This article contains spoilers for The Marvels.
K-drama star Park Seo-Joon has just made his Marvel debut in The Marvels, sharing the screen with franchise stars Brie Larson, Iman Vellani, and Teyonah Parris.
The Itaewon Class star plays Prince Yan of Aladna and even gets to show off his singing chops in the film. Yan has a fascinating history in Marvel comics, which has been adapted faithfully to the big screen by director Nia DaCosta and co-screenwriters Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik.
Who is Park Seo-Joon’s character in The Marvels, Prince Yan?
Although he only appears briefly, Park Seo-Joon’s character Prince Yan and the rest of his Aladna compatriots are, without a doubt, one of the highlights of The Marvels. They provide plenty of opportunity for offbeat comedy and, in the opinion of this writer, the single funniest joke in the whole film.
Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau have to carry out an emergency visit to the planet Aladna after they figure out that it’s Kree Supremor Dar-Benn’s next target in her quest to return life to her home planet of Hala. The villain is interested in Aladna’s oceans since over 90 percent of Yan’s planet is made up of water.
Their trip takes on a new level of wacky when Carol reveals to her friends that she is actually married to Prince Yan and is, effectively, the princess of Aladna. While she brushes over the details, simply describing the ordeal as a diplomatic gesture and briefly mentioning the fact that Aladna has a matriarchal society, some brief knowledge of the Captain Marvel comics will fill in the details nicely for you.
There’s not much we know about Prince Yan beyond that, apart from the fact that he seems to lead a peaceful, prosperous, joyful nation and that he’s bilingual. That’s right, unlike the rest of the population in Aladna who can only sing in song, Yan is able to speak normally and understand those who do, too. Like in the comics, he’s also portrayed as an incredibly good-looking man, as if straight out of a fairytale – so I can see why they cast Park Seo-Joon.
Who is Prince Yan in Marvel Comics?
Yan debuted in 2014’s Captain Marvel, Vol. 8, #9 as a prince from the planet of Aladna, where men can’t pick whom they will marry, and everyone speaks in rhymes. When mutant Lila Cheney teleported to Aladna as a child, she became engaged to Yan and, upon returning years later, the prince’s parents held her up to the deal, forcing her to go through with the wedding.
Lila then accidentally teleported to Captain Marvel’s ship, where she asked Carol and Tic to help with her conundrum.
Before Yan and Lila were married, evil alien Marlo of Sleen interrupted the ceremony, set on stealing Yan all for herself. This was when Carol intervened, fighting Marlo on behalf of Lila. After Carol won, she became Yan’s bride in Lila’s place but offered an alliance with the Avengers to Aladna’s throne in order to get out of the marriage. Tic then volunteered to marry Prince Yan in order to prevent a succession crisis. When Yan became king, he abolished the Aladna rule, giving men and women equal freedom to choose whom to marry.
