The Marvels, opening November 10th, stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel, Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan aka Miss Marvel, Teyonah Prince as Monica Rambeau, and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. The film follows the trio of superheroes known as “The Marvels” as they attempt to save the Marvel universe from sure destruction. You should be able to tell by my quick synopsis that The Marvels doesn’t particularly tread any new ground in terms of Marvel films, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s completely bland. 

After South Park’s recent special that focused on criticizing Disney for their overuse of pandering identity politics, I was expecting The Marvels to completely embody that criticism. The first Captain Marvel was seemingly ground zero for that kind of shallow identity politics discourse, so it only seems fitting that it’s coming to a head with the release of its sequel. Although The Marvels has its fair share of issues, I can say that it effectively avoids most of the jarring virtue signaling that most of the recent Marvel films have suffered from. Whether this was achieved from the film’s inception, its reshoots, or last minute edits in response to fans, it succeeds in delivering something a little less pretentious and message-driven than initially expected. 

Iman Vellani shines here as the teenage superhero Miss Marvel. She really gives off the sort of hyperactive performance that makes her believable as an immature teenager, but also not so immature that she becomes unlikeable. Her family also takes on an extended comedic role here, which emulates what Blue Beetle executed extremely well a few months prior. Samuel L. Jackson is once again fantastic as Nick Fury, fitting into the role once again like it’s a favorite pair of old boots. Prince and Larson’s performances are serviceable enough, but their conflicts often feel forced. The film attempts to pick up character arcs from the first Captain Marvel film but this ends up giving the audience the feeling of “too little, too late.” This would work fine if this was truly a direct sequel to Captain Marvel. The fact is, it really isn’t. The larger universe has been continuing on since Captain Marvel, with many of its characters showing up in other non-Captain Marvel MCU films. The larger story has progressed so much since the first film, that The Marvels, especially the dynamic between Larson and Prince, seems like severe backtracking. Also, the character of Captain Marvel is still messy here. In the first film and subsequent appearances, she is presented as the most powerful hero in the universe. The character was almost flawless and her interactions with others often boil down to “You don’t think I can do it? Hold my beer.” This is cool in a “girl power” sense I suppose, but it often made the character feel one-note. Characters are great because of the flaws they have and how they are able to overcome them. Captain Marvel never has any significant flaws, making the character often feel robotic. The Marvels attempts to fix this, but doesn’t go nearly far enough to make a noticeable impact. Captain Marvel here is written to have made mistakes, causing massive strife to innocent people. The thing is, this is only what she THINKS is a mistake. She actually made the right decision, but is being lied to. This results in the only true character flaw being that she generally has doubts about things. Doubt can’t really be considered a massive flaw when just about every person in the universe has experienced doubt at one point or another. It really isn’t a true struggle or character flaw. There is also tension between Captain Marvel and Rambeau because Marvel never returned to earth after Rambeau’s mother died. This never fully works because the previous relationship between the two was only lightly established. Also, Captain Marvel’s reasoning for not returning is the opposite of selfish. She won’t return home until she fixes the chaos and death she has caused on another planet. The movie asks us to feel for Rambeau and understand her pain, but she ends up being the one who comes across as selfish. You seriously think your feelings are more important than the lives of an entire planet? Yeah, ok, Rambeau. So, even when the movie attempts to give Captain Marvel flaws, they are half-measures at most. The character continues to feel like a generally perfect yet lifeless entity.

Overall, the film is pretty much your normal Marvel fare; nothing less, nothing more. The villain is entirely forgettable to the point of laughability considering how many times they’ve recycled the same template. The logic is sometimes distracting, but it’s mostly forgivable in this type of film. The action is clear and fun, the energy is swift, and the runtime is tight. Besides the typical Marvel downfalls, this is a fine two hour diversion if comic book movies are your thing. Just don’t expect to remember anything 2 hours after the showing. Also, it features one of the better MCU after-credits teases that I’ve seen in awhile. C