YMMV / The Marvels (2023)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • While Dar-Benn likely does target the planets she does for resources because they're ones that will hurt Carol with the damage caused, is she also thinking in terms of those planets providing the best possible resources to save Hala though and thus approaching the situation from a far more intelligent perspective than expected? She clearly loves her home planet and is wanting to do whatever it takes to save it. Also, while she ultimately chooses Revenge Before Reason in her desire to get the bands and save Hala herself, would it still definitely be understandable that Dar-Benn has no reason to think that anything Carol does for Hala can help it and that due to the damage she already caused in the first place that she's not worthy of Dar-Benn's trust for that reason as well?
  • Although it is more than obvious that Carol has no feelings for Prince Yan, what are his feelings? Does he only see Carol as a friend, or is he actually in love with her?
• Awesome Music: The trailer music, which remixes "Intergalactic" by Beastie Boys, does a great job at boosting the dramatic beats of the song and building a lot of hype for the snippets of action we see.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • While it endangers Hala and is also not given any kind of special fanfare either, seeing Carol track down the Supreme Intelligence and then proceed to blast it to smithereens is a satisfying moment to say the least.
  • Carol restoring Hala's sun also counts. While Dar-Benn doesn't live to see it, her desire and drive to save her home planet is still fulfilled nonetheless.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Flerkens swallowing people alive en masse is pretty horrific, and the fact that it’s the only way to safely evacuate the S.A.B.E.R. station does little to mitigate that. However, setting the montage of Flerkens swallowing people en masse to "Memory" from Cats and a PA system actually telling the scientists to let themselves be devoured is downright hysterical.
• Continuity Lockout: The movie itself does not suffer from this, as Monica and Kamala are effectively introduced within the film and quickly sum up every plot-relevant detail of their characters at the beginning, thus anyone who hasn't watched the relevant Disney+ shows can still follow the story... but the perception among general audiences that this would happen is thought to be a significant part of the movie's financial underperformance.
• Franchise Original Sin: Nick Fury's characterization in this film has received criticism from some viewers, with the focal point being that he acts far sillier and less competent than a super spy of his caliber should be, particularly with his fawning over Goose. In truth, Fury's personality isn't all that different from how he was depicted in Captain Marvel, where he was shown to be very in over his head regarding what he was getting into regarding Carol, the Kree and the Skrulls. This wasn't an issue for fans at the time because Fury was much younger and inexperienced as a government agent, and hadn't built up his reputation as one of the scariest and most paranoid man on the planet. Seeing him revert to his personality from Captain Marvel in this film was far less welcome, especially coming off the heels of the much maligned Secret Invasion.
• I Knew It!: After the trailers featured Monica observing "another reality bleeding into ours", a lot of fans began speculating that it would be the X-Men universe, especially with the next scheduled MCU film being Deadpool 3 (not to mention the fact that Kamala has already been revealed to be a Mutant). Then in the "What Comes Next" promo, when the phrase fades from the screen, the 'x' in "next" lingers on the screen, which was taken as a hint to the X-Men. The Stinger confirms they were right.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Kamala being an Adorkable Ascended Fangirl around Carol, Fury, and Monica is the real draw of the film for some prospective viewers. This is helped of course by Iman Vellani's infectiously energetic performance.
  • Some are only interested in the film for The Stinger confirming the X-Men in the MCU, and by extension Kelsey Grammer's cameo as Beast. It quickly became the film's Signature Scene despite not being part of its main plot.
    • Same thing applies to the reappearance of Kate Bishop, confirming the formation of the Young Avengers.
• Les Yay:
  • Valkyrie's brief appearance provided rocket fuel for those who shipped her with Carol, as the two shared a rather intimate hug and Valkyrie kisses Carol on the cheek as she prepares to leave with the Skrull refugees with a promise to see each other soon.
  • This movie also continues the romantic subtext between Carol and Maria:
    • Several flashbacks in the Skrull device showing that Maria features prominently in Carol's memories. One in particular shows Carol rather upset by a request from Maria to take care of Goose and in denial about Maria's cancer prognosis.
    • The way Carol and Monica react to each other during their reunion has a tension similar to that of a deadbeat parent returning after being away for a long time. Monica calling out Carol for her extended absence has shades of Calling the Old Woman Out as well, although in the end she regards Carol as family.
    • At the end of the movie, Carol even moves some of her things into the Rambeau house when the Khans move in.
