The Marvels is the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The movie revolves around Captain Marvel, Photon, and Ms. Marvel who are fighting off the Kree to keep the universe safe.
The review contains spoilers. I advise you to watch it for yourself and then come back to read my thoughts. If you don’t plan to go see the movie or don’t care for spoilers, let’s go!
The Marvels brings the 3 best together
The movie revolves around the most powerful women in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, two and a half women, since Kamala is still a teen.
Kamala is also known as Ms. Marvel, the first mutant in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and she can make hard light using her mutant powers.
The second one is Photon, also known as Monica Rambeau whose physiology was altered with hex magic during the events of Wandavision. The 3rd one is Captain Marvel whose powers come from Kree technology.
The three are, unknowingly, intertwined by the armband that was given to Kamala by her grandmother. It is a family heirloom and it is a thing of beauty. But it is also a Quantum Band, one of the biggest artifacts in Marvel lore.
When a Kree named Dar-Benn wants to reinstate the home planet of Hala, she uses a quantum band and goes on a rampage. The other quantum band is in the possession of Kamala Khan and at the same time that Dar-Benn uses hers against a jumping point, the three women start switching positions all across the universe. Which makes teamwork all the more important.
Dar-Benn uses her quantum band to open jumping points but at the same time, she tears down the fabrics of the space and time continuum. She doesn’t fully realize it at the time. All that is on her mind is to save her homeworld.
Meanwhile, the three ladies are trying to learn how to work as a team. It is challenging because every time they use their powers they swap positions. So they practice and try to make sure that whoever swaps positions has to be ready to either punch or take a punch. The scenes are quite hilarious.
Meanwhile, Dar-Benn makes a deal with the Skrulls but when push comes to shove, she kills the Skrulls. Dar-Benn feels betrayed and that is no small part thanks to the appearance of Captain Marvel and friends.
The origins of the name The Annihilator
They call Captain Marvel the Annihilator. You would expect that she would be hailed as a hero. But the opposite is true.
The name Annihilator stems from the fact that Captain Marvel killed the Kree’s AI called the Supreme Intelligence. She thought that it would bring peace to Hala and the galaxy but instead, the opposite is true.
The consequences are dire, the sun went out, the water evaporated, oxygen left the atmosphere, and without that the entire planet turned barren.
It was Captain Marvel’s biggest regret and also the reason why she and Photon are at odds. Captain Marvel promised that she would come back as soon as possible but instead, she stayed away for years trying to fix her mistake but also because she was ashamed of what she had done and couldn’t face her family. But as Photon explains to her: That is not how family works! You come home and communicate.
The jumping points fixed
Dar-Benn goes all across the galaxy to open jumping points to get resources to fix Hala. First, she fixes the oxygen problem on the planet Tarnax. A refugee colony of the Skrulls. She uses the jumping point portals with her quantum band to suck up the atmosphere and transports it to Hala.
Second, she tries to get water from a planet called Aladna, but The Marvels beat her to it. Turns out that Captain Marvel is married to the prince of the planet and she gets help from the prince and the inhabitants of their planet. The prince and Aladna win and they manage to subdue Dar-Benn.
But it is not until Dar-Benn’s true nature emerges that she betrays The Marvels by breaking her promise to give up her Quantum Band.
Instead, she overpowers all three of them to get Kamala’s Quantum Band. In an ultimate attempt to tear one last hole in the universe to save Hala, she is completely consumed by the bands and dies.
The hole to the multiverse is completely opened up and The Marvels come up with a plan to close it. Kamala and Captain Marvel use their light-based powers to power up Photon who then uses the power of all three combined to close the hole but it comes at a great price: Photon is stuck in the other universe and there is no way for her to come back to the regular universe.
When Photon regains consciousness she wakes up in a hospital. She sees her mother who passed away five years ago. But her mother doesn’t recognize her and that has a good reason: In an alternate universe her mother is Binary.
A version of Carol Danvers who possessed the power of a star. And Photon’s doctor is none other than Hank McCoy, also known as Beast from the X-men.
Captain Marvel completes her mission by using powers to reignite Hala’s sun and succeeds. She comes back to Earth after she is done.
Kamala is reunited with her parents and they move into Photon’s old house since theirs was destroyed in New Jersey after a run-in with Kree soldiers.
My opinion of The Marvels
The start of the movie was a bit messy with the filmmakers trying to set up too many plotlines at once but after the first 15 to 30 minutes, the movie was just good.
Captain Marvel’s plot was okay, she was redeemed too quickly in my view. Yes, she reignited the sun but it would have been better to have the writers use the feelings of guilt to see what she would do to redeem herself spread over multiple movies rather than have her do it in the same movie.
Photon’s story was a bit thin. We know now that she can do more than fight: she has a scientific brain and uses it throughout the movie. I am happy with that. It means that Marvel is adding more science people to the Marvel Universe after the loss of Iron Man.
Ms Marvel / Kamala Khan and her family stole the show for me. They were there to parent and it showed that having a teenage daughter is no easy feat, especially when the daughter has the power to save an entire galaxy. But they managed and that was amazing.
The role of Nick Fury was marginalized, the movie revolved around the 3 Marvels. I liked what they did with Kamala, the moviemakers fleshed out her character.
I loved the role of the Goose who left eggs all over Fury’s space station and they were all used to get the people to safety after the space station was blown up. The use of S.A.B.E.R. was also marginalized. It was hyped with a few mid-credit scenes and referenced in Secret Invasion but it felt like a dud. But the role of Goose, overall while pivotal, was also marginalized compared to the first Captain Marvel movie.
My only real critique is that the movie was a bit short. The movie lasted 100 minutes and that makes The Marvels the shortest movie in the MCU up until now.
Is Ms Marvel starting a new team in the MCU?
At the end of the movie, we see Kamala going on a recruiting spree and visiting Kate Bishop to recruit her for a new team. Is this going to be the start of a new team in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? If so then who else would join?
I guess that the next recruits are the sensational She-Hulk and her famous cousin Hulk. But other than that, I wouldn’t be able to figure out who else. Echo maybe? Iron Heart? The new Black Panther? Time will tell but color me enthused.
Marvel Cinematic Universe adds Quantum Bands
The Quantum Bands was a great find. The Quantum Bands have been around in comic books for a long time and they are powerful artifacts. I wonder if Quasar would also make his or her entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The Quantum Bands made their debut in Fantastic Four #164 in 1975 and Marvel’s history reads as follows:
The Quantum Bands are unique energy-manipulating devices of incredible power that the Cosmic Being Eon awarded to those beings that it appointed to be Protectors of the Universe. The bands served as both instruments of power and symbols of the station of the Protectors.
They have had a few wearers of the bands but I can’t imagine a better character in the MCU than Kamala.
