The Marvels release date, cast, trailer, and more

It may feel like a while since Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 arrived on the big screen, but we've still got a few months to wait before The Marvels follows suit as the next MCU theatrical release. However, there's no shortage of fun titbits of info to tide us over – especially thanks to the cover feature in the latest issue of Total Film (did you know, for example, that Brie Larson is allergic to cats and needed a stunt double for her scenes with Goose?).

We've got your complete guide to The Marvels right here, from teaser trailer Easter eggs to exclusive quotes from director Nia DaCosta and brand new sneak peeks of the movie – including Zawe Ashton's Kree villain, Dar-Benn. 

The Marvels release date

The Marvels will be released in theaters on November 10, 2023. Earlier this year, Marvel shared a new poster (which you can see below) confirming its delay from the original July 28, 2023 release date. 

It will likely then head to Disney Plus at a later date, like all other MCU movies – but there’s no streaming release date just yet. The Marvels was originally supposed to hit theaters a bit earlier than this. Back when Kevin Feige announced the movie at San Diego Comic-Con in 2019, Marvel was aiming for a July 8, 2022 release. However, this was pushed back by pandemic-related delays.

For a while, The Marvels was set for release on February 17, 2023. Then at the beginning of 2022, Marvel switched this with the Ant-Man 3 release date. Now it's been pushed back to November, meaning we’ll have to wait a while longer for more Captain Marvel. 

The Marvels trailer

The first teaser trailer for The Marvels is now here, and it promises all the cosmic chaos we were hoping for. After the Ms. Marvel finale, it became clear that there was a serious case of switching places on the cards for Carol Danvers and Kamala Khan, and the new trailer shows that Monica Rambeau is caught up in it, too. While carrying out a mission for Nick Fury in space, we see her suddenly swap places with Kamala, who seems more than a little shocked to suddenly find herself in zero gravity...

We also get a glimpse of the movie's villain, played by Zawe Ashton, an amusing confrontation between Kamala's mother and Carol, and a necessary dose of Goose the cat helping to take down some bad guys. There are plenty of Easter eggs hiding in plain sight, too.

A second trailer gives us a new glimpse at Dar-Benn and the trio getting to grips with each other’s powers (easier said than done...), much to Nick Fury's amusement. You can watch that in full below.

The Marvels cast

The Marvels will be led by Brie Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, who is reprising the role she played in Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, and the post-credits scenes of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Ms. Marvel. 

As explored in the first Captain Marvel, she’s a former US pilot who gets cosmic powers after being exposed to the Tesseract’s powers. She’s later made into a weapon for the Kree when she’s given a blood infusion and has her memories wiped. We’ve seen her most recently as a member of the Avengers, helping Earth’s mightiest heroes defeat Thanos.

She’ll be joined by Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. Kamala is a New Jersey-based teen who discovers her superpowers when she puts on a bangle inherited from her great-grandmother. This unlocks a part of her DNA, allowing her to access cosmic energy to create hard light constructs, extend her limbs, and teleport to new places and times. In the season finale of Ms. Marvel, we also learned that Kamala is a mutant, introducing the superhero group to the MCU.

WandaVision’s Teyonah Parris will also be a main character in the upcoming movie as she reprises her role as Monica Rambeau. Monica is the daughter of Carol’s best friend Maria Rambeau, who appeared in the first Captain Marvel. She’s also a S.W.O.R.D. agent who can absorb energy. She gained her powers by traveling through the Hex surrounding the Westview multiple times, altering her DNA.

Her final scenes in WandaVision set up her future in the MCU. In the mid-credits sting, Monica was recruited by a Skrull. She tells Monica: "I was sent by an old friend of your mother’s. He heard you’d been grounded, he’d like to meet with you." The Skrull then points up, indicating they’re heading to space. That old friend? It seems pretty likely it will be Nick Fury.

Fury is played by Samuel L. Jackson in the MCU and has appeared in numerous Marvel movies. As the former director of S.H.I.E.L.D., he was instrumental in forming the Avengers. Fury also appeared in the first Captain Marvel movie, where he grew close to Carol, helping her discover her past, and we know he'll be back in The Marvels after Secret Invasion wrapped up earlier this year. 

And it's not just Fury – it seems that Maria Hill, played by Cobie Smulders, could also be back, according to The Hollywood Reporter, despite her death in the first episode of Secret Invasion. 

