This morning we got our first look at The Marvels, and our first inkling of just how Kamala Khan, Monica Rambeau, and Carol Danvers will be thrust together. But this first trailer also gives us some very intriguing hints about the current state of the MCU’s cosmic side — at least, a little closer to home than what we’ll see in Guardians 3 in a few weeks. Here’s everything we spotted.
Put Down the SWORD and the SHIELD, and Raise a SABER
The trailer begins in Earth’s orbit, and reveals another weapon-based acronym-named mystery organisation has joined the MCU: SABER, which is not an entity in the comics. We’re not given a meaning for the acronym just yet, but SABER appears to be a merging of the ashes of SHIELD, which has been long gone as a major entity in the MCU since the events of The Winter Soldier, and SWORD, which was introduced as its replacement in WandaVision. The appearance of Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) working together suggests that the events of WandaVision and what’s to come in Secret Invasion have led to another new organisation being created out of both halves of the MCU’s former super-investigative groups.
The Peak
SABER might not exist in the comics, but its main base is a visual homage to SWORD’s primary base in the comics, called the Peak. First introduced in 2005’s Astonishing X-Men, the Peak was Abigail Brand’s main base of operations in various forms, as SWORD and the Peak itself got blown up and rebuilt multiple times over. Most recently the Peak has been under the control of the mutant sovereign nation Krakoa in the comics before being destroyed yet again, but it looks like the SABER base is going to offer the movie’s own spin on things.
Monica, You Gotta Stop Touching Things
Fury observes Monica as she goes out to investigate a nearby Jump Point over Earth, which is giving off strange readings. Jump Points were introduced in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies as the intergalactic exit and entry points of the Universal Neural Teleportation Network, and are most common seen in the usage of the Kree Empire’s military forces to travel around the cosmos. One being near Earth isn’t anything new — the Avengers used one in Endgame to go visit Thanos post-snap — but something is apparently off with it now.
Cosmic Switcheroo
Whatever it is, or perhaps it’s just Monica’s new superpowers interacting with the Point, upon touching it (you’d think she’d learn after WandaVision) Monica is teleported away and replaced in her own spacesuit by a very frightened, and then very excited, Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel’s Iman Vellani).
The Kree Return
Wherever Monica is shot out to, she’s a) all right aside from a scrape from her landing, and b) immediately attacked by Kree soldiers. Like in Captain Marvel we see the Kree forces as a mix of both blue-skinned Kree like their comics counterparts, and other species integrated into the Empire, the way Carol was in that movie. Although the new uniform is starkly different to what we’ve seen before, the new helmet takes a more direct inspiration from the Kree warrior uniforms from the comics too, with the more pronounced fin in comparison to the suits seen in Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel’s Biggest Fan
Whatever happens to Monica and Kamala also happens to Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), as we cut to an extended version of Ms. Marvel’s post-credit scene, which was directed by The Marvels’ Nia DaCosta during production of the film. She is not pleased to be in a room dedicated to her by her biggest fan.
Entangled Powers
Fury and Monica, now back on Earth, arrive at the Khan household, much to Kamala’s delight, as Monica explains that, somehow, the powers that she, Kamala, and Carol possess have been entangled by the Jump Point: whenever one of them uses their abilities, they swap places with each other.
Spectrum, Revealed (Or Is It Photon?)
There’s more to it than that though, as voiceover from Monica begins to explain her own recently discovered powers to Kamala — an ability to “manipulate light energy,” which is a distinctly mild way of describing Monica’s abilities in the comics. There, where she has gone through many code names — including the first female Captain Marvel, Pulsar, Spectrum, and Photon — Monica’s energy abilities let her convert her physical form into any form of energy on the electromagnetic spectrum, making her an incredibly powerful hero. Blasts, strength, flight, light manipulation, energy absorption and manipulation, superspeed, intangibility, power enhancement… you name it, Monica can probably figure out a way to do it.
We don’t see that full spectrum (sorry, not sorry) on display here, but interestingly we do see the intangibility on display when what looks like a Kree warrior — note the gloves and the weapon, which we see elsewhere used by Kree in the trailer — attacks her in Kamala’s house, trying and failing to pin her to the Khan family dinner table. Rude!
Switcheroo Central
As the explanation of the situation to the Khans continues, a too-eager Kamala activates her powers to show off to Fury — and of course, she teleports away, replaced by a mid-leap Carol who smashes into the aforementioned dinner table. Ruder!
