Next year’s The Marvels (2023) sees Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel return to Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe with Teyonah Parris (Monica Rambeau) and Iman Vellani (Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel). One of the actresses was left shocked when learning about their amount of screen time in the upcoming sequel.

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Acting as the sequel to Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s billion-dollar MCU movie, Captain Marvel (2019), The Marvels from director Nia DaCosta sees Brie Larson’s all-powerful superhero return in primetime form for the first time since Avengers: Endgame (2019).
The actress had a cameo, as did Mark Ruffalo as Dr. Bruce Banner/Hulk, in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), but The Marvels will mark the character’s first feature-length appearance in a Marvel movie for three years — since she rescued Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) after the events of Avengers: Infinity War (2018).

And while the project from Feige’s Marvel Studios was initially pitched as Captain Marvel 2, the inclusion of Teyonah Parris’s Maria Rambeau and Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel saw the sequel retitled The Marvels. It is not yet known how The Marvels will be structured, and whether Parris and Vellani’s presence in the live-action Marvel Universe movie will match up to Larson’s, but the latter was shocked to learn just how big her role would be.

A massive fan of the MCU herself, Vellani’s new Disney+ show, Ms. Marvel, based on the Marvel Comics character has been a hit with fans and critics — even in spite of a record premiere viewership fall for Marvel Studios. Vellani is joined in the television series by Aramis Knight (Kareem/Red Dagger), Saagar Shaikh (Amir Khan), Rish Shah (Kamran), Zenobia Shroff (Muneeba Khanand), Mohan Kapur (Yusuf Khan), Matt Lintz (Bruno Carrelli), Yasmeen Fletcher (Nakia Bahadir), Laith Nakli (Sheikh Abdullah), Travina Springer (Tyesha Hillman), and Laurel Marsden as Zoe Zimmer.

Even with her star status as Ms. Marvel, Vellani has not anticipated she would have a large role in The Marvels film, and she spoke to Variety to detail her shock:
“It was a night shoot when they were announcing everything at Disney Investor Day. Right before they announced “The Marvels” cast, I get a text from Disney PR, I get a text from Brie Larson and I get a text from our producers all at the same time saying I’m in the movie and then they announced it on the screen. I was like, “Thank you.” I had a hunch I was going to be in it, but more of a cameo role, not an actual main character, so it was cool.”

The actress also gushed over her co-stars, Larson and Parris:
“Brie and Teyonah are the same. Standing next to them, sharing a screen with them is so empowering. I didn’t want to be the one to continually just gush over them, so I had to hold back a little bit, because they took it very seriously, and I’m just like, “Oh my God, I’m in a movie.”

Little is known surrounding the plot of The Marvels but fans can expect a universe-altering story with the film sequel likely being the last in Marvel Phase Four. After switching places on the schedule with Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), and with the Fantastic Four reboot seemingly delayed, The Marvels could move the MCU on from the Multiverse and into the relatively untapped world of cosmic energy.

Related: Goodbye, Brie Larson? Captain Marvel Star Likely Replaced In Future MCU Following Leak
In addition, WandaVision left Monica Rambeau’s powers somewhat unexplained, only going so far as to show it was Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch’s Hex that caused her to change — it is likely DaCosta’s blockbuster will further explore Rambeau’s powers as well as delve deeper into the tragic death of her mother, Maria Rambeau, played by Lashana Lynch in Captain Marvel.

The leading Marvels trio will be joined by Ms. Marvel regulars Shaikh, Shroff, and Kapur as Kamala Khan’s family in the film, as well as Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury — who will next appear in Secret Invasion –, and Park Seo-joon and Zawe Ashton in undisclosed roles.
As for Ms. Marvel, the show about a Pakistani-American comic book superhero airs weekly on Disney+.
Are you looking forward to seeing The Marvels? Let us know in the comments down below!