By: Kimberly Grant

There are multiple reasons why I made sure to watch The Marvels.  Those reasons include my love of Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan (played by Imani Vellani), an excitement to see women of color in superhero roles, a continuation of this year’s Secret Invasion on Disney+, my overall love of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and Nia DaCosta.

The Marvels is currently in theaters.

Black (Brown, and White) Girl Magic

DaCosta is the director and co-writer (Megan McDonnell and Elissa Karasik are also co-writers) of The Marvels.  She is also the first black female to direct a Marvel superhero movie.  Not only is that a big deal in my world, but it’s a big deal in the world of Marvel Entertainment.  Plus, the film passes the Bechdel test.  So, it is disheartening when fanboys complain about the movie.  If they bother to just see it as another Marvel movie, they’d come to realize that it’s a great film that happens to have more female superheroes than males.

In The Marvels, Captain Marvel A.K.A. Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), and Ms. Marvel are forced to work together after their powers are intertwined.  This occurs after supervillain, General Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) uncovers the matching bracelet that Ms. Marvel wears.  This bracelet has the power to create passageways between dimensions and time. 

Every good story has a great, yet relatable villain.  This time, Dar-Benn is a villain on the mission of restoring her home planet of Hala after Captain Marvel destroyed their Supreme Intelligence in the first Captain Marvel movie.  Now Hala is stripped bear with no sun or water and toxic air.  Determined to save her planet, Dar-Benn siphons resources from other planets in order to restore her own; no matter the cost.  Meanwhile, the Marvels must find a way to work together as a team to stop Dar-Benn before she sets her sights on Earth.

Woman Power

This film is lousy with girl… I mean woman power.  Captain Marvel, of course, is a formidable hero who lives with a cat.  That subtle nudge of a general fear that all women will end up alone with a cat is comical.  Because the cat isn’t just any cat.  It’s Goose, who can eat people and things 100 times bigger than his body.  Goose is also Captain Marvel’s sidekick.

Monica is more of a reluctant hero.  She obtained her powers because of Wanda’s radioactive shield in Wanda Vision.  Monica, Carol’s niece, is the glue that holds the three women together.  Her scientific knowledge ends up saving the day and gets the Marvels to where they need to be.  I hope to see Monica Rambeau head her own film or series in the near future.  Fun fact: Monica Rambeau is actually the second iteration and first female Captain Marvel (in the comics).  Carol Danvers is the seventh version.

Vellani reprises her role as hopeful teenager Kamala.  She finally gets to meet her hero and fight alongside of her.  There’s a little bit of Kamala in us all.  She is a fangirl when it comes to Captain Marvel and represents the fangirl in all of us women who love comics, but aren’t always represented on the screen. 

Getting Back to the Heart of Marvel Entertainment

This trio of powerful women are refreshing to see on the screen and to carry a superhero film.  We need more action films like this.  We also need to bring back the humor that has been a Marvel staple since the beginning.  Since Infinity Wars there’s been a dark cloud settling over the films and that’s more DC Comics territory.  One of the things I like about Marvel Entertainment, as opposed to DC, is its lightheartedness. 

The film also has some exciting action sequences.  The first sequence with the three women is epic and one of my favorite movie fight scenes in a Marvel film.  The character-switching between the three women was intensely entertaining.  The other fight scenes in this film are just as great.  DaCosta does a fabulous job of bringing classic Marvel movie tropes to the screen, incorporating women power and tremendous talent.

Which brings me to other great actors in this film.  Be on the lookout for Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), Muneeba Khan (Zenobia Shroff), Dag (Abraham Popoola), Talia (Leila Farzad), Kelsey Grammer, Hailee Steinfeld, Tessa Thompson, Park Seo-joon of Parasite fame, and Lashana Lynch.  (Be on the lookout for Lynch in next year’s biopic Bob Marley: One Love!)

A Villainess

Marvel is also pretty good with its villains.  My favorite Marvel villain is Ultron.  The Marvels also has a pretty good villain.  (Although, she could have been given a more fleshed out backstory.)  I have been a fan of Zawedde Ashton since her days on Channel 4’s Fresh Meat.  She played an eccentric college student named Vod, who was a quirky party girl.  The way Ashton portrayed her, she was a scene stealer. 

From that time, she’s been in various television series and films.  In The Marvels Ashton, who happens to be the partner of Loki (A.K. A. Tom Hiddleston), embodies the person a lot of us wish to be.  Dar-Benn is all about action and getting results for the good of her people.  It’s hard to not root for someone with such noble intentions.  As a testament to DaCosta, Ashton makes audiences love and hate her with equal passion.  It’s the same way I felt about Ultron.

If you love classic Marvel films, you should see The Marvels.  It’s fun.  There’s no requisite love story.  It’s just pure action entertainment.

Read more reviews by K. A. Grant in the Entertainment Blog.

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