The big questions we had after The Marvels, and a few answers

10.11.2023 - 19:21 / polygon.com

The Marvels is the most unexpected fun we’ve had at a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie in a while, but the admittedly rushed, choppy storyline left us with some questions. What was Dar-Benn’s whole deal? Are all those singing people OK? And most importantly: Who is Goose’s Flerken baby daddy?

As thin as The Marvels’ plot logistics are, it’s a testament to how enjoyable the movie is that we’re even interested in the answers to its plot holes. What’s that thing people say? Investigation is the highest form of flattery?

And for at least some of these questions — like “When did Captain Marvel and Valkyrie become friends?” or “What was up with that bit where they tried to give Monica’s costume wings?” — we have answers.

As much as we enjoyed it, The Marvels clearly made some choices about whose motivations it was going to prioritize exploring. Dar-Benn, the film’s villain, drew the short straw. And don’t go looking to the comics for answers: While Dar-Benn does exist in Marvel Comics, he’s a dude and was only in about three issues.

Dar-Benn’s warhammer marks her as an Accuser, an elite warrior rank of the Kree empire — just like Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser from Guardians of the Galaxy. He also had a big warhammer, though his was destroyed at the end of Guardians. Benn makes reference to Ronan as her predecessor, and presumably the Kree made her another hammer to replace his.

Benn seems to be in some kind of leadership position among the imperial remnants on the Kree homeworld of Hala, and she’s been plotting to use the Quantum Bands to create portals to replenish Hala’s spent natural resources. As a bonus, she intends to steal those resources from worlds that Captain Marvel holds dear, stripping their atmosphere, water, and light.

Neither of these questions have definitive answers, but we can infer a bit by connecting some dots. Given the world-ending potential of the Quantum Bands, Kamala and Carol probably decided to keep them separate. And Kamala probably survived using them because of her mutant abilities — since one of the bangles activated them, she probably has a connection with them that makes her immune to their destructive powers.

It would’ve been nice if the movie addressed either of these questions — it definitely feels like a scene went missing somewhere in all the rewrites and reshoots. But there’s enough evidence to hazard a plausible guess and avoid being fully consumed by the unknown.

The Supreme Intelligence is a superpowered AI that led the Kree civilization to civil war and ruin (it was played by Annette Bening in Captain Marvel). Because of this, Captain Marvel decided that the Supreme Intelligence was the cause of everything wrong with the Kree, so she destroyed it, plunging