The Marvels is now showing in Malaysian cinemas and it’s the third movie in Phase Five of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) after Ant-Man And The Wasp Quantumania and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 earlier this year. It’s the last movie for the MCU for 2023 and for a while, especially considering the uncertain release dates of future movies due to the ongoing strikes.

If you’re looking for a spoiler-free review of the movie, head on over here instead.

I’ll be discussing major spoilers from the movie (including the movie’s post-credits scenes), so here are some spoiler warnings:

The Marvels Breakdown / The Marvels Ending Explained

In The Marvels, Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn is the new Supremor of the Kree Empire (basically the supreme leader, replacing the Kree Supreme Intelligence and Ronan The Accuser). She finds a Quantum Band, which can be used to generate or amplify enough energy to open Jump Points, which are holes or portals that can breach even space and time to the multiverse (other universes). She wants to take revenge on Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers AKA Captain Marvel by going to planets connected or associated with her and stealing their resources to revive their home planet, Hala, which was devastated in the civil war following the death of the Kree Supreme Intelligence.

When Carol Danvers and Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau both touch one of the Jump Points opened by the Quantum Band, they become “entangled” with Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel. Whenever they use their powers, they swap places. Captain Marvel later reveals that the bangle that Kamala inherited from her non-human Noor grandmother is actually one of the Quantum Bands. It also turns out that using only one Quantum Band (and not the whole pair) will result in unstable Jump Points that can destroy the universe, so the three Marvels band together to stop Dar-Benn.

During the climax, Dar-Benn uses her Quantum Band to open a Jump Point near Earth to steal the Earth’s Sun. By the time the three Marvels defeat Dar-Benn, the Jump Point has gotten so unstable that it opened a portal to another alternate or variant Earth from an alternate or variant universe. Unfortunately, the only way to close the Jump Point is to generate enough energy from both Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel (who use both Quantum Bands), which Monica then absorbs to close the Jump Point. However, to close the Jump Point, she has to stay in the other universe and ends up getting stuck there.

The movie ends with Monica still stuck in that other universe, Captain Marvel moves back to Earth (she’s staying at the Rambeau house in Louisiana), and most surprisingly of all, well, I’ll explain more below:

Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel Is Recruiting Superheroes For A New Team (Young Avengers, New Avengers Or Champions) Starting With Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop AKA Hawkeye And Kathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang

Before The Marvels end, we get a surprising cameo from Hailee Steinfeld reprising her role as Kate Bishop AKA Hawkeye from 2021’s Hawkeye series. Kamala Khan appears at her home and recruits her for a new team of superheroes. Kamala also mentions “Ant-Man’s daughter), which is Kathryn Newton’s Cassie Lang (however, she doesn’t appear).

So, there’s Kamala Khan AKA Ms. Marvel, Kate Bishop AKA Hawkeye and Cassie Lang AKA Stature/Stinger in this new team so far.

What could this new team be? Well, in the comics, Kamala Khan has been on many teams, including Young Avengers, New Avengers, Champions and even the main Avengers team themselves. Therefore, this new team could be either of those.

However, the only team that Ms. Marvel has technically been the leader of is Champions.

The Marvels Post-Credits Scene, Kelsey Grammer Beast And Binary Cameos, Will Lead Directly To Deadpool 3

There’s only one post-credits scene in The Marvels, but it’s a big one. Basically, The Marvels ends with Monica Rambeau stuck in another alternate/variant universe.

In The Marvels post-credits scene, Monica wakes up on a hospital bed and sees her mother alive and well.

It turns out that, of course, that’s not her mother. That’s actress Lashana Lynch playing a variant of Maria Rambeau. In this universe, she’s the one that became Captain Marvel and she goes by the name, Binary (which is one of many names that Captain Marvel has gone by in the comics, including Warbird and Ms. Marvel).

Not only that, Kelsey Grammer makes a surprising cameo reprising his role as Dr. Hank McCoy AKA the mutant Beast of the X-Men from the 20th Century Studios X-Men movie universe (though it’s currently unclear if it’s the same universe or a variant of Beast). He also mentions Charles, which means that a variant of Charles Xavier AKA Professor X also exists in this universe.

This post-credits scene is interesting for many reasons. No, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen an X-Men or mutant in the MCU. That distinction goes to Sir Patrick Stewart as Professor X in 2022’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness and even applies to Kamala Khan, who is heavily implied to be a mutant in the final episode of 2022’s Ms. Marvel Season 1.

The biggest reason why it’s interesting is that this will probably lead directly to the upcoming Deadpool 3 movie, which is currently slated to premiere in May 2024 (though there is a high chance that it will be delayed due to stalled production and the ongoing actors’ strike). We still don’t know much about Deadpool 3, besides that it will be part of the MCU and will feature the return of many Marvel characters, including Hugh Jackman reprising his role as Wolverine and Jennifer Garner reprising her role as Elektra.

Quantum Bands Confirmed, MCU Quasar Is Possible

Now on to other miscellaneous interesting stuff from The Marvels, the movie confirms that the bangles from Ms. Marvel are not the Nega-Bands but they’re the Quantum Bands.

In the comics, there is one other Marvel hero who uses hard light constructs like these and his/her name is Quasar. In the comics, Quasar is an individual given cosmic powers via the Quantum Bands (which are bracelets) by an entity named Eon. There have been multiple Quasars, including Wendell Vaughn, Avril Kincaid, Phyla and others.

What’s interesting is that Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 introduced a character named Phyla.

In the comics, Phyla-Vell first appeared in Captain Marvel vol. 5 #16 (January 2004) and she is the daughter of Mar-Vell AKA the original Captain Marvel and the sister of Genis-Vell AKA Mar-Vell’s son. She has gone by many superhero names over the years, including inheriting the mantle of Captain Marvel, Quasar when she had the Quantum Bands and Martyr when she was the Avatar of the cosmic being known as Oblivion.

Obviously, the MCU version of Phyla is different. For one thing, she’s not the daughter of Mar-Vell anymore (hence the name, Phyla). Also, she’s one of the Sovereign and not half-Kree half Eternal. However, a glimpse of her powers seen in the second post-credits of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 may indicate similar energy-based powers as the MCU version of Adam Warlock, which is likely considering that they were both created by the High Evolutionary.

However, The Way That Dar-Benn And Kamala Khan Uses The Quantum Bands Is More Like The Nega-Bands From The Comics

It’s a bit weird, then, that the MCU version of the Quantum Bands actually functions more like the comic-book Nega-Bands instead. The Nega-Bands allowed people to swap places, just like the three Marvels did in The Marvels.

The way (or action that they perform by clanging both bands together) that Dar-Benn and Kamala Khan uses both Quantum Bands in The Marvels is exactly how the original Captain Marvel AKA Mar-Vell would use his Nega-Bands (see picture above). It’s a nice homage.

Monica Rambeau Doesn’t Get A Superhero Codename In The Marvels But Kamala Khan Mentions One Of Her Names From The Comics, Spectrum

It’s sad that Monica still doesn’t get her official superhero name by the end of The Marvels, but in one earlier scene when Kamala Khan is suggesting a bunch of names for her (I didn’t catch everything, there were a lot), Kamala mentions Spectrum or something similar.

In the comics, Monica did go by the name, Spectrum, at one point, as well as other names like Pulsar, Photon, and of course, Captain Marvel. Currently in the comics, she’s going by Photon again.