The Marvels Is At Its Best When It's A Sequel To Ms. Marvel
Warning: This article contains spoilers for "The Marvels."
A year after its debut, "Ms. Marvel" remains one of the best parts of Marvel Studios TV. The show was a funny, grounded yet fantastical superhero story with a refreshing focus on life outside of heroics filtered through the lens of a Disney Channel show. It grappled with complex history, like when it portrayed the Partition of India, while also giving us a delightfully absurd live-action version of a reverse harem anime, with a little bit of John Hughes sprinkled in there for good measure.
Though Kamala Khan hasn't got her own movie yet, "The Marvels" is the best implementation of movie/TV synergy from the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far. No, not because it makes the transition seamless. On the contrary, bridging the movies and the TV is quite messy. Unless you are caught up, the movie does very little to explain the events of "Ms Marvel." However, despite the lack of explanation for the uninitiated, Kamala and her family fit phenomenally in both the MCU and "The Marvels," and whenever they're the focus, the movie shines brightest.
When we left off with the Khan family, Kamala finally revealed her superpowers to her parents, who accept and support her as she saves New Jersey from both a dangerous villain and the Department of Damage Control. In "The Marvels," Kamala finds herself literally switching places with both her idol Captain Marvel and the superhero's adoptive niece Monica Rambeau (last seen getting superpowers of her own in "WandaVision"), as they get involved in a race against the clock to stop the Kree from destroying entire planetary systems.
A family affair
"The Marvels" is technically a three-hander, with Captain Marvel, Kamala and Monica Rambeau all having equal importance. But the presence of Kamala's family somewhat contradict this. The moment the film cuts to Kamala's bedroom after a short opening scene and shows her daydreaming about her silly adventures with her idol Carol Danvers (told through animated drawings), it becomes clear this is mostly Kamala Khan's big introduction to the larger MCU than anything else.
The film constantly cuts away to the Khans, whose house gets destroyed during a fight, so they take refuge with Nick Fury on board the S.A.B.E.R. space station. With the MCU becoming so big in scope and scale, and its characters becoming ever so powerful and mighty, it is refreshing and hilarious to see a regular family caught in the middle of the world-ending story and react as you'd expect them to — in sheer panic and awkwardness.
Kamala's mom, Muneeba (Zenobia Shroff), simply does not care about the safety of the galaxy, she will not allow her daughter to travel around in space with a stranger. Nor does she care about Nick Fury or his fancy gadgets or space stations. This, in turn, also allows Samuel L. Jackson to make the ever-grumpy Fury a funnier and more cheerful person when riffing on Muneeba.
Meanwhile, Kamala continues to be a phenomenal addition to the MCU. For one, she is rather relatable. It is fantastic and hilarious to see Kamala constantly in horror at how dangerous space is — like her sheer terror upon seeing Goose straight up eat someone. At the same time, seeing the young Kamala fangirling at the mere sight of Carol Danvers, not to mention her glee upon being taken seriously as a hero, gives the MCU a rather refreshing element of pure enthusiasm we've only ever really gotten from Tom Holland's Spider-Man.
Dare to be weird
Speaking to Variety, director Nia DaCosta described the film as "really wacky and silly," and that is mostly thanks to the Khans and the "Ms. Marvel" connection. Captain Marvel is a rather somber character, given her responsibilities and the scope of her work. Seeing Kamala's fangirling results in many a funny moment of teenage awkwardness that not even Peter Parker can offer now that his story got rather dark and somber.
But there's more. "Ms. Marvel" feels more in line with the cosmic weirdness of James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy" than anything else. There's an entire song and dance sequence set on a planet where everyone talks through song as if it's another language. It is a goofy sequence that doesn't make much sense other than, "This sounds cool, let's do it," but that is what makes it special, especially since the planet is ruled by Park Seo-joon. The scene doesn't need to make much sense or be important though, because what matters is that Kamala and Monica are having a blast mocking Carol and how normal this is for her.
The scene also stands out by being different from the usual Marvel sense of humor that mostly relies on pointing out how weird something is and then proceeding to mock anyone who cares. "The Marvels" is a movie about fans, one that recognizes the (often weird) sheer glee of being a big fan of something or someone.
It is also a movie with a third act that involves the heroes and the Khans saving the S.A.B.E.R. workers by having a bunch of alien kittens devour them for easier transportation, all set to the tune of "Memories" from the "Cats" musical. Kamala's mother running around like a serial killer holding a kitten that proceeds to eat screaming workers, is something the MCU rarely is anymore — utterly, ridiculously funny.
"The Marvels" tries to be many things at once, and it doesn't succeed at all of them (its latest trailer tried to sell the movie as a big Marvel event when it isn't). What the movie does succeed at is paying off the "Ms. Marvel" finale and showing Kamala Khan as the only MCU superhero who actually has a functional family that loves and supports her — and who is embarrassingly funny, too.