What happens to Monica Rambeau at the end of ‘The Marvels?’

Warning: Spoilers for The Marvels to follow. 

The trouble with ensemble films is that there is largely not enough for everyone to do. The Avengers consistently did this by sidelining Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and giving Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) nonsensical romance plotlines.

Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels, however, has no such issue. The three female leads are equally as important as the next, with each character fulfilling their arc. Carol (Brie Larson) contends with being a secondary villain. Kamala (Iman Vellani) learns what happens when you meet your heroes. And Monica (Teyonah Parris) finally gets closure for her abandonment issues. When she was just a child, she had her favorite aunt promise her to be back before she knew it and never saw her again. Monica had to experience her mother’s illness all on her own and find her inner strength.

Carol admitting fault with how she handled things is exactly what Monica needed to find closure, but that wasn’t the end of her story in The Marvels.

What is Monica’s fate when The Marvels end?

Since Monica’s exposure to Wanda’s (Elizabeth Olsen) aptly named witch hex, she has been adjusting to her new normal. Her photosensitive powers allow her to phase through materials and produce light of her own. This change has bonded her with Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) as he runs S.A.B.E.R. But as often occurs in the MCU, with great power comes great responsibility.

Monica learns this quicker than most after she and The Marvels battle Kree leader, Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton). In the Kree’s attempt to fix the environmental issues on her home planet Hala, she rips a hole in time and space. This portal travels into another dimension and another instance of the Multiverse, which has captivated the MCU as of late.

Monica is the only person who can absorb Carol and Kamala’s energy to sew the rift back together. Carol and Kamala agree, not understanding that this is the end of the line for Monica, at least Earth-616. As she mends the rift with her abilities, the entry point closes around her, and she admits that she always knew this would be a one-way trip. Carol races to save her, but as Monica seals the portal, it disappears — taking her along with it.

As devastated as the characters are at losing an integral part of their team, this doesn’t necessarily mean she’s gone for good (one of the rare, logically backed parts of the film). Both Carol and Kamala are certain they will see their friend again, and for good reason. Different universes have already been established in the MCU, and being absorbed into one isn’t automatically a death sentence.

Sealing the rift takes its toll on Monica and she loses consciousness. When she wakes up, she finds herself in a ward, with someone at her side who looks exactly like her mother. But when Maria (Lashana Lynch) takes off her sheath and reveals she is instead the superhero Binary, Monica realizes she is in an alternate world. This reveal is just another connection to the future of the MCU and an intriguing hint at the future of the X-Men. But it also means that this is not the last we see of Captain Rambeau (or Pulsar, or Photon, or Professor Marvel — hopefully she will have picked a superhero name by the time she appears next in the MCU).