted Ronan’s invasion, and threatened to return to finish the job. The Kree aren’t ones to ignore a major defeat and are usually hell-bent on getting revenge.
Zawe Ashton was announced in early 2021. The trailer gives us a very brief look at her in character. Based on the Universal Weapon in her hand, she’s a Kree Accuser like Ronin. She’s also wearing the second Kree bangle, which directly connects her to Ms. Marvel.
Lauri-Ell, who was created using the D.N.A. of two powerful Kree champions (and happens to be Carol’s half-sister) is a skilled warrior but is more of an ally than a foe to Captain Marvel in the comics. Other contenders are Dar-Benn and Ael-Dan, generals who overthrew the Emperor of the Kree Empire and framed the Skrulls. Neither were Accusers, though.
I’m expecting a mash-up of the three characters with some new elements thrown in like they did with Moon Knight bad guy Arthur Harrow—something less predictable with roots in the comics.
Fun note for folks following the Young Avengers threads: Lauri-Ell and Hulkling have a connection.
Who is This?
Park Seo-joon’s character is a mystery. A few rumor-mongers say he’s playing Carol’s husband, Prince Yan, and his world will be filled with musical dance numbers. I’m… not sold on the first half. There’s definitely dancing.
Based on the costumes and the rest of the trailer, something to do with the Aerie (who are meta-humans related to the Kree) or something totally new is more likely. We’ll have to wait for more info from Marvel to figure this one out.
The Marvels Cast & Synopsis
The movie sees the return of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan. Plus, Samuel L. Jackson, Zawe Ashton, and Park Seo-joon. It’s directed by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, Candyman) from a script she wrote with Megan McDonnell (WandaVision), Elissa Karasik (Loki), and Zeb Wells (She-Hulk).
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 destabilized universe. 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 S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau.
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The Marvels hits theaters on November 10th.
