For the 33rd movie in the MCU, "The Marvels"
is a surprisingly light and wacky cosmic adventure. But the ending still has massive ramifications
for the future of Marvel on the big screen. At the start of "The Marvels," our three leads
are in very different places — both emotionally and physically. Kamala is riding high off of her heroic ascent
at the end of "Ms. Marvel," drawing fresh fan art of herself and Captain Marvel in her
Jersey City bedroom. Monica is investigating a strange energy phenomenon
aboard the S.A.B.E.R. space station orbiting Earth, and Carol is,
as usual, alone — riding through the empty blackness of the cosmos with no one but Goose
at her side. After the Kree warrior Dar-Benn locates a
powerful bangle just like Kamala's, she begins tearing holes in space-time to restore the
Kree homeworld of Hala to glory. This causes the three heroes' abilities to
become entangled, meaning that whenever two of them power up at the same time, they swap
places. "What is happening to me?" The ensuing chaos brings Kamala face-to-face
with her idol and Monica face-to-face with the aunt who abandoned her. Together, they try to stop Dar-Benn from stealing
various planets' resources, with mixed results. They do manage to confront some of their own
demons, however, preparing them for a showdown with Dar-Benn on Earth. As her crowning move, she aims to steal Kamala's
bangle and use the amplified power to take our sun. But she has to get through the Marvels first. "We're a team?" "Oh no no no no. We're not a team." As Dar-Benn begins her attack over Earth,
the S.A.B.E.R. station starts to destabilize. But with many core systems already knocked
out, there aren't enough escape pods to get everyone to safety. Thankfully, Goose comes in clutch by birthing
a horde of Flerken kittens about the station. "Oh my god!" When the Marvels arrive, they help Nick Fury
chase down all the S.A.B.E.R. folks so that the Flerkens can gobble them
up. This stores them in the kitties' void-like
tummies, effectively shrinking the population of the station and allowing them to fit (inside
the cats) in the remaining pods. It's a bizarre and hilarious sequence aptly
set to "Memory" from the musical, "Cats," but rest assured, everyone is regurgitated
safely on the ground. "I can't. Can you?" "I got it." Meanwhile, Kamala, Carol, and Monica face
off against Dar-Benn. They defeat her, and Carol agrees to a tentative
peace. She promises to use her powers to restore
Hala's sun, undoing the damage unintentionally wrought by her destruction of the Supreme
Intelligence in "Captain Marvel." Of course, Dar-Benn double-crosses them, steals
Kamala's bangle, and launches herself into the void. With both "quantum bands," Dar-Benn rips a
hole in space-time clean through to an alternate reality, vaporizing herself in the process. Carol retrieves the bangles, gives them both
to Kamala and together, they power up Monica enough that she can fly to the other side
of the hole and close it. Tragically, though, she's trapped there, as
Carol can't save her in time. With Earth saved, Dar-Benn defeated, and Monica
lost in some strange unknown, Carol decides to finally settle her battle with the Kree. She returns to Hala, where the dying sun barely
lights the sky anymore. Then, in a staggering display of her power,
she flies straight through the star, energizing its core reactions with her energy and reviving
it to its bright, glowing glory. The Annihilator, as the Kree calls her throughout
the movie, becomes the savior of the entire race. For Captain Marvel, this is a big deal. She reveals throughout the film that her conflict
with the Kree still largely defines her life. The violence they committed against her alienated
her from everyone she once knew as family. At the same time, her vengeance against them
only led to more violence, as the entire world of Hala fell into a quick decline. By repairing Hala's sun, Carol shows that
she can be a force for creation as well as destruction. This closure, combined with her experiences
with Kamala and Monica, finally allows her to move on and return home to Earth. This could also finally mark the end of the
longstanding Kree-Skrull conflict. The movie suggests that both species are finally
ready to invest in peace, and the healing of Hala might be all the Kree needed to give
up on their evil crusade at last. With her Kree chapter finally closed, Carol
goes home. Or, rather, she goes to a new home, but one
that's very familiar. We see the Kahn family help her move into
Maria and Monica Rambeau's old house in Louisiana from the first "Captain Marvel" movie. Dressed in regular Earth attire, Carol finally
seems ready to stop moving around for a little bit. Throughout the movie, we learn how much guilt
she carries from her time with and fighting the Kree. But now that she's made peace with that part
of her past, she decides to stop running. Of course, she has an ulterior motive in moving
into the old Rambeau house. As she tells Kamala, she's just taking care
of it while she waits for Monica to "get back." She has no idea where Monica could be or whether
she'll ever return, but that doesn't dissuade her from staying. Even with Monica gone, she's not going to
abandon her again. In another scene on the S.A.B.E.R. station, we see that Fury misses her too. The final scene of "The Marvels" takes place
in New York City, where Kamala confronts none other than Kate Bishop. "Hawkeye sent me here on official Avengers
business. I'm his partner-slash-best friend, Kate." The whole thing plays like a spoof of the
Nick Fury post-credit scene from "Iron Man," as Kate comes home to find Kamala sitting
in an armchair, cloaked in darkness. Kamala puts on her best Fury impression, but
it quickly gives way to her own fast-talking, quirky persona. She tells Kate that she's putting together
