Thanks to Marvel Studios' big show at San Diego Comic Con in July 2022, we know what's coming from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) next. After Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Marvels will show us the following chapter in Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau's arcs while unifying their storylines to create a grander sci-fi adventure.
Phase 5 began in early 2023 with the third Ant-Man movie, which properly introduced the Multiverse Saga's main villain: Kang the Conqueror. Phase 6 won't start before May 2, 2025, with a new Fantastic Four reboot – it has been delayed twice already. While the plans unveiled in summer 2022 were optimistic about the production and release rate of upcoming Marvel movies and shows, internal shakeups at Disney, coupled with the writers and actors strike, have substantially altered the pipeline.
Now that you're up to speed on the current state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and where it's going, read on below to learn about the specifics of The Marvels. And, if you need to catch up with Marvel's theatrical releases, check out our guide of to all of the Marvel movies in order or the best Marvel movies, ranked list.
When is The Marvels release date?
- November 10, 2023
Originally scheduled for July 8 and later November 11, 2022, The Marvels eventually became one of 2023's three Marvel Studios big-screen releases with a February 17 slot. Of course, another strategic calendar shake-up moved it to July 28, 2023, and then finally November 10, 2023, which should now be the definitive day. With Dune 2 officially delayed to 2024, The Marvels' early November slot has become even more attractive for Disney.
How to watch The Marvels
Like everything in the MCU, The Marvels will be available to watch on Disney Plus a few months after it opens in theaters worldwide. If you're not currently signed up to Disney's streaming platform, there are some bundle offers below that are worth checking out for our U.S. readers.
What is the plot of The Marvels?
Although The Marvels' plot is mostly shrouded in secrecy, we can piece together a vague premise for the movie with the bits that have slipped through the cracks and the official previews. Plus, if we take into account the previous events that affected the three leading characters, we're able to take an educated guess at what might happen next.
Brie Larson's Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, showed up twice during Phase 4 of the MCU, and both times her scenes were quick cameos. First up, the Shang-Chi stinger teased a puzzling origin and larger implications for the Ten Rings, seemingly ancient weapons that had Wong, Bruce Banner, and Carol – who's working off-world – scratching their heads about their true source and the signal they appear to be sending out. Fast-forward to Ms. Marvel's post-credits scenes and we have Captain Marvel suddenly swapping places with Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, in a confusing instant.
If we jump over to the Ms. Marvel series and the equally mysterious "magical bangle" that unlocked her mutant abilities, the connection with the Ten Rings is easy to make, since the iconic Ten Rings drawing is seen sculpted inside an ancient temple that hid one of the coveted bangles. Going back to the show's stinger, we can clearly see that Kamala's bangle triggered the teleportation swap of sorts with Carol, or maybe it's the other way around, since we don't know what the latter was up to elsewhere in deep space. As it stands, it appears Ms. Marvel's bangle and the Ten Rings are very much connected and could be important to the larger MCU saga. If they're indeed relics from a past Multiversal War that would translate into a strong link to Kang (this saga's main villain) and his many variants.
Meanwhile, Monica Rambeau, daughter of Maria Rambeau (Carol Danvers' best friend from the Air Force back in the day) and agent of S.W.O.R.D., was affected by the Scarlet Witch's Hex, which temporarily engulfed the town of Westview. As a result, the cells in her body were rewritten, granting her a number of energy-based superpowers. The last we saw of her was in WandaVision's post-credits scene, where she was invited to go to space by a friendly Skrull agent. The most likely option here is that Nick Fury, who's been off-grid and working alongside the Skrulls for a while (see Secret Invasion), is looking for some extra help, especially if Captain Marvel has gone missing or is simply hard to reach.
The officially released synopsis for The Marvels teases that "unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe" and that the wormholes seen in the trailers released so far are linked to a Kree revolutionary and the heroines' powers becoming entangled.
The Marvels trailers
Two trailers have been released for The Marvels so far. The teaser arrived on April 11, 2023, and mostly presented the basic premise of the movie and the vibes that newcomer director Nia DaCosta is going for. Watch it below:
Later, on July 21, 2023, we received a full trailer that gave us a better look at the villain of the movie and explained what's actually happening between the unlikely trio at the center of the story. Check it out here:
The Marvels cast
Actors returning to the MCU are Brie Larson (Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel), Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel), Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Saagar Shaikh (Aamir Khan), Zenobia Shroff (Muneeba Khan), and Mohan Kapoor (Yusuf Khan), among others.
Marvel newcomer Zawe Ashton (Velvet Buzzsaw) was cast as the movie's villain: Dar-Benn. She was joined by Park Seo-joon (The Divine Fury) in an undisclosed role. The rest of the main cast remains a mystery.
The Marvels director, writers, & crew
Nia DaCosta, who made a splash in the mainstream horror scene with her Candyman remake in 2019, is directing The Marvels from a script by herself, WandaVision scribe Megan McDonnell, Loki staff writer Elissa Karaski, and comic book veteran Zeb Wells.
Oscar-nominated cinematographer Sean Bobbitt has replaced veteran Marvel Studios DP Ben Davis behind the cameras. The movie's production design was led by Candyman's Cara Brower, with costume designs by Lindsay Pugh (The Matrix Resurrections). As for the original soundtrack, it's been composed by Laura Karpman, who already scored Ms. Marvel and the animated What If…? series for Marvel Studios which you can find on Disney Plus.
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