The Marvels

It’s not surprising that Captain Marvel got a sequel. After all, the first female-led movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe earned $1 billion worldwide. Plus, with Ms. Marvel airing on Disney+, they set up a big world around this character.

BRIE LARSON HAD SPECIFIC DEMANDS TO RETURN TO CAPTAIN MARVEL 2

Brie Larson took a hard line with Marvel and refused to return as Captain Marvel unless the studio met a series of extreme demands. Marvel agreed, and those demands were met. Here’s a list of what Brie Larson reportedly wanted…

• Equal pay to Marvel’s male stars, even the ones who might be in bigger franchises with a longer history.
• Top billing in Avengers 5 (making her the de facto new Robert Downey Jr.) and any crossover projects.
• More creative control over her character and the Captain Marvel solo franchise.

It’s not quite the same level of deal that Robert Downey Jr. had with Marvel, but it’s close.

Expect Captain Marvel to become Iron Man’s replacement as Marvel’s marquee character now.

CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 BECAME THE MARVELS

As part of a Marvel Celebrates the Movies video released by the studio, they announced the official new title for the sequel. Captain Marvel 2 was released as The Marvels.

That may sound surprising. Most titles in Marvel series include the title character’s name. Spider-Man: No Way Home, for example.

However, the new title worked with the aforementioned equal billing. The Marvels stars three characters with Marvel in their name: Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau.

IMAN VELLANI IS MS. MARVEL AND WAS INTRODUCED IN THE DISNEY+ SERIES

Ms. Marvel appeaered in Captain Marvel 2 alongside Captain Marvel. The character is played by Iman Vellani who also played Ms. Marvel on the Disney+ Ms. Marvel TV series.

It was a fantastic debut for the actress who took on the role in the hit series. The character was fully aware of Carol Danvers in this universe, even idolizing her before realizing she has powers of her own.

The character is a mutant, something revealed near the end of the season, setting up the introduction of the X-Men in this universe.

Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan was exactly what fans would hope for in this character and she’s set to have a much bigger role in the MCU going forward.

The character is extremely powerful, able to wrangle cosmic energy to her needs.

TEYONNAH PARRIS IS MONICA RAMBEAU

Monica Rambeau is also in the movie, played by Teyonah Parris.

Before that though, Teyonah Parris showed up playing Monica Rambeau in the Disney+ series WandaVision.

She has powers of her own, something that was already briefly explored. And since this is The Marvels after all, she is able to operate on the same level as the other two.

SAMUEL L. JACKSON IS BACK AS NICK FURY

Samuel L. Jackson reprised his Nick Fury role in this movie. Before that, he was seen in Spider-Man: Far From Home.

The post-credits scene for Far From Home showed Nick Fury working on a spaceship somewhere that wasn’t Earth. During this time, Talos impersonated Nick Fury back home on Earth. 

But The Marvels does bring Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury back to Earth. And he appeared in Secret Invasion as well, working him fully back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

NIA DE COSTA DIRECTED WITH A SCRIPT FROM MEGAN MCDONNELL

Work officially began on Captain Marvel 2 on January 22, 2020 when Disney announced they’d hired Megan McDonnell to write the sequel script. McDonnell previously worked on writing the Disney+ series WandaVision, and clearly Disney was happy with her work.

Megan McDonnell did not, however, work on the first Captain Marvel. The first Captain Marvel movie was written by the movie’s directors, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, along with Geneve Robertson-Dworet. None of that original creative team will be involved in Captain Marvel 2.

Candyman reboot director Nia DaCosta was tapped to fill the directing duties for The Marvel.

The first film, Captain Marvel, was directed by the pair of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck and saw the movie pull in a worldwide box office of $1.13 billion. Those were some pretty big shoes for DaCosta to fill.

DaCosta wrote and directed the highly regarded indie Little Woods, which caught producer/director/writer Jordan Peele’s (Get Out, Us) eye.

She was then chosen to co-write, along with Peele, the Candyman reboot, and then was put high on the list to helm Captain Marvel 2, where she eventually got the gig.

DaCosta becomes the fourth woman, and first Black woman, to direct a Marvel Studios production as she follows Boden as well as Chloé Zhao (Eternals) and Cate Shortland (Black Widow) in Marvel Studios’ continued drive towards broader inclusion at the top of their ranks.

DaCosta’s announcement as the director didn’t come without competition, as Jamie Babbit (But I’m A Cheerleader) and Olivia Wilde (Booksmart) were also in the running.

MARVEL WANTS TO HIGHLIGHT ITS FEMALE HEROES

Captain Marvel was a bit of a gamble for Disney. In the past, female-led superhero movies like Elektra or Catwoman, hadn’t done well at the box office.

So it makes sense that they might have been nervous. And according to Avengers star Mark Ruffalo, they were so nervous that Kevin Feige nearly got fired over it.

Ruffalo explains to The Independent, “When we did the first Avengers, Kevin Feige told me, ‘Listen, I might not be here tomorrow.’ [He was going to talk to Disney about the issue of why there were no female superhero movies.] And he’s like, ‘Ike [Isaac Perlmutter, Disney’s largest shareholder at the time] does not believe that anyone will go to a female-starring superhero movie. So if I am still here tomorrow, you will know that I won that battle.’“

Ruffalo goes on to give credit to Feige for even more than that one achievement. He says, “Because Kevin wanted black superheroes, women superheroes, LGBT superheroes. He changed the whole Marvel universe. We now have a gay superhero on the way, we have black superheroes, we have female superheroes – Scarlett Johansson has her movie coming out, we have Captain Marvel, they are doing She-Hulk next. No other studio is being that inclusive on that level. [Smiles] They have to, though. This is the fucking world.“

The problem with Ruffalo’s second statement is that he’s conveniently ignoring the three Blade movies which did huge numbers at the box office long before Kevin Feige got on the scene. (Though we have Marvel’s Blade on the way to look forward to with a reboot.)

He’s also ignoring the popularity of the Avengers, as a huge factor in making it so we have a Black Widow movie.

If what he’s saying is true, though, we definitely do have to give Kevin Feige a lot of credit for Captain Marvel.

CAPTAIN MARVEL 2 FOLLOWED THE EVENTS OF MS. MARVEL

Essentially, things picked up after the events of Ms. Marvel and we had the three leads in Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau. dovetailing because of their powers specifically. The three begin swapping places in the universe every time they use their powers.

THE MARVELS RELEASED IN THEATERS ON NOVEMBER 10, 2023

The original release date for the Captain Marvel sequel was July 8, 2022. This was later changed to November 11, 2022. However, once Disney announced Marvel’s entire post-2021 film schedule — with the sole exception of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 — was being pushed back, The Marvels was once more delayed to November 10, 2023.

It ended up underwhelming at the box office, taking in just a little north of $200 million which was considerably lower than the $275 million gross budget. This, by and large, is considered a box office disaster.