  • Some of Kamala's reactions to Carol seem to go a bit beyond fan worship. For a start, the fanfiction she's writing makes a point that Carol needs to carry her in her arms since Ms. Marvel can't fly. Then there is the way she says "Oh Captain, my Captain!", which could be interpreted as romantic.
  • In this deleted scene, Valkyrie mishears Ms. Marvel as Mrs. Marvel and assumes that she and Carol are married, which Kamala gets flustered about while correcting her. Kamala's ramble also ends with her declaring to Valkyrie that she's single.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "Stop touching strange walls!" ^ExplanationSome people have pointed out that the events of this film seem to kick off with Monica touching a mysterious glowing barrier in space - and she gained powers after she did something similar in Wandavision, leading to jokes that she's made a habit of touching things she shouldn't. This is even lampshaded in the movie itself, with Fury explicitly telling Carol to not touch anything glowy and mysterious after she starts swapping places with Kamala and Monica.
  • Brie Larson's bra ^ExplanationA shot in the trailer◊ that features Carol wearing a very flattering white tank top led to both a lot of thirst and a lot of women asking where they could get whatever bra Brie Larson was wearing in that shot that made her breasts look that good. Larson eventually revealed that the bra was custom-made (specifically, a Chantelle Lingerie t-shirt bra with an extra strap stitched in) and praised costume designer Rebecca Higgins for her efforts.
• Salvaged Story:
  • Carol's desertion of Earth for over 30 years was seen as a weak Hand Wave for her absence in the overall MCU up until now, with many people expressing grievance with how her actions seemed callous in the grand scheme of things. In this film, Monica explicitly calls her out for ignoring her for so many years of her life, and Carol herself explains her absence: having destroyed the Supreme Intelligence and indirectly caused the Kree Civil War which resulted in the planet’s resources drying up, Carol was ashamed of her actions and felt like she didn't deserve to return home until after she fixed it herself.
  • Maria Rambeau dying of cancer offscreen in WandaVision was treated as little more than an afterthought in the show, with Monica only bringing up the grief she has as a way of helping Wanda and not dealing with her own trauma. This movie addresses both Monica and Carol's feelings about losing Maria, and it helps them forge a stronger relationship after the falling out that was implied to have happend in WandaVision.
  • In general, this film helps explain some Early-Installment Weirdness regarding the Kree Empire in Guardians of the Galaxy, and why they haven't been an active threat since The '90s despite how strong and formidable they were as a space military force. The Supreme Intelligence's destruction completely fractured Kree society and made their influence far less prevalent, thus explaining their lack of focus throughout the Infinity Saga.
  • After having many younger heroes introduced into the MCU without any indication that they would ever encounter or get to work with one another, Kamala is shown meeting up with Kate Bishop near the end of the movie and inviting her to join a team she’s putting together, finally setting the stage for the Young Avengers to come into formation.
• Spiritual Adaptation: Seeing as how both properties follow blonde, female Captain Space, Defender of Earth! hybrids who travel the galaxy in custom spaceships, protecting the innocent, exploring bizarre alien planets and keeping dangerous alien creatures as pets, The Marvels works very well as a Metroid movie.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Dar-Benn was this for some. While she's positioned as an extremist with sympathetic motives, as she blames Captain Marvel's actions for the crumbling of her civilization and the devastation of her home world, the film barely delves into her character beyond that.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: The bombshell reveal that Carol killed the Supreme Intelligence, which resulted in a Kree civil war, is nothing more than a brief bit of backstory meant to explain why Carol didn't come back to Earth.
• Unexpected Character:
  • After one of the Skrulls' refugee planets is destroyed by Dar-Benn and the Kree, Carol contacts a friend to help the surviving Skrulls find a new home: Valkyrie.
  • The last scene before the stinger features a follow-up to Hawkeye with the appearance of Kate Bishop, whom nobody expected to see in a more cosmically-oriented film like this one.
  • The stinger features an appearance from a familiar-looking, blue, furry mutant by the name of Doctor Hank McCoy, otherwise known as Beast, and reprised by none other than Kelsey Grammer himself, signaling a return of the X-Men.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Triggering the Kree civil war by killing the Supreme Intelligence is a source of shame for Carol but it's pretty hard to feel any sympathy when their civilisation is portrayed as a band of conquering space Nazis, and when they were the ones to destroy their own planet in the aftermath.
  • Monica guilt-tripping Carol for staying away from Earth and saying "you were needed here" seems kind of unreasonable and entitled given that she's a cosmic superheroine and that Monica was a fully grown adult when her mother died so it's not like Carol's absence meant she had to grow up alone.

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