The Marvels director Nia DaCosta has shared some insight into new villain Dar-Benn, and her potential link to another MCU character.
Played by Zawe Ashton in the upcoming sequel, rumors have been doing the rounds online linking her to Ronan the Accuser. The Kree warlord played by Lee Pace appeared as a Guardians of the Galaxy baddie, as well as having a brief appearance in Captain Marvel.
"Here’s what I will say about that, which in the comics is called the Universal Weapon. I would just say, for anyone watching this film, or having expectations, just know that I am deeply devoted to the comics. And so, there’s always clues there."
DaCosta is a self-confessed nerd who wrote fan-fiction as a child, and who talks of swapping Black Bolt comics with Iman Vellani and bristling at MCU changes to the comic books’ incursion lore (she says the MCU’s approach to explaining incursions "was always very stressful to me"). So it's fair to say, she's well aware of the comic book nods.
Interestingly, The Marvels executive producer Mary Livanos also teased that this weapon is a powerful tool that Dar-Benn uses to help achieve her goal. We can't wait to find out what that means...
That's not all we found out about Ashton's villain either, as DaCosta shares, "Zawe brings a lot of fun to being evil. Then, on the other end, she also brings a lot of pathos. I wanted a villain that was really fun and definitely on the wrong side of history, but you could see why they thought they were on the right side. That’s something that Zawe also brought to the table – really wanting the villain to be understandable even if you didn’t like her."
The Marvels opens in cinemas on November 10, 2023. This is just a snippet of our interview in the new issue of Total Film magazine, which features The Marvels on the cover. The magazine hits shelves this Thursday, August 17. This issue also comes with a free 48-page photo supplement looking behind the scenes at Warner Bros to mark 100 years of the studio. Check out the covers below:
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