The 33rd MCU movie arrives in cinemas tomorrow but are you ready with all the character background build-up in previous films and Disney+ miniseries?
The Marvels is essentially Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel 2 and co-stars Teyonah Parris’ Photon, Iman Vellani’s Ms Marvel and Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury, who have all had their own adventures since Avengers Endgame.
The new Marvel movie sees the female superhero trio swap places when they use their powers and it looks like another universe is breaking into the MCU too.
Captain Marvel’s story began with Nick Fury paging her in the post-credits scene of Avengers: Infinity War, before he turned to dust.
After that are the two MCU movies and three Disney+ miniseries to watch before seeing The Marvels.
Captain Marvel (2019)
In between Avengers Infinity War and Avengers Endgame, this MCU solo prequel movie hit cinemas to give fans Carol Danvers’ origin story.
Set in 1995, we witness how Captain Marvel obtained her incredible powers (only surpassed in strength by Scarlet Witch in the MCU), as she attempts to stop a war between the Skrulls and the Kree. We also see her teaming up with a young Nick Fury and find out how he lost his eye. Meanwhile, Carol’s pilot buddy Maria Rambeau and her young daughter Maria play a significant role.
During the end credits scene, Captain Marvel responds to the pager she left with Nick Fury on Earth in the 1990s, arriving at Avengers HQ after the events of Infinity War in 2018.
Avengers Endgame (2019)
In 2018, the Avengers and Captain Marvel locate Thanos on his Garden planet and discover that he “used the stones to destroy the stones” before he’s beheaded by Thor. Five years later in 2023, the surviving Avengers who weren’t dusted in the Snap continue to police the galaxy as Carol is depicted with a shorter haircut.
She only arrives at the end of the movie to take on Thanos’s 2014 variant in the Battle of Earth, briefly overpowering him before he uses the Power Stone to strike her down. Captain Marvel later attends the funeral of Tony Stark alongside Nick Fury, before returning to the stars.
WandaVision (2021)
The first ever MCU Disney+ introduced a grown-up Captain Monica Rambeau, an agent of S.W.O.R.D. who was dusted in Thanos’ snap. She returned to life after Hulk’s snap in late 2023 to discover her mother Maria had died of cancer.
During the events of WandaVision, Monica enters Scarlet Witch’s Westview sitcom world Hex and gains superpowers to become Photon. At the end of the miniseries, she’s contacted by a Skrull operative who says Fury wants to meet her.
Ms Marvel (2022)
According to the newly published The Marvel Cinematic Universe: Official Timeline book, this Disney+ series takes place in late 2025. The show follows Captain Marvel superfan, Kamala Khan, revealing how she obtained her powers as Ms Marvel and the magical bangle she uses in The Marvels. The show concludes with Kamala switching places with Carol, who crashes into her bedroom: a scene which takes place in The Marvels. Also, there was a massive X-Men Easter Egg.
Secret Invasion (2022)
This Disney+ show presumably is set in late 2025 too and acts as a sort of Captain Marvel 1.5 without Carol herself. The show follows Fury and Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos in a spy thriller involving the Skulls. The miniseries concludes with Fury returning to the S.W.O.R.D. space station he was depicted in during The Marvels trailers.
The Marvels hits UK cinemas on Friday.
