Marvel films have slowly been building towards their cosmic arm for the last several years. Whether it’s the Kree, Skrulls, or even just Sentient World Observation and Response Division (S.W.O.R.D), Marvel Studios has been laying the foundation to go cosmic for quite some time and we’re finally going to explore the cosmos in full as the MCU pushes forward with their new Kang Saga. One of the first films to set that up will be Nia DaCosta’s upcoming Marvel directorial debut, The Marvels, which serves as the sequel to Captain Marvel starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris.
Larson stars as the titular hero Captain Marvel or Carol Danvers. Teyonah Parris will resume her role as Monica Rambeau AKA Photon and Iman Vellani resumes her role as Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel. At one point in the comics, every single one of these characters has had the name Ms. Marvel, so that’s likely where the title comes from as it’s paying homage to their past and those characters. The film will also include various cast members from WandaVision, Ms. Marvel, and Captain Marvel, including Kamala’s beloved parents and Lashana Lynch’s return as Monica’s mother, Maria Rambeau.
While we don’t know much about the film, what we do know is that the Peak and S.W.O.R.D play a huge role in the film and that Carol’s revenge on the Kree Supreme Intelligence results in unintended chaos around the galaxy and causes all three heroes to see the use of their powers result in a location swap with one of the other heroes. Given that this is only the first trailer, we’ll likely get more information about the film when we get the second and third trailers. For now the focus seems to be on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and the upcoming Secret Invasion story on Disney+, which will no doubt have direct ties to The Marvels. Before we do a small trailer breakdown, if you haven’t seen the new trailer for The Marvels, you can do so by watching the video below.
The trailer opens on the S.A.B.E.R. space station, which is just a stand-in for The Peak from the comics, which was S.W.O.R.D. primary base in rotation around the Earth. S.W.O.R.D. use the station to monitor threats from across the galaxy, but the MCU has seemingly renamed this station to S.A.B.E.R. and I’m sure they’ll explain the initialism in the film. For now, its meaning remains a mystery. This space station is also likely where we saw Fury in the Spider-Man: Far From Home post-credit scene. At the time, he was probably overseeing its construction at that time.
As previously stated, the crux for this film seems to be the three female heroes trying to figure out why using their powers causes them to trade places with each other, all while trying to stop the universe from spinning out of control in the aftermath of the Supreme Intelligence’s demise. We also need to acknowledge Marvel’s insanely lowkey trash-talking at the start of the trailer. Don’t get what I mean? Let me explain.
The song playing at the start of the trailer is none other than the Beastie Boys’ “Intergalactic,” which has the opening lyrics “now don’t you tell me to smile,” which was the major criticism from upset men over the release of a female character. According to those incels, Captain Marvel didn’t smile enough. It was bad enough that the writers and director even included a nod to it in the first film when the biker tells Danvers to smile. Marvel Studios are keeping the trend going with Beastie Boys.
On the space station, Fury sends Rambeau out to check the jump gate when she uses her powers and immediately trades places with Kamala Khan, who freaks out when she sees Fury and asks him if this is an Avengers test or something. From there we see a variety of fighting scenes and various interactions showing the different heroes engaged in different fights and the women popping up in different environments. Carol transports to Kamala’s house. Kamala changes places with Monica and Monica trades places with Carol. All of this happens in front of Kamala’s parents who are trying to figure out what happened to their daughter.
We get brief visual clues on how the characters using their powers initiate the transfer of positions and Carol has a freakout at one point, shouting “not again” as she realizes what’s happening every time she uses her powers. We also see Kamala’s first interaction with Goose, and it’s as amazing as you would hope. She seems both excited and entirely grossed out by Goose, which is perfectly fair if you ask me.
We also get our first shot of Park Seo-joon, a Korean cinema icon, in his first role with Marvel. His character has yet to be named, but there are plenty of people who think they know who he’ll be playing, I’ll leave that up to you to research if you want to spoil it for yourself or not. I don’t think it’s that major and I highly doubt most of you would even know who it is if I named the character, so don’t be too afraid to look into it if you’re curious. His character genuinely seems to be playing one of those characters who seems like a foe at first but then turns out to be a major ally after differences are set aside.
From there we are introduced to the character of Ael-Dan and carries the hammer of an Accuser. If you don’t remember what that is, it was the big ass hammer that Ronin put the Power Stone on in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1. The rumors suggest she’s playing the daughter of Ronin, but we’ll see once the other trailers drop or the film comes out. Either way, we do know she’s one of the primary villains in the film and will be seeking retribution on Carol for her destruction of the Kree’s most sacred object. The title of Accuser is essentially a judge in the world of the Kree and Ael-Dan seems to have this role. Also, she’s wearing something very, very interesting on her right arm. Eagle-eye viewers will know what that object is and how it relates to our heroes.
The last thing we see is a scene where the three heroes are using their powers and transportation abilities in tandem to fight a foe that really looks a lot like Carol Danvers. Who this person is hasn’t been revealed and it’s possible Marvel are using a fake image that will change in the real film, but we see Carol fighting this person so it can’t be Carol. Maybe some sort of shape-shifting alien is trying to kill the team? Maybe perhaps a super powered shape-shifting alien? Who knows.
On the whole, Marvel didn’t release a ton of information in this trailer and that’s because they’re likely trying to keep the attention on their upcoming projects. The studio has mastered the slow release of content such that it enables them to keep fans focused on their current projects while maintaining that excitement for the future releases. There’s more than enough in this trailer by way of smaller items and Easter Eggs that fans should be able to keep busy and even add to it after they see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Secret Invasion. Marvel wouldn’t have it any other way.
