Nia DaCosta knows not everyone will have watched Secret Invasion, Ms. Marvel, and WandaVision prior to seeing The Marvels, so she did what any co-writer-director would do in that situation... She set out to confuse audiences more.
Over the years, much has been made of the fact that Marvel titles are becoming increasingly more linked, which can sometimes mean that if you're not up to date with every outing, you might not understand what's going on in a newer picture. Given the upcoming sequel's zany premise, DaCosta chose to lean into that feeling instead of trying to spoon-feed viewers and cram it full of clunky exposition...
Starring Iman Vellani, Teyonah Parris, and Brie Larson, The Marvels is set almost 30 years after the events of Captain Marvel, and sees Kamala Khan, Monica Rambeau, and Carol Danvers forced to form an unlikely team when their light-based powers become inexplicably entangled.
"I definitely wanted, because they're so disoriented with the switching, for people to be inside of their experience," she tells 12DOVE ahead of the 33rd MCU movie's release. "I wanted it to be very subjective; and each of them is doing very different things when the switching starts so, yeah, I wanted it to feel as jarring for the audience as it is for them."
As vengeful Kree warrior Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) creates chaos and conflict across the cosmos, as she tries to find a new homeland for her people, the titular trio must work together – alongside Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Goose, of course – to save the universe. Easier said than done when every time they use their powers, they don't know whether they're going to stay put, or wind up in a spaceship, a living room in Jersey City, or someplace else entirely.
While Captain Marvel has been seen on the big screen before, in Avengers: Endgame and briefly Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Kamala, also known as Ms. Marvel, and Monica, who has yet to adopt a codename at the start of The Marvels (much to Kamala's dismay) have yet to make the jump from the small screen.
In WandaVision, Monica, the human daughter of Carol's best friend Maria, found herself with superpowers after being exposed to Scarlet Witch's Hex – though she's yet to really embrace them, and has instead joined Fury's human-Skrull aerospace defense organization S. A. B. E. R. Throughout Ms. Marvel's six-episode run, Kamala Khan learned she was a mutant, which is the reason she didn't die after she was exposed to the Inhuman mutagen known as the Terrigen Mist.
In the miniseries' finale, fans were baffled when Kamala went to use her power-refining bangle and was seemingly turned into Carol. Now we know, however, that the pair swapped places, thanks to The Marvels picking up right where the show left off...
"They have a whole history before this," DaCosta, who penned The Marvels' script with Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik, continues. "We have Ms. Marvel, the TV show, Captain Marvel, WandaVision, and it was kind of a constant negotiation to figure out, ‘Okay, how much information do people need? It was a real trial and error.
"We don't want people to have to watch anything else but, of course, you also have to be honest and be like, 'This is the [33rd] project in this universe. It's sort of a sequel to five different things. So at a certain point, you have to just be like, ‘Okay, yeah, there are some things that we can't get in here, but it'll be fun.'"
The Marvels releases in UK and US cinemas on November 10. Keep your eyes peeled later this week for the full interview on the Inside Total Film podcast.
For more right now, check out the full list of upcoming Marvel movies. Or, if you need to catch up beforehand, you'll need our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.