a team, which, at the moment, is just the two of them — provided Kate accepts. She assures her, though, that she has "feelers"
out there, mentioning Ant-Man's daughter Cassie Lang specifically. Despite the somewhat clumsy proposal, Kate
smiles, suggesting that she's down for the team-up. This seems like an obvious setup for the oft-theorized
"Young Avengers" movie. The MCU has introduced a ton of new heroes
in Phase 4 and Phase 5. Any combination of these characters and others
could form a new superhero team, and the ending of "The Marvels" seems to set that up perfectly. There's only one credits scene in "The Marvels,"
positioned between the first round of main credits and the standard credits that come
after. In it, we see Monica awaken in some kind of
medical facility, groggy but alive after her cosmic outing. She turns and sees none other than her own
mother sitting at her bedside — albeit a pretty young version of her. When Monica calls Maria "Mom," the older woman
looks at her strangely, suggesting that she's never seen Monica before. Then, everything gets turned on its head when
Kelsey Grammer's Hank McCoy, aka Beast, walks into frame -- fully blue, furry, and dressed
in a lab coat. Outside the glass walls of the medical room,
we can see the iconic round "X" doorway from the X-Men movies. This and Grammer's presence both suggest that
we are in some version of the Fox X-Men universe, as Grammer played Beast all the way back in
2006's "X-Men: The Last Stand." "Strong theory!" He mentions that "Charles" will want an update
on their guest, and in the last shot, we see Maria's new superhero costume: a red jumpsuit
that evokes the comic book character Binary. Binary has a strange and powerful connection
to Carol Danvers in the Marvel comics, as they're one in the same (it's complicated). It should be interesting to see how this new
version of the character plays into the MCU's X-Men storyline. The ending of "The Marvels" is more about
the action beats and future setups than it is about larger themes or ideas. But that's not to say that the film is devoid
of meaning — quite the contrary. By the end, the biggest resounding theme — as
it is in so many modern blockbusters — is the importance of family, be it born or found. All three main characters have arcs relating
to family. At the beginning of the movie, Carol has cut
herself off from all forms of family. She carries so much shame and guilt that she
believes she deserves to be lonely, and she's scared of getting close to anyone again because
of the fear that she'll lose them. Of course, in the end, it's her reunion with
Monica and her new relationship with Kamala that allows her to heal. Monica, likewise, has built a wall of professionalism
around herself, resentful of Carol and scared to get close to anyone after the death of
her mother. In the end, she saves the entire world (and
possibly the universe?) because she trusts the other two Marvels. Kamala is the only one of the three who already
has a strong family, and we see just how much that empowers her. Though her mother is always scared for her,
she ultimately accepts that Kamala is destined for "something greater." She encourages her daughter to be a hero but
also reminds her that she'll never "let her go." "The Marvels" isn't really "Captain Marvel
2," but it does give more closure to Carol's story than it does to Kamala's or Monica's. The latter is now stuck in a whole new reality,
and the former is just beginning what's hopefully a long and successful superhero career. Carol doesn't retire by any means at the end
of the movie, but she does wrap up the arc that began back in the first "Captain Marvel." For decades, Carol tried to repair her memories
and reclaim her life, but she did so alone in the cold vacuum of space. It's clear she viewed this as penance, but
she can't heal properly until she lets people back into her life. At one point Kamala tells Carol that she made
a tough call because that's what Carol would have done. "You shouldn't try to be like me," Carol says
in response, full of self-loathing. Maybe it's reconciling with Monica that gets
her over that hump, or it's Kamala's unabashed reverence for her. Perhaps it's the realization that she can
use her powers to heal. Really, it's a combination of all those things
that allows Carol to finally forgive herself. As fun as "The Marvels" is on its own merits,
many fans will likely be even more excited by the future projects it may be setting up. The biggest of those is the long-awaited MCU
version of the X-Men. Most likely, Marvel Studios will want to make
its own X-Men movies, but the story could also take place (at least in part) on Disney+. The slow rollout of these new X-Men has confused
things a bit as well. We got Patrick Stewart back as Charles Xavier
in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," Kelsey Grammer's Beast appears in "The Marvels,"
and Hugh Jackman is set to return as Wolverine in "Deadpool 3." "You have questions!" But as long as the multiverse era of the MCU
continues, there's no way to know how important those actors will remain. Disney would probably want to fully recast
the X-Men for a new generation. For now, fans will have to keep waiting. The other big thing set up in "The Marvels"
is the potential "Young Avengers" project, or whatever the team that Kamala Khan and
Kate Bishop are forming will be called. Embracing the franchise's younger heroes could
be a great way to softly reset the MCU, but that's also a big risk. The one thing that "The Marvels" doesn't clearly
set up is a "Captain Marvel 3." But that doesn't mean that it won't happen. Carol Danvers is back on Earth now, so she
could be pulled into any number of upcoming stories. Her new Louisiana home places her in close
proximity to Sam Wilson and his family, who also reside in the state. Perhaps we'll get a Captain Marvel cameo in
"Captain America: Brave New World."