Goose!
As Monica explains to a confused Carol what’s going on, we cut to where Kamala jumped — a Kree starship that Carol was seemingly assaulting, as not only are there angry Kree warriors running around the place, Goose the Flerken is there too, revealing quickly to Ms. Marvel that he’s more than just a cat. Rudest! But we’ll allow it.
The Proper Way to Use a Jump Point
Now all in one place together, and aboard a starship (perhaps Carol’s own, but why would she need one when she can just zip through space? Maybe it belongs to SABER?), we see Monica, Kamala, and Carol fly through one of the Jump Points, this time sans shenanigans.
Monica Suits Up
As we quickly cut to an alien world, we see Monica properly suited up in a Captain Marvel-style riff on one of her classic comics jumpsuits, ready to blast someone.
Kamala Dances…
Aboard the SABER base with Fury and in her Ms. Marvel costume, we briefly see Kamala gracefully weaving around what appears to be a Kree soldier attacking them both. So between this and a Kree attacking Monica in the Khan household earlier in the trailer, is something with their teleportation entanglement also bringing a Kree along for the ride too?
… And So Does Carol
Meanwhile, on what is presumably the alien world where we saw Monica earlier, a confused Carol finds herself in colourful garb surrounded by a crowd of dancers. In the wide shot we also see Monica in the crowd, so this might not be a switcheroo sitch… eroo.
SABER’s Under New Management
Back on the SABER base, Nick Fury shouts at a crowd of SABER staff to get its shields up, so presumably stuff is going sideways. But, interesting of note as this’ll be post-Secret Invasion: SABER’s staff is seemingly entirely human, and there’s not a single Skrull in sight. We know Secret Invasion will see an ideological divide split the shapechanging race into warring factions, but it looks like whatever happens, the Skrulls are going to be out of Fury’s picture seemingly entirely.
Who Are You, Park Seo-joon?
Back on what looks like that same alien world from earlier, we see a mysterious figure rally a crowd of ornately armoured guards to charge. This character, whoever they are, is played by Park Seo-joon, a South Korean actor known for his TV roles there (and a cameo in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite). The Marvels is one of his first major Hollywood film roles, but is he friend or foe?
Baby Flerken?
Back on SABER, a crowd of kitties races down some steps. Sweet! But what’s not so sweet is that Captain Marvel has taught us a cat’s looks can be deceiving. Is this a flock of Flerken let loose, perhaps?
A New Accuser
Back to that same alien world, the Kree assemble around a new figure — Zawe Ashton’s mysterious new character. While we don’t know her specific identity or if she’s based on a Kree character from the comics, it seems that Ashton is playing a new member of the Kree Accuser Corps, the military police force that counted Ronan the Accuser among its numbers, as she’s wielding one of the Accuser’s iconic comics weapons, the Universal Weapon, also known as the Cosmi-rod.
New Costumes for Everybody
The first actual shot we see of Carol, Kamala, and Monica teamed up for action together is very interesting. We get to see Monica’s gear a little more, but we also see new outfits for Kamala — which is very much in line with her current Ms. Marvel look, but with white accents and a little more arm padding — and for Carol, who already has a different look from her “rolled up sleeves” seen earlier in the trailer.
And it’s a very interesting one indeed. The costume’s darker colours and larger golden starburst all bring it in line with the main Captain Marvel costume worn by the original hero to bear that mantle in the comics, Genis-Vell, albeit sans the full face mask.
The Other Noor Bangle
A final intriguing action sequence sees Kamala, Monica, and Carol going toe-to-toe with Ashton’s new Accuser, swapping around with each other after seemingly honing their abilities’ entanglement, and with Carol even striking at her foe with her own Cosmi-rod.
But what’s very interesting is that we get a better look here at Ashton’s other weapon… the second Noor bangle of the pair we saw in Ms. Marvel, the djinn artefact that infused with Kamala’s x-gene to give her her cosmic powers. How did a Kree get their hands on it, and why?
Not a Team… Yet
The trailer ends back aboard the spaceship we saw the trio on earlier, as Kamala excitedly asks if this makes them a team. Monica and Carol quickly shut her down, even as she remains gleeful, but c’mon. It’s called The Marvels. You know where this is going.