Next year sees the next chapter in the story of Captain Marvel. Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers will return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time since her appearance alongside Mark Ruffalo (Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk) in the mid-credits scene of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021).
But, could the Captain Marvel sequel mark the end of Larson’s Avenger? And could a new Marvel Studios leak signal who will be replacing her in the MCU?
From director Nia DaCosta, The Marvels (2023) will seemingly follow-up events to multiple MCU projects. From Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel (2019), where she befriended Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson), to the battle with Thanos (Josh Brolin) in Avengers: Endgame (2019), WandaVision to the upcoming Ms. Marvel, the Captain Marvel sequel feels like it has a lot chase.
Larson, of course, is back as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, having come into her powers (maybe too much so) after besting the Supreme Intelligence (Annette Bening) in her freshman feature film. She will be joined by Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau), Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel), and Park Seo-joon and Zawe Ashton in undisclosed roles.
Prior to The Marvels release, fans will get to know Vellani’s comic book character Kamala Khan in this year’s Ms. Marvel on Disney+. The series from Bisha K. Ali follows the title character as she begins to discover her own powers. The Pakistani American hero has been a staple of the Marvel Comics universe since 2014 and is notable for her polymorph powers of elongation and size-altering — something which the MCU seems to have changed from comic lore, subsequently spawning #FixMsMarvel on social media.
Marvel Updates (@MarvlUpdates) shared the now-deleted image posted by Ms. Marvel crew member, Patrick Favo, on social media:
An image of a gift given to the crew members of #MsMarvel includes the text ‘Season 1’ hinting towards plans of multiple seasons for the Disney+ series.
📸 An image of a gift given to the crew members of #MsMarvel includes the text ‘Season 1’, hinting towards plans for multiple seasons for the Disney+ series. pic.twitter.com/w1xL4d4TZn
— Marvel Updates (@MarvlUpdates) March 8, 2022
While the text on a production wrap gift is by no means confirmation of a second season renewal for Ms. Marvel, the language certainly implies it. The Walt Disney Company has been seemingly concrete in their marketing of Original Series from Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios, for example. Deborah Chow’s Obi-Wan Kenobi has consistently been teased as a “limited event series”, while even more recently, Moon Knight star, Oscar Isaac, said his new Marvel outing is again limited in nature.
What furthers this conversation over whether Ms. Marvel will be gaining a second season renewal even before the first season has even aired, is how Feige’s MCU is planned years and years into the future.
Marvel fans have seen legacy actors replaced with new incarnations of their characters; Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark/Iron Man — or the MCU’s “anchor” — has been taken over by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, while even more directly, Chris Evans’ exit as Steve Rogers/Captain America left the door open for Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson to forgo his Falcon persona and become the MCU’s new Cap.
So, when we look at a potential Ms. Marvel Season 2 after we know Vellani is taking shared ownership of the Captain Marvel sequel with Larson and Parris, it’s not a stretch to see how The Marvels is likely to inform the future of Phase Four, Phase Five, and beyond.
Feige’s studio is clearly beginning to usher in a new wave of heroes, some similar, some inspired by the Marvel Universe, and some drastically unlike those that came before. Kamala Khan is poised to take over the Captain Marvel mantle from Larson’s Carol Danvers and when February 2023 rolls around, the Marvel film may just be the end of the female superhero as we know her.
It is only natural for these big Hollywood stars that originated characters for the MCU to eventually be phased out in order to progress individual and overarching stories. We must remember that prior to WandaVision (where Parris was introduced as Maria Rambeau’s (Lashana Lynch) daughter, Monica Rambeau), The Marvels was expected to be a more singular story, aptly referenced as Captain Marvel 2.
Then came the news that Ms. Marvel was in reshoots, which is the norm for a lot of film and television projects, and the notion that Marvel was enhancing Vellani’s Kamala Khan presence in the MCU took seed.
Of course, both Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel could exist harmoniously in their separate projects but the hint of a Ms. Marvel Season 2 as well as the Captain Marvel sequel evolving into a wider ensemble Marvel movie project may suggest that Brie Larson’s eventual four-year tenure in the MCU could soon come to an end.
Ms. Marvel‘s release date is yet to be announced. The Marvels releases on February 23, 2022.
Do you think Ms. Marvel will take over from Captain Marvel? Let us know in the comments down below!