Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (February 28, 2024)
Back in 2019, Captain Marvel became a major hit, at least partly because it acted as the final “lead-in” to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) saga-capping Avengers: Endgame that hit screens less than two months later. 2023’s The Marvels gives the title role her first true sequel, though as we’ll see, she didn’t remain dormant since spring 2019.
Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers (Brie Larson) takes down “the Supreme Intelligence”, the AI behind the Kree empire. This prompts a Kree civil war and the ruin of Hala, the Kree homeworld.
As part of an attempt to return the Kree to glory, their new leader Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) uses a Quantum Band to skip through space, and this creates an anomaly that causes a variety of concerns – including abrupt jumps in the superpowers possessed by Danvers as well as fellow heroes Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala “Ms. Marvel” Khan (Iman Vellani). The three Marvels must work together to patch this hole and deal with the threat from Dar-Benn.
Much has been written about the decline of the MCU in the years after Endgame. The second highest-grossing movie worldwide of all-time, Endgame capped 11 years of build up and became a dominant hit.
To summarize, after 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home, the COVID-19 pandemic clearly did a number on ticket sales. The MCU skipped 2020 entirely before it put out four movies in 2021.
Of those four, only Spider-Man: No Way Home lived up to pre-COVID box office expectations, as it became a massive hit. On the other hand, Eternals seemed to find a low point for the MCU in terms of box office.
Until 2023, that is. Although Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 found a good audience, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania became a moderate financial disappointment.
That said, its $475 million worldwide didn’t fall severely below the $519 million of the 2015 original film or the $622 million of its second chapter.
On the other hand, Marvels - the third of the three 2023 MCU releases – genuinely flopped. Whereas the 2019 Captain Marvel snagged a sizable $1.1 billion, Marvels struggled to take in a weak $206 million – or about 18 percent of the first film’s gross.
This made Marvels the lowest-grossing MCU movie of them all, below even 2008’s Incredible Hulk, the second film in the franchise. That one made about $265 million – and that was in 2008 dollars, not adjusted for inflation circa 2023.
“Ouch” feels like an understatement, so the question becomes what went wrong? My best guess is that Marvel simply watered down the cinematic appeal of their properties due to excessive ambition.
Unmentioned in this discussion so far: the slew of MCU TV series that aired on Disney Plus. This part of the franchise proliferated during the pandemic, and in a cocky move, Marvel connected the shows to the movies in ways that essentially “required” viewers to see everything if they wanted to make sense of the films.
I put “required” in quotes because I think the MCU theatrical flicks still work without foreknowledge of the various series. For instance, I went into 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness without awareness of the elements that connected to the TV shows and still enjoyed it just fine.
Still, I get that this “need” to see so many television programs in addition to multiple movies acts as a turnoff to folks who just want to take in the occasional MCU movie without the requirement to prep ahead of time. This issue reaches its peak with Marvels, a flick that does struggle to make sense to the less than initiated.
Sure, I saw Captain Marvel as well as all the MCU theatrical releases, but I don’t stream so I never saw any of those TV series. Again, I didn’t think this much impacted my enjoyment of the Doctor Strange movie, but Marvels provides a more complicated kettle of fish.
I won’t say it becomes incomprehensible to those of us without the requisite exposure to the TV shows, as the filmmakers kinda sorta bring us up to speed. However, more than with Madness, I couldn’t help but feel I missed out on a lot of backstory during Marvels that would’ve allowed me to understand it better.
As such, a fan unfamiliar with all those TV series will probably find it a bit difficult to really engage with Marvels - at least on first viewing. When I saw the film theatrically in November 2023, my moderate confusion about some characters/situations meant I remained a bit detached.
Now on second screening, I can better judge Marvels on its own merits. Does this greater familiarity allow me to like it better this time?
Yeah, though I didn’t dislike Marvels on the big screen. I found it to become a mixed bag, one that I felt worked okay but that didn’t do much for me.
Given the way that initial viewing “educated” me, this second time allows me to better enjoy the story without the need to incessantly attempt to connect all the links I didn’t get. When seen in this manner, I think Marvels fares better.
Though not exceptionally well, though, as I’d still view it as second-tier MCU. As noted, I really liked Captain Marvel, and my hopes the follow-up would live up to its thrills don’t come true.
Part of the issue stems from running time. The MCU flicks tend to go long, perhaps due to the studio’s apparent need to make everything seem as “epic” as Endgame.
Of the 10 post-Endgame MCU movies prior to Marvels, the shortest still went for 119 minutes. The longest lasted 161 minutes.
At 105 minutes, Marvels cuts substantially shorter than any of the 10 MCU flicks mentioned. On the surface, I should view this as a positive, as it should come as a relief that we finally get a Marvel film that doesn’t feel the need to pretend it’s Lawrence of Arabia.
However, given all its characters and situations, Marvels brings a tale that could’ve really used more real estate. The film feels like someone ordered the filmmakers to cram the narrative into 105 minutes or else.
As a result, Marvels charges through its tale with alacrity and it loses nuance along the way. Another 10 to 15 minutes could’ve added some depth and not made the end result feel like a longer movie brutally chopped down to a shorter length.
Despite this issue, Marvels becomes an enjoyable ride. The three main heroes offer contrasts that enable their interactions to provide entertainment.
Marvels also tosses out plenty of action, and most of these scenarios kick into gear. While added character/narrative exposition might make these a little more impactful, they still seem creative and exciting.
Ultimately, Marvels winds up as middle-tier MCU. It doesn’t excel but it brings a lively adventure that deserved a better box office fate.
Footnote: do you need me to tell you to stick around for extra footage during/after the end credits? You shouldn’t, but I will anyway, though I’ll add that the bit after the text finishes offers just a cute soundbite and nothing more or consequential.
