Wicked tongues of dissatisfied viewers have plagued the Captain Marvel franchise for years now in a hate campaign that set a number of unfortunate precedents. Convinced their negative opinions were actually reaching the ears of Marvel boss Kevin Feige, these doubters saw the film’s upcoming sequel The Marvels — which adds two characters to the top bill — as the studio’s attempt to fix an issue that lived solely in their heads.
Brie Larson — the star of both films and the target of most of the dissidence — revealed in an exclusive behind-the-scenes feature for The Marvels published by EW that the plan was always to bring Kamala Khan and Monica Rambeau into the fold. “This was something Kevin [Feige] and I had talked about from the beginning,” Larson told the outlet, adding that having the three characters come together was the only thing that made sense.
In the comics, like in the films, both Monica and Kamala have strong connections to the character of Captain Marvel. When Feige introduced Carol to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2019, in what has become typical fashion for the accomplished producer, he was already planning years into the future for the character. And that future, EW‘s article reveals, always included Kamala and Monica, specifically. Monica because she was the first female character to assume the mantle of Captain Marvel in the comics, and Kamala because she was the heroine’s biggest fan.
This much is not hard to believe considering Marvel is known for planning ahead, and the choice to make Monica, and her mother Maria, two of the most important characters in Captain Marvel couldn’t have been random. Similarly, it’s hard to believe Feige would change plans at the whims of a relatively small percentage of unhappy fans. In this case that would mean making Ms. Marvel and writing Monica into WandaVision all with the goal of pushing Carol Danvers to the sidelines.
The whole theory makes even less sense when you look at Captain Marvel‘s box office numbers, which crushed the one billion line, making you wonder what exactly would need correcting about that scenario.
The Marvels, directed by Nia DaCosta, and starring Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris comes out Nov. 8, 2023.