On Friday, November 10, 2023, The Marvels is scheduled to arrive in theaters. The next big-screen entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is a sequel to several preceding movies and shows. But never fear, True Believers: here’s everything to remember for The Marvels!
Captain Marvel
While 2019’s Captain Marvel was released between 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, it’s set in the 1990s, earlier on the timeline than most MCU movies and shows. This movie introduced Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), a pilot for the United States Air Force who was abducted by the Kree after being exposed to the energy of the Tesseract, an Infinity Stone. Stricken with amnesia, Danvers couldn’t remember who she was or where she had come from.
However, over the course of the movie, Danvers connects with both her past and the immense power given to her by the Stone’s energy. She travels back to Earth and meets a young Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), then an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Danvers also reconnects with her close friend and fellow pilot Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), and Maria’s daughter, Monica (Akira Akbar).
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While on Earth, Danvers and Fury uncover a Skrull invasion. Although initially an antagonist, Skrull warrior Talos (Ben Mendelsohn) eventually became an ally to our heroes. This was thanks in part to the identification of a common enemy: the Kree Empire. Fortunately, Danvers was able to use her superpowers to repel both an alien attack on Earth and Yon-Rogg (Jude Law), the operative charged with keeping her under Kree control.
At the conclusion of Captain Marvel, Danvers is shown to be leaving Earth. This is so as to help Talos and the rest of the Skrulls find a new home. Meanwhile, Goose stays with Fury. Although Goose appears to be a housecat, he is actually a Flerken, an alien creature with a voracious appetite. Goose is revealed to be responsible for Fury’s scarred eye and eyepatch. At the conclusion of the movie, Fury gives Danvers a modified pager.
The Infinity Saga
While Danvers isn’t direction mentioned again until Infinity War, she casts a long shadow over the entire Infinity Saga. This is because Captain Marvel shows how Danvers inspired Fury to create the Avengers in the first place. He even borrowed the name from her old military call sign, “Avenger.” The events of 2012’s The Avengers show how Fury saved Earth from the Chitauri invasion during the Battle of New York by adopting the same strategy used by Danvers to repel an extraterrestrial invasion in Captain Marvel.
Danvers doesn’t appear in Infinity War. However, the snap of Thanos (Josh Brolin) causes half of life in the universe to be extinguished at the climax of the movie. In a mid-credits scene for Infinity War, this is shown to include Fury. However, Fury uses the pager to contact Danvers before he turns to dust. In a mid-credits scene for Captain Marvel, Danvers is shown to arrive at Avengers HQ in response to the activated pager. In the opening act of Endgame, Danvers is responsible for rescuing Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Nebula (Karen Gillan) from where they are stranded in deep space.
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Danvers continues to work with the team throughout Endgame, providing support in Cosmic arenas while the Avengers are occupied with the situation on Earth. However, she does participate in the climactic battle against Thanos in upstate New York. During the battle, the Avengers overcome Thanos and reverse the effects of his Infinity Gauntlet snap. Reversing the snap means that those who turned to dust at the conclusion of Infinity War are restored to life.
Monica’s Westview Weirdness
As confirmed by 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, these individuals returned to exactly the same location where they were when the snap occurred. And while five years passed during “The Blip,” these “blipped” individuals did not age during the half-decade they were absent.
Photo: Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
WandaVision on Disney+ is set in the wake of the Blip. It reveals that Monica (Teyonah Parris) was among those blipped. When the snap occurred, Monica was working for S.W.O.R.D., which was then led by her mother, Maria. However, during the five years of the Blip, Maria died. After returning to life, Monica resumed work for S.W.O.R.D. This led her to work alongside F.B.I. agent Jimmy Woo (Randall Park) and Doctor Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) when the Hex was cast by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) in Westview, New Jersey.
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Monica entered the Hex and was cast as a character in several episodes of Wanda’s “sitcom.” Monica only intended to help Wanda. Nevertheless, Wanda banished Monica from the Hex when the S.W.O.R.D. agent’s identity and intentions were revealed.
Monica was advised not to re-enter the Hex. This was because of the potential that such an act would alter her on a molecular level. However, Monica’s desire to help Wanda motivated her to re-enter nevertheless. As a result, Monica gained strange new abilities. She uses these abilities to protect Wanda’s family during the climax of WandaVision‘s series finale. In a mid-credits scene for WandaVision, an agent summons Monica to the Westview movie theater. There, she reveals herself to be a Skrull and recruits Monica to work in space alongside Fury.
Ms. Marvel’s Disney+ Adventures
Meanwhile, the origin story of Ms. Marvel, a.k.a. Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) took place in 2022’s Ms. Marvel on Disney+. Khan was a high school student and a fan of Captain Marvel. But after finding a bangle passed down from her great-grandmother in the attic, Khan gains the ability to use energy from the Noor Dimension.
Photo: Disney+.
Over the course of Ms. Marvel, Khan learns how to manipulate these powers and steps into the role of the titular hero. Furthermore, as revealed in a mid-credits scene for Ms. Marvel‘s season finale, the bangle also seems to activate Khan’s dormant mutant genes.
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The exact nature of the bangle is currently shrouded in mystery. However, it may have a connection to the powerful rings from 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. In the post-credits scene for that movie, Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) made a deep-space call to Danvers and determined the eponymous rings were sending a signal to deep space. Could the ring-shaped tech used by Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania also be related?
Fury’s Secret Invasion
Photo by Gareth Gatrell. © 2023 MARVEL.
And in 2023’s Secret Invasion, Fury’s post-Infinity Saga exploits are revealed. Traumatized by the blip, Fury retreated to space, where he worked more closely with Skrull forces than his former human allies. However, he is forced to return to Earth when a faction of Skulls grows disillusioned with the three-decades-old unfulfilled promise made by Fury and Danvers to find the refugee Skrulls a new planet to call their own.
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During the events of the series, Talos is killed. However, his daughter, G’iah (Emilia Clarke), steps up as a leader for Earth’s Skrulls after she defeats the Skrull rebel leader, Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir). Secret Invasion also reveals that Fury is married to a Skrull, Varra (Charlayne Woodard). At the conclusion of Secret Invasion, Fury and Varra return to an unrevealed destination in space. But judging by the first trailer for The Marvels, their destination may be the S.A.B.E.R. Space Station.
You can stream all the MCU shows and movies mentioned above on Disney+.
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