MCU’s The Marvels is set to feature many perils — Zawe Ashton as Dar-Benn who wields a bangle that looks exactly like the one that gives Kamala her abilities, Monica, Carol, and Kamala’s entangled powers, the fact that Nick Fury will be making his big screen comeback after his disappointing run in Secret Invasion, or the forever plothole the film has to deal with courtesy of the Disney Plus series. But nothing, mind you nothing, trumps the looming threat the plot of the upcoming film has been boasting with wild abandon.
It has been more than four years since Captain Marvel joined the MCU and yet we are nowhere near forgetting the litany of complaints that followed Brie Larson’s debut as Carol Danvers because the negative feedback, though largely diminished in capacity, has not completely disappeared. There are still disgruntled viewers cribbing about Captain Marvel being way too serious and how Larson didn’t smile in the film.
Larson was quick to point out the absurdity of the sentiment by tweaking posters of previous Marvel films to fulfill what was expected from her — by giving the male heroes in the pictures the clown smiles that many wanted her to flaunt throughout Captain Marvel, whose story was about a woman who had lost her identity and her life, leaving her to shoulder the burden of responsibilities she didn’t plan to take on in the first place. Sure, why wouldn’t she smile like a buffoon throughout such a plotline, after all that’s what Steve Rodgers did throughout Civil War, right?
For years now, Brie Larson has stood up against the declining-but-still-very-much-there dislike for Captain Marvel, but evidently, she is done not joining MCU’s latest being-silly fest as The Marvels’ director Nia DeCosta has confirmed that the film is going to be “really wacky, and silly.” While she claims that wackiness will set it apart from Marvel films of the past, those burned by the silliness of Love and Thunder, Quantumania, and She-Hulk: Attorney At Law would beg to differ.
But the real question is why is Captain Marvel getting a far more humorous adaptation now — step aside naysayers because her funny one-liners in Captain Marvel cracked us up — at a time when the fandom is abhorring and honestly, simply scared of Marvel’s attempts at making a parody of its cinematic universe? Is this the MCU finally giving in to the continued complaints of a minor section of its fandom by offering them a Carol Danvers who is insistently funny and stars in an equally “wacky” plot?
Nope, we think it is Captain Marvel finally taking a stand.
It’s like she is saying, she will be wacky in her own time, even if it means risking the wrath of the fandom by being silly at a time when everyone is done with the excessive silliness.
But here is the kicker to consider — will it work or will her reputation take another hit? It certainly maligned the long-standing faith people had in Thor and Ant-Man, gave Kang a nonsensical debut, and didn’t do She-Hulk any favors (she is memorable all thanks to Tatiana Maslany). But it did wonders for Marc Spector/Steven Grant in Moon Knight as well as gave the God of Mischief winning points in Loki. So, the task is to instill the wackiness bearable installments and give the duty of channeling the silliness to actors who can carry it with the promise to make it look endearing and not tiring.
Only the release of The Marvels on Nov. 10, 2023, will confirm whether Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani are up to the task.