The Marvels: release date, trailer, confirmed cast, plot synopsis, and more

Here’s everything you need to know about The Marvels, the final MCU film of 2023

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• Out now in theaters- Sequel to Captain Marvel, Ms Marvel, and WandaVision- Stars first all-female superhero team in the MCU- Main cast confirmed and other actor appearances leaked- Plot synopsis revealed- Trailers and TV spots might have spoiled some key plot points- Other story details have leaked online- Could impact future Marvel projects

It’s time,Marvelfans, asThe Marvelshas finally flown into theaters. The last Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie of 2023 has cosmically blasted its way into cinemas and, with multiple MCU films and TV shows delayed due to the now-resolved writers and actors strikes, you better make the most of its arrival.

Before you venture out to watch it in theaters, you’ll need to swat up on everything about the superhero flick. First, read our guide onwhat to watch beforeThe Marvelsis released. Once you’re done catching up on those six Marvel projects onDisney Plus, you’ll be ready to learn about the all-female supergroup’s first big-screen team-up.

Below, we’ve compiled the most pressing information about theMarvel Phase 5movie, including its release date, trailers, confirmed and rumored cast members, plot synopsis and story speculation, and more.

Full spoilers followforCaptain Marvel,WandaVision,Ms Marvel,Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, andSecret Invasion.Potential spoilers forThe Marvelsare also discussed.

The Marvels release date

The Marvelslaunched worldwide onFriday, November 10. It was originally scheduled for late July, butMarvel delayed its release by a few months, making this the fourth time its launch has been changed.

With its one hour and 33-minute runtime (minus credits!),The Marvelswill set a new and surprising MCU movie recordvery soon, too. Unsurprisingly, it’s received a PG-13 rating (12A in the UK) for action/violence and brief language.

Oh, and it reportedly cost a staggering $270 million to develop (perForbes), so Marvel and Disney will hope its apparent $60 to $65 million US haul on opening weekend (perVariety) isn’t a sign that it’s got another box office bomb on its hands.

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The Marvels trailer and other footage

The final trailer forThe Marvelswas released on November 6. It opens on old footage from – bizarrely – films starring Iron Man and Captain America before transitioning into scenes from 2019’sCaptain MarvelandAvengers: Endgame, as well as showcasing new snippets from the new movie itself.

Like its various TV spots in the run-up to release, it also contains some mild spoilers about its plot, so we’d advise you to not watch it if you want to go into your screening with no prior knowledge of what’s to come. If you’re after a less spoiler-filled teaser, watch one of the trailers below. First up is its second official trailer, which arrived in July:

The above trailer revealed more about its story (more on this later), how our heroes inadvertently switch places and, eventually, learn to work together despite their place-swapping issues.

Missed the first teaser, which arrived in mid-Apriland gave us some seriousAvengersmovie-style vibes? Check it out below:

As we mentioned, there are atonof TV spots and featurettes available online now as Marvel ramped up its marketing campaign for the film pre-release. Some of them contain potentially big spoilers, though, so we’ll refrain from posting them here. If you’re not bothered about spoilers, we’ll get into some of what’s on show in our plot section.

The Marvels cast: confirmed and rumored

Here’sThe Marvels' confirmed cast so far:

Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, and Iman Vellani reprise their roles from their most recent MCU outings. Captain Marvel was last seen inAvengers: Endgame, although she made brief cameos inShang-ChiandMs Marvel’s post-credit scenes. Monica Rambeau had a major supporting role inWandaVision, which is one of thebest Disney Plus shows.

Iman Vellani, as well as Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, and Saagar Shaikh all return fromMs Marvel’s standalone series. Jackson, who has regularly played ex-SHIELD director Nick Fury in MCU, will also show up.

Zawe Ashton (Fresh Meat,Velvet Buzzsaw) will play Dar-Benn, the movie’s main antagonist. In the comics, Dar-Benn is a male Kree general who becomes co-emperor of the Kree Empire. InThe Marvels, though, it seems she’ll be a member of the Accusers – a militia who were integral in the Kree defeating the Skrulls during the Skrull-Kree War.Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1’s main villain, Ronan the Accuser, was also part of this group.

Lastly on the official casting front, ParkSeo-joon (Parasite) is playing Prince Yan, the ruler of an unknown planet Carol has visited in the past. Park’s character was revealed in an official Marvel poster (see the tweet below), but we’ll hold off from spoiling his importance to the story here.

Potential cast spoilers for The Marvels follow.

Prince Yan. pic.twitter.com/F3drPbDNvgOctober 15, 2023

Don’t expect to see Cobie Smulders' Maria Hill or Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos show up inThe Marvels. The pair died inSecret Invasion–two plot points that resulted inSecret Invasionbeing trashed by critics and fans alike. However, we could see Charlayne Woodard’s Varra/Priscilla Davis, aka Nick Fury’s wife, after her and Fury’s reunion inSecret Invasion’s finale.

