What To Watch Before ‘The Marvels’

We are less than a month from the theatrical release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next installment, The Marvels. On November 10, Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), and Photon/Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) will join forces. Of course, Carol’s Flerken, Goose, will be with them as well. The movie’s core premise is that this trio of heroes get tangled up anytime they use their powers. It’s causing a problem since, when their powers boot up, they swap places with one of the other two.

In the trailer, Captain Marvel goes from fighting alongside Goose in space to standing in Ms. Marvel’s bedroom back on Earth, and the unsuspecting Ms. Marvel is suddenly going head-to-head against bad guys next to an alien cat who releases tentacles from its mouth. In the end, the trio must come together to form a new (found family) team and battle the villains in space until they can fix their power crossover. Since this brings movie together three heroes already established in the MCU, it’s the perfect time to catch up on their stories so far.

Captain Marvel (2019)

Captain Marvel is technically an origin story for The Marvels’ Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau. Set in the 1990s, Captain Marvel returns to Earth to unlock her memories. She’s been fighting aliens in space for the last few years, completely unaware of her true identity. After a Kree-sanctioned mission gone wrong, she finds her way to her Maria Rambeau on Earth and figures out she is not a Kree soldier but Carol Danvers, a pilot in the American Air Force. Maria and Carol were best friends (and maybe more) before an accident with an alien reactor resulted in Carol’s amnesia and superhero makeover. Monica, Maria’s young daughter, sees Carol almost as a parental figure. Even though Carol has been gone for years, Monica and Carol are still very close during the events of Captain Marvel.

If you want to know more about what Carol Danvers was up to in the MCU after Captain Marvel, be sure to watch Avengers: Endgame as well.

WandaVision (2021)

WandaVision takes place after the events of Avengers: Endgame. The series follows Wanda Maximoff, a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch, on her journey of grief as she takes over an entire town and changes reality so she and Vision can live in her television fantasies—hey, at least she’s trying to process things. In response, the secret government agency known as S.W.O.R.D., which was founded by Maria Rambeau, isolated the town. They send in a fully grown Monica Rambeau, just back from the Blip, to see how Wanda is controlling everything and how to save the townspeople who are trapped inside, as Wanda has erected a magical barrier around the town. Going through that barrier causes Monica to gain superpowers.

Ms. Marvel (2022)

The Ms. Marvel show on Disney+ is fantastic. Everyone should watch it, but doubly so now since that is where we first meet Kamala Khan. She is an average teen fangirl who a lot of the audience can probably relate to on some level. Her absolute hero is Captain Marvel. After wearing an antique-looking bangle sent to her by her grandma, Kamala realizes she also has powers. She goes on a journey to figure out just what her abilities are. When she picks her superhero alter ego name, she gives a nod to her favorite Avenger and calls herself Ms. Marvel. It is in an end credits scene from this show that we first see a hint of what’s to come in The Marvels.

(featured image: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)