The trailer for The Marvels has finally dropped and it is setting up what appears to be a rip-roaring ride through space and possibly dimensions. The trailer continues on from what we saw at the end of Ms. Marvel, a body-swapping conundrum that sees Carol Danvers, Kamala Khan, and Monica Rambeau all switching places with one another seemingly out of their control. But was this a part of the comics originally?
The Marvels brings together the powered individuals Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Photon(?) (Teyonah Parris), and Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) as they try to figure out how on earth they are connected. That’s what audiences have been asking since the end of Ms. Marvel which dropped a post-credits scene that saw Kamala suddenly disappear from her room only to be replaced by a very confused Carol.
The trailer has now shown us that this phenomenon is not limited to Kamala and Carol alone; oh no, Monica has also been dragged into it as well. The very opening of the trailer sees Monica involved in some space project alongside Nick Fury, she approaches what looks like a wormhole, or perhaps an opening to another dimension, and upon touching it (not the best idea) she is propelled backward only for the audience to discover that it is no longer Monica but a very confused, yet giddily excited, Kamala.
From what we can tell, the changes seem to be triggered whenever one of them uses their powers, as their powers are, as Monica states “entangled.” Kamala attempts to demonstrate her abilities to Monica and Fury when they visit her home, only to immediately swap out for Carol, who is once again confused as to why she has been transported across space to a living room in New Jersey. The film will team the trio up together as they attempt to discover what is the cause of these switcheroos and hopefully find a way to stop it.
The characters have been connected in the comics for some time now, all through the Marvel name. Carol Danvers was not originally the first Captain Marvel as she has been on screen, but the name has passed to a few people including Monica at one point. In fact, Monica was technically Captain Marvel well before Carol in the comics and first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #16 in 1982.
Despite being debuted in 1968, Carol would not become Captain Marvel until 2012 having actually held the title Ms. Marvel (amongst others) for much of her comic book life. Now Kamala Khan holds the title Ms. Marvel as of 2013 when she debuted in the Captain Marvel #14 comic.
For all three of these characters, their MCU counterparts are quite big departures from what is written in the comics. Of course, the comics are used as references and source material but things have been changed to make them fit into the story being told on screen, such as Carol being the first Captain Marvel. Other things that have also changed are Monica’s power origin story, as well as the manifestation of Kamala’s powers.
In the trailer, it looks as if it is the latter that may explain why the three are connected, as we see what appears to be the villain of the film, Kree, Ael-Dan (Zawe Ashton), seems to have the other bangle to match Kamala’s. We know that this bangle has the potential to open doorways as well as transport people across time and space as we saw when Kamala was taken back in time to India. With the fact that the bangle seems to have a relationship with the Kree, and the Kree with Captain Marvel that appears to be how things are connected on that end, but that leaves out Monica.
We also know that in WandaVision, where Monica first manifested her powers by going through the Hex multiple times, she heard the voices of her mother and Carol as she pushed through. Could this mean that she too is connected to Carol, or was this simply what she was saying to herself to give her the strength to keep going? Or were her powers caused directly by the DNA-altering Hex forcefield? If the latter then how is she connected?
It is hard to say at this point, because it doesn’t appear that this storyline ever occurs in the comics as far as we can see. There will be moments and character arcs that will be driven by those in the comics we are sure, Captain Marvel mentoring Ms. Marvel may likely be one of them, but as for the overall story, it seems that the writers have concocted this one all on their own.