When Disney Plus’ Ms. Marvel revealed right at the end of its first season that the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Kamala Khan was a mutant instead of an Inhuman like in the comics, opinions were split. Some were excited that the era of the X-Men was finally dawning, while others didn’t appreciate the retcon of the source material. History might just repeat itself when The Marvels rolls around later this year, with another new hero possibly being revealed as a mutant.
We Got This Covered had already included Monica Rambeau in its list of characters joining Kamala in the X-family, but the brand-new trailer for the Captain Marvel sequel has added strength to this theory. The sneak peek into The Marvels reveals that Kamala, Carol Danvers, and Monica Rambeau share some kind of link, either psychic or genetic, that allows them to switch places with one another, uncontrollably at first.
Considering Kamala is canonically a mutant, is this sort of teleportation connected to her Homo Superior genes? If so, does that mean Monica and Carol have to share the genes too? Those questions will likely only be answered in the film, but a small overlooked detail from Monica’s first outing in 2019’s Captain Marvel could shed some more light on this theory.
We know Monica gained her powers by going through Wanda’s hex magic several times in WandaVision, which affected her cells, giving her spectral vision and superhuman reflexes, among other abilities. However, it’s possible that Monica possessed dormant abilities that were activated by Wanda’s magic, maybe mutant genes. The reason we’re getting behind this theory is the way in which, out of everyone, Monica was the only person convinced Carol was still alive after her disappearance in Captain Marvel.
At the time, it was brushed away as childish hopes and dreams, but if Monica, Carol, and Kamala’s connection had always been there through their shared mutant genes, then maybe Monica could actually feel Carol’s presence even when she was lightyears away in the Kree planet Hala. All three of these heroes have come into contact with powerful light sources — Wanda’s magic, the Tesseract, and Aisha’s Noor Bangle — but as much as that explains their individual abilities, it doesn’t exactly tell us why the three of them are connected, to the point of being able to swap places with one another.
Perhaps, like Kamala, both Monica and Carol had always had the same dormant mutant genes that needed that sort of energetic power to manifest. Maybe all three of them had always been connected even before those encounters, which, in a way, would not only explain young Monica’s hunch about Carol in Captain Marvel but also Kamala’s obsession with the powerful superhero in Ms. Marvel.
We will hopefully get all our answers when The Marvels hits theaters on Nov. 10, 2023.
