The Marvels Star Iman Vellani Made An Adorable 'Mortal Enemy' On Set [Exclusive]
This article contains spoilers for "The Marvels."
Introduced in the 2019 film "Captain Marvel," Goose is a mysterious, voracious alien creature called a Flerken, a being with uncountable tentacles that can snatch full-grown adults from their feet and swallow them whole into its tiny stomach. Goose swallows many victims in "Captain Marvel," and reappears as the good Captain's aloof pet in Nia DaCosta's new film "The Marvels" to swallow even more. The main joke of Goose is that when it's not grabbing its prey, it looks like an average-sized orange tabby housecat. In "The Marvels," Goose is achieved mostly through CGI, but is also played by the real-life cat actors Nemo and Tango.
Later in the film, Goose lays hundreds of Flerken eggs all over a space station. When they hatch, the station is overrun with hungry, hungry kittens who snarf down much of the crew. Don't worry. It's all done to save their lives. It seems Goose's species can also puke up its still-living victims with a minimum amount of fuss and feline stomach juices.
/Film's own Ethan Anderton recently had the opportunity to speak with Iman Vellani, one of the three lead actors of "The Marvels." Vellani plays Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, a superpowered teen and massive fan of Captain Marvel who named herself after her heroine. Vellani revealed that there were indeed many live kittens on set, a fact that was most assuredly distracting for the actors. Vellani also revealed that her co-star, Brie Larson, is deathly allergic to cats, and didn't get to work with Tango or Nemo very much.
It seems that Tango also didn't like Vellani very much. At the very least, there was a violent, claw-related incident between the two co-stars.
Ms. Marvel vs. Goose
But, first, yes, those were real kittens on set, and, yes, they were indeed distracting to their bipedal counterparts. Vellani even recalled that actor Mohan Kapur, who plays Kamala's dad, Yusuf, was particularly drawn to a kitten actor named Snuggles. Kapur evidently ran off his mark in between takes to canoodle with the felines and enter "his happy place." Most of us, at least those of us who aren't one of those heretical dog people, can relate to Kapur.
Larson, as mentioned, was persona non grata for the film's many cat scenes, but Vellani was happy to work with animals. It's worth noting, though, that Vellani's Ms. Marvel costume is emblazoned with a large lightning-light shape and is reflective, a surface that may irritate or at least confuse a cat. Perhaps it was the costume, or perhaps it was the circumstances of the shoot that day, but Tango the cat was not having it. Vellani said:
"For the main Flerken in Goose, Brie's allergic. I don't know if she likes cats. I don't think she really worked with the cat. I was very excited to work with the cat. His name was Tango, and the minute they handed him to me, I think he was so overwhelmed with the environment, and we called action, and my suit is so shiny, and he just clawed me, clawed my suit. I still have scars on my wrist. He's my mortal enemy."
The third season of the FX series "Feud" is rumored to be about the rivalry between Vellani and Tango, already one of Hollywood's more widespread and scandalous stories. At last recording, Tango had married the CEO of Coca-Cola and plans on launching a smear campaign.
"The Marvels" is currently in theaters.