What’s going on at Marvel Studios? Since the end of the Thanos arc and the departure of its major characters, the empire founded by Kevin Feige is crumbling. Between the public’s now obvious weariness of superhero films and productions that go in all directions, Disney’s goose that lays the golden eggs is no more. The alarm has already been sounded and things are being changed within the MCU for future productions, but in the meantime, we need to release the films that were filmed during the pandemic. After Thor Love & Thunder and Ant-Man Quantumania, it’s the turn of The Marvels to close a slightly too light state of mind imposed by specifications written by Kevin Feige himself. But this time, it’s probably the last straw…
Let’s get into the heart of the subject ! What’s wrong with The Marvels? Lots of things, way too many things. And it is obvious that internally, at Marvel and at Disney, we quickly realized this. With a critical embargo on release day at 9:30 a.m., Marvel and Disney already knew that The Marvels was going to get a bad rap. And then, we recently saw how Nia DaCosta, the director, distanced herself from the film last week, saying that it was above all a producer’s film, Kevin Feige’s film. Generally, when artists start to no longer defend their film, it’s because there’s something fishy going on. It must be said that The Marvels already leaves with a small handicap, namely its name. Officially, it is the sequel to Captain Marvel, but in reality, the film’s function is to continue the adventures of Kamala Khan (Miss Marvel) and Monica Rambeau (WandaVision), two characters from Disney+ series with totally different atmospheres. different.
If WandaVision was praised by the press and viewers at the start of 2021, this was not particularly the case for Miss Marvel a year and a half later. It must be said that in terms of the proposal, it was night and day. Teenager atmosphere for Miss Marvel, a character not very well known and who only appeared very recently in comic books (2012), we might as well tell you that in terms of popularity, it is not a panacea. But Kevin Feige’s plans for this character in the MCU go beyond all that, and are above all much more important than the Captain Marvel license. It’s quite paradoxical when we know that the first film with Brie Larson generated more than 1.1 billion dollars at the box office, although it is one of the least appreciated films in the MCU. Because yes, we must not lose sight of the fact that this incredible performance was due to the good timing of release, since the film arrived between Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame, also introducing one of the most powerful characters in Marvel, the one who could potentially take down Thanos and his army in no time. However, we saw what it gave in Avengers Endgame afterwards, namely a direct left from Thanos (helped by an infinity stone) and then to sleep, the character of Captain Marvel was not very useful. thing in the end…
Marvel and Kevin Feige don’t know what to do with the character of Captain Marvel, it’s pretty obvious. If she keeps her original powers from the comic books, she has no equivalence in the MCU, she crushes anyone. So, as with the Hulk character, the trick is to reduce his powers so that the stakes are reduced and almost more human in size. And unfortunately, in The Marvels, she has a hard time establishing herself in the film. Already because she must share the poster with Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau, two characters who must be reintroduced in case the public has not watched the series Miss Marvel and WandaVision on Disney +. So, we have to do a short intro to understand who Kamala Khan is, integrate a scene to also explain who Monica Rambeau is, and to remind us who Carol Denvers is too. We’re not close to that anymore… Even though the film is short (1h45, the shortest film in the MCU), losing so many precious minutes doesn’t help the film.
And then the scenario too… You’ve seen it in the different trailers, but to make the 3 superheroes coexist, they set up a sort of uncontrolled teleportation which means that one takes the place of the other, without knowing why, regardless of where they are located in the galaxy. It’s nice in the first fighting scene, especially since it’s not that bad in terms of direction, but after 1h45 of film, we want to move on to something else and not just we continue to impose these untimely teleportations on us. We also try to create an emotional connection between the 3 characters and the viewer, but it never works. We also try to clumsily justify the absence of Captain Marvel in the MCU and with Monica Rambeau by a really not credible script pirouette. No clearly, we wonder if the character of Carol Danvers still matters to Kevin Feige…
MUSIC, YES MUSIC!
Marvel’s other madness when it is necessary to discredit a character who is too powerful is to deride him, even ridicule him. They have already done it with Hulk in Avengers Endgame then the She-Hulk series, but also with Thor, also in Endgame then in Love & Thunder, well, it is now Carol Denvers turn to pass for the clown of service. And that’s where I’m going to activate the “spoiler alert” tag, so if you don’t want to know absolutely anything, skip this passage, advance the video, otherwise stay with me, because in reality, even when I’m going to describe it to you the scene, you won’t believe me, it’s so surreal. So basically, The Marvels turns into a musical comedy for the duration of a sequence. But not just any musical, one that references Disney cartoons, princess mode and all, with prince charming and all. Basically, Carol, Kamala and Monica arrive on the planet Aladna where a people live who communicate only by singing. Talking there is singing and it turns out that Carol Denvers is married to Prince Yan from Aladna, played in the film by Korean actor Park Seo-joon, who we saw in Parasite. Yes, you read correctly, the film turns into a musical, with Carole Danvers changing her costume into a princess dress, but still with the colors of her jumpsuit. It sings, it dances, the colors are garish and we can hear the unease setting in. Even Brie Larson doesn’t believe in this scene. The kind of crazy ideas that recall the controversial ending of She-Hulk where we learned that the big guy of the story was KEVIN, a robot equipped with an AI, who had the power to change events of the series, all against the backdrop of a broken 4th wall.
