Marvel has reached a crisis point – caught in a thunderstorm of its own making, its profits dwindling in the face of exploitative labour practices and overstuffed production lines. So, isn’t it ironic that the project that the studio has publicly shown the least amount of faith in is the one to provide them with a blueprint for their own survival? And isn’t it just a little questionable that the first Black woman to direct a Marvel film has been so pointlessly thrown under the bus?
Despite delays, and a reportedly significant amount of reshoots, Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels is, well, marvellous. It’s sweet and funny, yet in no way brainless – a comic book film that chooses to be cynical about heroism, yet places uncynical heroes at its centre. It’s certainly beneficial to have some familiarity with its trio of leads going in: Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel (whose solo film debuted in 2019), Iman Vellani’s Ms Marvel (who had her own Disney+ series last year), and Teyonah Parris’s Monica Rambeau (who acquired her powers in the 2021 series WandaVision).
