It feels like there are a lot of question marks hanging over Marvel lately, after the ups and downs of the last few years, but despite how badly parts of the internet want Brie Larson to fail,The Marvelsis not one of them.Captain Marvelwas a billion-dollar hit, and while over-performing might haunt its sequel the same wayBlack Pantherover-performing hauntedWakanda Forever, there is little doubtThe Marvelswill be a big movie. The teaser trailer dropped this morning and, not unlikeGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, this looks like exactly what made Marvel a juggernaut in the first place.
So, there’s some kind “entanglement” between the cosmic powers of Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and the mutant powers of Kamala Khan. Monica gets sucked through some sort of space portal and that seems to kick off a kind ofFreaky Fridayscenario where Carol, Monica, and Kamala keep popping into each other’s places every time they use their powers. The value of this is sweet, adorable Kamala finding herself in a space adventure with her hero, Captain Marvel. This teaser is VERY heavy on Kamala fangirling on Carol, and it is SO cute. Iman Vellani is a treasure, her energy is so good. Whether it’s her palpable excitement at meeting anyone connected to the Avengers, or the look on her face when Chewy devours bad guys, every second she is on screen is GREAT.
What we don’t get ANY of is the inevitable conflict between Carol and Monica. We know fromWandaVisionthat Carol was not there when Maria Rambeau passed away, and there’s a brief line from Monica in this teaser about “wherever you were” aimed at Carol, but this trailer is not digging into that conflict. This is all about Kamala’s good vibes and the basic premise of the three “Marvels” being entangled (it’s not a proper body swap, it’s more like they’re jumping through space-time to replace each other in physical space).
Also, this trailer is light on South Korean star Park Seo-joon. He is allegedly playing Yan D’Aladna, a space prince with a history with Carol. It kind of looks like Aladna might play a role in this movie, which is interesting, it implies Carol’s current cosmic preoccupation is about Yan and his planet and maybe a wedding… There is also a teasing glimpse of a flock of flerkens, which I am VERY into.
Overall, this is a solid teaser. It sets the right tone—fun, energetic, Kamala being adorable—without giving anything big away, such as the unavoidable fight between Carol and Monica. It also looks great, with no eye-catchingly bad VFX.The Marvelsis one of the projects Marvel shifted back to give it a little more time to finish effects before release, a decision which will undoubtedly pay off.
Where the teasers and trailers forAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumaniafelt wrong from the jump,The Marvelsfeels like exactly what it needs to be—a fun, kicky space adventure about an unlikely partnership between people with, seemingly, nothing in common. Carol is grumpy, Kamala is excitable, and Monica is OVER IT. The vibes, they are good.
