Summary
Captain Marvel’s saddestMCUtheory gets even sadder based onThe Marvels, and makes me so much sadder about it years later. TheWandaVisionreveal that Maria Rambeau died during the Blip was one of the franchise’s more brutal plot twists in recent history, having the character seemingly die alone and offscreen at a point inthe MCU timelinethat saw her daughter Monica snapped out of existence and presumed permanently dead, and her oldest friend Carol Danvers confirmed to have barely seen Earth during this time.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings' mid-credits scene led to an MCU theorythat Carol had shaved her head in theAvengers: Endgametime skip in support of Maria after her cancer diagnosis, since the character was shown growing her hair back immediately after the new look. This aligns with what we know fromThe Marvels- that Carol wished very much to stay on Earth, but felt unable to return home, and was thus likely to show support in this kind of way - but thePhase 5 moviealso makes the theory even more uniquely painful.
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The Marvels Makes The MCU’s Saddest Captain Marvel Theory So Much More Tragic
By the time ofThe Marvels, most of Carol Danvers' hair has grown back to a shoulder-length cut, not dissimilar to its style in the firstCaptain Marvelmovie. This makes sense on a practice level - it shows how much time has passed sinceAvengers: Endgame, and makes things feel less static as a result - but also comes with another implication for Danvers' story that I think makes the original Captain Marvel theory even more painful.
If Carol shaved her head in support of her friend, then it’s all the crueler that her daughter,Monica - who believes Carol abandoned her and her mother, and disregarded their suffering - never gets to see this physical manifestation of compassion and grief. By the time Monica meets Carol again afterThe Marvels, the pair have been estranged for some considerable time, meaning that when Monica sees her again, she’s returned to looking almost exactly the same as she did in 1995, supporting Monica’s fears that while her world was turned upside down by Maria’s death, Carol was entirely unchanged.
Dealing with grief is a consistent theme throughout the MCU, and one that the franchise tends to take far more seriously than anything else in its generally comedy-leaning toolbelt. Showing how the complexities of grief and the various ways it manifests and continues to haunt those dealing with it even years later is a tricky matter for any story, let alone one that is having to balance it with showing several alien worlds and at least one musical scene, so approaching some aspects of Carol and Monica’s storyline in this understated manner certainly makes sense.
The Marvels' Ending Means Carol Danvers' Tragic MCU Story Isn’t Over Yet
Monica getting trapped in another universe inthe ending ofThe Marvelsleaves Captain Marvel’s story at another solemn point, searching for a way to recover Monica and make sure she honors Maria’s memory by keeping her safe. With Carol and Monica having just repaired their damaged relationship before she’s swept away into another world, it’s an almost sure thing that Captain Marvel has once again given up on the idea of living on Earth in lieu of hunting for any sign of how to bring Monica home, regressing some of her character development in the movie.
Similarly, Monica last being seen in the presence of an alternate universe Maria Rambeau - who appears to have become a hero potentially instead of Carol - sets up for another emotional point inthe MCU’s movie future, asCarol finding Monica seemingly also means both characters seeing Maria again for potentially one last time, but without the ability to truly say what they would have wanted to their version of the character. With this in mind,The Marvelshas actively prepared the MCU for an even more emotional meeting further down the line.
The Marvels
Cast
The Marvels follows Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, whose powers entwine with Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan and S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. As unintended consequences destabilize the universe, the trio must collaborate to navigate a new threat linked to a Kree revolutionary and an anomalous wormhole.