Could we see cameos Jude Law’s Yon Rogg and Anson Mount’s Black Bolt? We’d be surprised if Law’s Yon Rogg features, especillay after he was sent packing from Earth by Captain Marvel in her 2019 solo flick. Meanwhile, industry insiderCineStealthsuggests Black Bolt, last seen inDoctor Strange 2, will appear, but take that with a huge pinch of salt for now.

Finally, there’s been speculation regarding other MCU character cameos inThe Marvels. We aren’t going to ruin the surprises here, though, so don’t worry about having those spoiler for you.

The Marvels plot: synopsis and speculation

Here’s the official plot synopsis: “Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel, has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe.

“When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now SABER astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau. Together, this unlikely trio must team up and learn to work in concert to save the universe asThe Marvels.”

The Marvelspick ups after two recent MCU TV shows:Ms MarvelandSecret Invasion. InMs Marvel’s post-credits scene, Ms Marvel unexpectedly traded places with Carol Danvers when the former’s bangle was unexpectedly activated. Meanwhile, inSecret Invasion, Fury – accompanied by Varra – returns to SABER’s headquarters to continue monitoring extraterrestrial threats to Earth with Rambeau’s help.

For those in need of a recap, let’s look at each hero’s abilities are and how they acquired them. Carol Danvers was imbued with her superpowers upon exposure to the Tesseract, aka the Space Stone, inCaptain Marvel. Next, Monica Rambeau’s DNA was rewritten by the Mind Stone via the Hex that Wanda Maximoff created inWandaVision. Finally, Kamala Khan’s abilities come from her grandmother’s bracelet. Oh, and the fact that she seemingly possesses the X gene, which makes her one of the MCU’s first mutants.

Potentially big story spoilers for The Marvels follow.

A triple threat 💙❤️💜 Check out the exclusive @IMAX poster for #TheMarvels. In theaters November 10. pic.twitter.com/guO2yhXR29September 12, 2023

With the trio’s powers deriving from objects that helped to create the MCU, and being important components that shaped the the Universal Neural Transportation Network (UNTN) – i.e. the collective name of the MCU’s wormholes/space-jump points – their abilities are connected. Based on the official trailer, it’s possible Dar-Benn’s acquisition of the a certain superpowered bangle (more on this shortly) and what she uses it for causes the UNTN to malfunction, hence why the trio start trading places.

To stop Dar-Benn, the three leads have to learn to work together, which isn’t ideal for someone like Carol. As Brie Larson tellsEntertainment Weekly(EW): “Carol [has] kind of become a workaholic, and she lost touch with her heart and with family and friends”. Sounds like it’ll take her some time to master being a team player, then.

According to DanielRPK (perThe Marvels Updates Twitter fan account), the world ruled by Park Seo-joon’s Prince Yan, which the three heroes travel to, is musical-themed. However, fellow leakerCanWeGetSomeToastsuggests aspects of this chapter have been cut.

The reason for travelling to this planet? Captain Marvel is apparently married (and seemingly confirmed byleaked McDonald’s toys) to Prince Yan, albeit for diplomatic reasons. Maybe she agreed to marry him to prevent some sort of disaster on her universe-spanning travels.

Speaking of Captain Marvel, she has a complicated history with the Kree who, through Dar-Benn, are on chief villain duty again. InCaptain Marvel, Carol Danvers thought she was a member of the Kree empire – she was taken to their home world after her Tesseract-related accident on Earth – and indoctrinated into believing she was one of them. That’s until she was captured by Talos’ splinter group of Skrulls, who jogged her memory and helped Carol rediscover her true identity.

Now, she’s an enemy of the Kree, which puts Dar-Benn in direct opposition with Carol and company. However, inSecret Invasion’s final scene, Nick Fury told Varra that the Kree were now open to peace talks with the Skrulls. It’s possible, then, that the two races may sign a treaty declaring as much. That plot thread might be what spurs Dar-Benn to go rogue (if she’s unhappy about the peace negotiations), locate the opposite bangle to Kamala Khan’s, search for Kamala to steal hers, and use them to crate havoc across the MCU.

Doing so would certainly make Dar-Benn powerful. As we learned inMs Marvel, the bangles (seemingly based on the Nega-Bands in Marvel comics) appear to be alien technology. We know this because the Clandestine – the villains inMs Marvel– wanted to use them to expand the Noor dimension and take over Earth. Kamala’s bracelet was originally found by her grandmother in 1940s India in an underground Kree-looking location. If Ms Marvel’s bracelet is of Kree design, that’ll explain why Dar-Benn wants it to pair it with hers and wield them.

As for subplots, one of the most pressing is the forthcoming reunion between Carol and Monica.

Monica hasn’t seen Carol since the 1990s, i.e. whenCaptain Marveltook place. Maria Rambeau, who was Carol’s best friend, has since died of cancer. As we learned inWandaVision, Carol didn’t return for Maria’s funeral or to check up on Monica (although, Monica was Blipped out of existence and only found out her mom had died when she was brought back when the Avengers reversed the Blip). Expect Carol to be greeted frostily by Monica until they clear the air, with Parris telling EW: “You get a sense that she has not talked to Carol in a very long time. So, we have to address the elephant in the room”.

