The Marvels cameos will certainly have audiences cheering in theaters, as the world of the MCU further expands and connects. Not only do several returning stars show up in the long-awaited sequel to Captain Marvel, but there are a few twists in the tale, too.
For this adventure, our hero Carol Danvers has teamed up with Kamala Khan (a.k.a. Ms. Marvel) and Monica Rambeau - hence the title of the movie, The Marvels. Together they must take on Zawe Ashton's Kree warrior villain Dar-Benn, who is trying save her home planet following a destructive civil war. There is one crucial snag though: each time our heroes use their powers, they swap places with each other, being scattered across Earth and space.
Along the ride they come across some familiar faces and so, if you are looking for all The Marvels cameos you need to look out for, you have indeed come to the right place. Just be warned - huge spoilers follow so ensure you have watched the film before reading on.
Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop (with bonus Lucky the Pizza Dog)
During the final moment of The Marvels, we see Kamala do her best impression of Nick Fury, as she makes moves to put together her own super-team. It's a clever nod to the post-credits scene of the very first Iron Man movie, which saw the spy-master start to form the Avengers. Let's be honest, wanting to create her very own Young Avengers-style team is the most Kamala Khan move ever...
Turns out, Kamala's first recruit is Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), the mentee of Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye from his hit Disney Plus TV show. Kate's loyal companion Lucky the Pizza Dog features in the scene, too – and fortunately for Ms. Marvel, he doesn't seem to mind the unexpected visit.
Our young hero asks Kate if she would be interested in joining her squad, and name-dropping "Ant-Man's daughter" Cassie Lang (Kathryn Newton). In Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, we saw Cassie become a superhero herself, so there's no doubt that she will want to be part of this super-group, too.
Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie
The Marvels' final trailer actually revealed Tessa Thompson's appearance as Valkyrie in the Nia DaCosta-directed flick pre-release - but if you were lucky enough to avoid that footage, this definitely would have been a lovely surprise.
After not being able to save all the Skrull refugees from Dar-Benn's attack on Tarnax in the movie, Carol decides to call a friend to help relocate the survivors. It turns out that pal is none other than the Asgardian King Valkyrie, who we last saw in sequel Thor: Love and Thunder. She comes on board the ship, gives a troubled Captain Marvel some words of comfort, and then heads off with the Skrulls.
It's a sweet moment and one made even more so knowing that it's reuniting the star with DaCosta - Thompson appeared in the filmmaker's debut feature Little Woods in 2018.
Kelsey Grammer as Beast
Arguably the biggest cameo in the film comes in The Marvels post-credits scene, which sees the return of actor Kelsey Grammer as popular X-Men character Beast.
After Monica Rambeau wakes up in a hospital bed in the different reality she's now stuck in, Dr. Hank McCoy, a.k.a. Beast, comes in to check on his patient. Rather excitingly he then namedrops another beloved X-Men character, Professor Xavier, saying that "Charles" will definitely want an update on her wellbeing.
Grammer has portrayed Beast on screen before, appearing in 2006's X-Men: The Last Stand and 2014's X-Men: Days of Future Past. Nicholas Hoult played a younger version of the character in the likes of X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix, so it's interesting that the MCU have chosen the older version here.
What could it possibly mean? I guess we will have to wait to find out...
Lashana Lynch as Maria Rambeau a.k.a Binary
If you thought Beast wasn't exciting enough, The Marvels post-credits scene had one more surprise in store.
Earlier on in the movie, we see Lashana Lynch return as Captain Marvel's Maria Rambeau via flashback, as the latter explains to her bestie that she's dying and asks her to look after Goose "until Monica gets back". Having never been able to say goodbye to her mother since she was blipped when she passed away from cancer, Monica gets expectedly emotional when she wakes up in a different reality, and realizes she's being watched over by a very-much-alive Maria.
Not that Maria recognizes her at all, being shocked by Monica's reaction and asking who she is. This is an alternate reality version of the character, after all.
The most interesting part though comes at the end, where this Maria swaps into her superhero suit, which looks intriguingly like the one superhero Binary wears in the comic books. There are several versions of Binary in the comics, who at one point is Carol Danvers' alter-ego and a clone. We can probably safely assume that here in the MCU, Maria is simply this reality's version of Captain Marvel, but stranger things could be happening...
The Marvels is in theaters now. For much more on the movie, check out our deep dives on:
- When does The Marvels take place on the Marvel timeline?
- The Marvels ending explained
- All of The Marvels Easter eggs and MCU references
- All of The Marvels cameos - listed and explained
- What team is Kamala Khan recruiting for at the end of The Marvels?
- How does The Marvels ending set up Deadpool 3?
- The comics that influenced The Marvels, according to director Nia DaCosta
- Nia DaCosta explaining The Marvels' "lighter, softer" Fury
- The Marvels director weighing in on whether or not you need to have watched the TV shows beforehand
- The MCU movies and shows to watch before The Marvels
