The Marvels: 6 lesser-known facts about the new Marvel film starring Brie Larson

As the Marvel Cinematic Universe enters Phase Five, the recently-released superhero film, a sequel to Captain Marvel and the 33rd film in the MCU has opened to divided reviews. The Marvels features three female superheroes with complementary abilities – Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, and Ms Marvel. The film stars Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani in lead roles and also features Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, and Samuel L. Jackson. We are dedicating today’s Now You Know to fans of the franchise and here are some lesser-known facts about The Marvels.

1. The film’s director Nia DaCosta, best known for the 2021 slasher Candyman, is the first black woman to direct a Marvel Studios film. Prior to this, the studios approached Olivia Wilde and Jamie Babbit but these plans fell through as they had prior commitments. As it turns out, Nia DaCosta is the fourth female director to work on an MCU project after Anna Boden in Captain Marvel, Cate Shortland in Black Widow and Chloé Zhao in Eternals. Also, Nia DaCosta is a recipient of the Nora Ephron Prize, an award presented at the Tribeca Film Festival for a female writer or filmmaker ‘with a distinctive voice’. We bet you didn’t know that!
2. The Marvels is also the first MCU film to feature a Muslim protagonist, Kamala Khan or Ms Marvel. She is a Pakistani-American teenager who discovers her superhuman genes when she chances upon her grandmother’s bangles. Her supernatural abilities allow her to harness cosmic energy to any shape she desires. Unsurprisingly. Iman Vellani reprises her role from the Marvel miniseries Ms. Marvel in the film. But did you know that while the comics imagined Kamala as a body-morpher, the MCU made a minor alteration by making her a latent mutant whose power is contained in her magic bangle? It is also confirmed that Ms.Marvel is the first mutant in the MCU, potentially paving the way for the X-Men in the MCU’s shared universe.
3. To add to the plethora of firsts, The Marvels happens to be the first MCU sequel not to bear the protagonist’s name in its title. Perhaps this is because there are three main superheroes featured in the movie – Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel, and Spectrum.
4. The Marvel Comics’ signature artist John Romita Jr. originally modelled Monica Rambeau after American actress and singer Pam Grier who was popularised by her performances in action and subversive female-driven films in the 1970s. Director Quentin Tarantino gave her the title of cinema’s first female action star. However, other artists reworked the character’s original look before publication, depriving the audience of perhaps a Pam Grier-inspired female Marvel superhero.
5. In an effort to roll out several big-budget theatrical releases to keep up with the post-pandemic demand, Marvel Studios has taken on multiple projects at the same time. Point of fact, The Marvels was filmed simultaneously with Thor: Love and Thunder which released in 2022 and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania which released in February of 2023. In fact, the film’s release was moved to later in 2023 swapping places with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania had progressed faster in production.
6. It’s popularly known that fans of every franchise treasure film or franchise-related merch. To cater to fans of The Marvels, Marvel Studios partnered with Bic to create limited-edition pens in anticipation of the film, as well as the "Write with Might" sweepstakes that provided a chance to win a trip to The Marvels’ Hollywood premiere. Marvel also partnered with Pita Pit and Walt Disney Pictures to launch a brand new limited edition smoothie “Banana Chai” to promote the film. We’re just glad this preposterous combination of chai and banana is only a limited-edition offering.

Well that's all for this episode of Now You Know, until the next one it's your host Nikhil signing out.

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• Written by Vajra Zayara