Speaking toEmpiremagazine, director Nia DaCosta said of the duo’s bond (and that which develops between them and Kamala): “I thought it would be cool to map an estranged family history and sister story onto them. Carol’s the oldest, the prodigal, then there’s the middle sister Monica, who Carol knew as a kid and promised she’d come back [to] but then never did. Kamala is the youngest, who hasn’t had the experience of living with this older sister but idolises her [Carol], who’s a bit jaded at the beginning of the film. Kamala reminds her how amazing she is.”

As for any multiversal shenanigans, can we expect to see any here? Per industry leakerKC Walsh,it’s possible a multiversal incursion – an event where parallel universes collide, as seen inDoctor Strange 2– may be part of proceedings. In a chat withTotal Film, executive producer Mary Livanos further teased the arrival of a new incursion, saying: “InMs. Marvel, we learned that the bangle, paired with some other form of power, can force a temporary hole in space and time to lead to somewhere else. With the power of both bangles, more is definitely possible. And we see the culmination of that over the course of this movie.”

One no-less-fascinating dimensional thing we’ll see inThe Marvels, however, is the pocket realms that exist in the Flerkens, such as Goose the cat. These alien creatures contain pocket universes in them – as we witnessed in 2019’sCaptain Marvel– which can house an infinite amount of material. As we see in the trailers, Goose and its litter of kittens set to appear and, according to DaCosta via Total Film (thanks toRedditfor the assist), they’ll have a big role to play in one specific set-piece.

The Marvels: how could it affect future the MCU?

That depends onThe Marvels' story and ending, but we have a few sneaking suspicions about what it could set up.

First up isMs Marvelseason 2, which is rumored to be in early development (perMyTimeToShineHello). If we’re going to see more of Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/her superhero alias before the next twoAvengersmovies, it’ll likely be on the small screen.

Speaking of those Avengers films, akaAvengers: The Kang DynastyandAvengers: Secret Wars,The Marvelscould play a major role in setting them up events. In her chat with Total Film (linked in our story section), Livanos teased: “The Marvelsdeals with some fluctuations in time and space, and there’s definite danger afoot that could affect the multiverse. Where it all leads is a bit of a spoiler, and exactly how it’ll all pan out in anAvengersmovie is currently being figured out right now. But we’re definitely ending our characters in places that allow for plentiful opportunity.”

MCU fans already know Kang the Conqueror is the next big supervillain – or, rather, multiple Kang variants are. The time-traveling warlord – read more about him in ourKang the Conqueror explainedarticle – was the main bad guy inAnt-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. However, he was seemingly killed by the film’s titular heroes. Now, the Council of Kangs – including Immortus, Scarlet Centurion, and Rama-Tut – are gunning for the MCU, so Captain Marvel and company are sure to have their hands full inThe Kang Dynasty(if Carol and company appear, of course).

3 heroes in 3 dimensions. Check out @RealD3D’s exclusive artwork for Marvel Studios’ #TheMarvels. See it in RealD 3D November 10. Tickets on sale now: https://t.co/fHJB2N3a8y pic.twitter.com/P5o05hKHI4October 10, 2023

Some fans also seem to think that the giant, circular rings seen inQuantumaniaare alternate reality versions of Shang-Chi’s Ten Rings. If the Kang gang have collected alien tech-based weaponry as they plot their route to dominion over the Marvel multiverse, they’re sure to come after Ms Marvel’s and Dar Benn’s bangles as well. If they do, expect Carol, Monica, and Kamala to stand in their way.

Elsewhere,Marvel fans think they’ve spotted a huge story spoiler inThe Marvels' new TV spot, which could tie this film intoDeadpool 3. We won’t say why here so, if you’re really curious and not fussed about spoilers, read the linked-to article.

Depending on howThe MarvelsandThe Kang Dynastyplay out, we’d expect to see Carol, Monica, and Kamala inSecret Wars, too. We’d be surprised if they pop up in projects beforehand, so the next time we’re likely to see them (outside of starring, or cameoing, inMs Marvelseason 2 ) is 2026’sThe Kang Dynasty.

For more MCU-based content, find outhow to watch the Marvel movies in order. Additionally, check out ourranking of every Marvel Phase 4 movie and TV show, or learn what thebest Marvel moviesare.

As TechRadar’s senior entertainment reporter, Tom covers all of the latest movies, TV shows, and streaming service news that you need to know about. You’ll regularly find him writing about the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Wars, Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and many other topics of interest.

An NCTJ-accredited journalist, Tom also writes reviews, analytical articles, opinion pieces, and interview-led features on the biggest franchises, actors, directors and other industry leaders. You may see his quotes pop up in the odd official Marvel Studios video, too, such as thisMoon Knight TV spot.

Away from work, Tom can be found checking out the latest video games, immersing himself in his favorite sporting pastime of football, reading the many unread books on his shelf, staying fit at the gym, and petting every dog he comes across.

Got a scoop, interesting story, or an intriguing angle on the latest news in entertainment? Feel free to drop him a line.

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