While every Marvel Cinematic Universe project is important in its own way, there’s no denying that as you make your way through the Marvel movies in order, certain entries are a bigger deal than others when it comes to this franchise’s grand vision. For example, we’re currently in the midst of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga, and while The Marvels, which arrives next week, looks like a delightful cosmic adventure, it didn’t seem to have any ties to other realities. But evidently that’s not the case, and now I’m even more excited for the upcoming Marvel movie.
We’re in the final stretch of The Marvels’ marketing push, which means that more previews have been shared online lately, including one that may have teased Thanos’ involvement. Today, however, we’re talking about a 15-second video called “What Comes Next,” which doesn’t waste anytime teasing that this story will involve what sounds like an incursion from another universe.
Ever since The Marvels’ first trailer dropped in April, we’ve known that this movie’s premise revolves around Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers, Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan switching places every time they used their light-based powers. It’s since been clarified that this is due to Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn, the main antagonist, harnessing the power of the bangle that activated Kamala’s mutant powers. Those artifacts were enough to set up The Marvels as a potential tie-in to the next two Avengers movies, but clearly it doesn’t end there.
In “What Comes Next,” Monica is heard saying that there’s “a different reality bleeding into ours,” which is almost certainly the handiwork of those bangles again, or at least the one Dar-Benn possesses. It’s unclear exactly how much “bleeding” there is, and it’s also possible that this “reality” may be more like another dimension rather than a parallel universe, such as the Dark Dimension from Doctor Strange. However, there is one more noteworthy element to bring up from this preview that suggest The Marvels is leaning into the actual multiverse, not just some other realm where the laws of physics behave differently.
Right before the the preview concludes, there’s a quick flash of someone in a white costume walking in front of Monica Rambeau. Considering that we’ll see Monica don her own white suit at some point during The Marvels, what if this is a version of her from another universe, one who has more superhero experience under her belt?
Another possibility is that this figure could be a variant of Monica’s mother, Maria Rambeau, as Lashana Lynch is among the confirmed members of The Marvels’ cast. Granted, flashbacks are the likeliest reason we’ll see her since WandaVision revealed Earth-616’s Maria a few years after Thanos’ snap, but considering that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed that Earth-838’s Maria was Captain Marvel, it’s not like it wouldn’t be unprecedented to meet another superhero version of Maria. Whatever the case, if The Marvels does indeed have a direct multiverse tie, then I’m more pumped to head to my nearby theater and take in what it has to offer.
We won’t have to wait too much longer for answers to these questions and queries, as The Marvels opens wide on November 10. However, there’s still time to catch up on what’s happened to Carol, Monica and Kamala in the MCU so far by breaking out your Disney+ subscription and streaming their prior adventures.