Very clearly, this scene is the residue of the dark period of Marvel Studios which no longer knew what to invent to stand out and amuse the gallery. Since then, we have seen that the MCU has declined, that films and series are rewritten, reshot, that we are moving towards productions with a darker atmosphere. Because I also remind you that The Marvels was filmed in 2021 and that there were 4 weeks of reshoots, undoubtedly to catch up on certain things, and improve the quality of the special effects. Besides, from this point of view, The Marvels is doing well. The VFX are pretty cool overall. There are still a few green screen shots that are burnt out, but overall, it looks good. Kevin Feige did well to postpone the film by 6 months. On the other hand, for the rest, it’s complicated and I have to tell you about the antagonist of the film. It’s Dar-Benn, played on screen by actress Zawe Ashton who I didn’t know. Well how can I tell you… No charisma, not credible as the main villain, and apart from grimacing in an exaggerated way, he doesn’t give off anything, especially not fear. We are on the equivalent of Ronan the Accuser, but in a wish version, without danger and undoubtedly one of the most explosive villains of the MCU. How is it possible to propose such an antagonist, with such limited powers when we have Captain Marvel in front? It’s quite incomprehensible…
SPOILER ALERT!
We’re going to talk about the post-credits scenes of the film, because it’s important. Technically, there is only one, the one at mid-credits, but in reality, there are two, since the first was placed at the end of the film, just before the first credits and which is there to announce the arrival of the Young Avengers. We already knew it more or less, but it’s confirmed since we see Kamala Khan announcing to Kate Bishop that she wants to create a superhero team, using Nick Fury’s words. So here we are, here we come. No doubt older spectators will not be interested in the teen atmosphere of Young Avengers, but it is difficult not to understand Marvel Studios’ choices to appeal to young audiences, who will continue to grow with the MCU on the Another 10 years to come. Comic book veterans are making us wait longer for the sequel which is also teased in the post-credits scene, namely the introduction of the X-Men, since we see for the first time Dr. Henry McCoy, who does not is other than Beast, and which appears here in full computer-generated images. The result is quite clean and really different from what we have seen so far. The character is very tall, very strong and above all he seems credible. And in fact, if we see him, it’s because he has just taken in Monica Rambeau, trapped in a parallel universe, the Multiverse. She wakes up, sees her mother, still played by Lashana Lynch, reacts with emotion but she does not recognize her. So, we imagine that this is the variant of Carol Denvers that we saw in Dr Strange 2 with the Illuminati, until the moment she gets up and reveals her costume. And there, we understand that it is not a variant of Captain Marvel, but of Binary, with his two stars that we see side by side on his costume. In the comics, Binary refers to one of the identities adopted by Carol Danvers. This is a more powerful version than the original Captain Marvel, since she is a being of pure cosmic energy. How will it be integrated into the MCU? One wonders. But one thing is certain, Marvel is preparing the sequel with the X-Men who are starting to arrive and finally leading to Avengers Secret Wars…
We know that the last few months have been complicated for Marvel Studios, which needs to question itself. With the global lack of interest in superhero films, we are witnessing the decline of a genre which has nevertheless carried cinema like never before, which has even allowed it to achieve absolute records at the box office, to such an extent. that filmmakers like Martin Scorsese are forced to spit on it to defend their beef. But as Franck Ribery said so well: “the road will quickly turn around”. And it’s been a while since she’s been filming, for a few years in real life, since the end of the Thanos arc. The MCU is struggling to recover from the departure of its biggest stars. Robert Downey Jr Iron Man, Chris Evans Captain America, Scarlett Johansson Black Widow, even to the point where there were rumors that Marvel would seek to bring back the original Avengers to save the MCU from total defeat. Marvel must avoid the easy way, by appealing to nostalgia, this is a short-term vision, which risks making Phase 5 of the MCU even more complex, which has never experienced such disappointment. Kevin Feige, if you can hear us, don’t bring back the original Avengers, that’s not what’s going to save the MCU…
OUR RATING: 3/10