Zawe Ashton has been cast as a villain in the upcoming movie – it's been confirmed that she'll play Dar-Benn, a general who takes control of the Kree Empire in the comics. She was cast by director Nia DaCosta when she landed The Marvels gig. "I didn't think it through," she says of taking the role to Thrillist. "I just knew that I wanted to serve Nia." 

Her character looks to have links to Ronan the Accuser, a Kree warlord played by Lee Pace in Guardians of the Galaxy. She wields his hammer in The Marvels' teaser trailer and, when asked about this detail, DaCosta dropped some hints to Total Film. "Here’s what I will say about that, which in the comics is called the Universal Weapon," she teased. "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."

Parasite’s Park Seo-joon has also joined The Marvels in an undisclosed role. Speaking to the Guardian, he said: "When I first heard that the Marvel Cinematic Universe wanted to speak with me, I couldn’t believe it. I actually couldn’t believe it." As well as the announced cast, we can also expect to see some more familiar faces from Ms. Marvel now Carol has ended up in Kamala’s home.

The Marvels plot

Plot details for The Marvels are still a little scarce. However, we do have some idea of the direction that The Marvels will be going in thanks to the casting announcements and the teaser trailer – and some exclusive Total Film quotes.

First of all, we’ll be picking up with Carol and Kamala post-Ms. Marvel. That series ended with a post-credits scene setting up The Marvels. In this, Kamala’s bangle begins to glow before she’s teleported somewhere unseen, falling through her bedroom cupboard in the process. Moments later, a new figure appears from the cupboard. It’s Captain Marvel, whose fingers are glowing purple as she looks around Kamala’s room, sees hundreds of posters of her face, and simply says: "Oh no, no, no."

While this doesn’t give much away, one of the intriguing aspects of the post-credits scene is how Captain Marvel ended up in Kamala’s room – and why they’re linked. Head writer of Ms. Marvel Bisha K. Ali shared that we’ll have to wait and see about what the link is. She told Deadline: "It will all be revealed in the movie. I was excited to help set up all these riddles for you guys that will lead into the movie where the story continues."

That bangle is set to be pretty important, too – the movie's villain, Dar-Benn, has a second bangle, forming a pair with Kamala's – and this will have repercussions on not just The Marvels but the MCu as a whole.  "You'll get enough of the story of how and why Dar-Benn has acquired the bangle," DaCosta told Total Film, with executive producer Mary Livanos revealing that this is done fairly early on in the movie. 

"In Ms. Marvel, we learned that the bangle, paired with some other form of power, can force a temporary hole in space and time to lead to somewhere else," she explains. "With the power of both bangles, more is definitely possible. And we see the culmination of that over the course of this movie. It definitely leads to plentiful opportunities for the future of the MCU, whatever the Avengers and Secret Wars teams may want to do with them."

We also know that Captain Marvel has a new costume for the upcoming film, which has a nod to Kamala. Ali added to Deadline: "Her new suit looks so good with how it coordinates with Kamala. It was delicious! The joy I felt seeing her standing in Kamala’s bedroom I can’t describe. It was perfect." Plus, set photos may have revealed Kamala's new costume, too. 

As well as this, we know there will likely be some unfinished business with Monica. In WandaVision, she explained that she felt Carol abandoned her mother after she got her superhuman gifts. So there may be a confrontation brewing between these superheroes there as well.

Brie Larson has also hinted that the movie will be exploring Carol's less heroic qualities. "The first one was the origin story of who she is. Now, it's digging into some more of the complexities, that there's much more to her than that," she told Good Morning America. "There are parts that are not so great about her, that we can see a hero is not being the person that makes every right decision all the time."

Given Fury’s involvement in the plot as well, it’s possible that the Skrulls could make another appearance – especially as he's still helping them find a new home after the events of Secret Invasion.

The first footage from the movie was revealed behind closed doors at D23. This reportedly showed what happens after Carol Danvers meets Kamala’s family in a bid to work out what’s going on after the events of the Ms. Marvel post-credits scene. Elsewhere, there’s even more body-swapping as Goose and Monica Rambeau seemingly end up somewhere new, too.

And, while DaCosta is conscious that superhero fatigue does exist, she thinks her sequel brings something different to the table. "The biggest difference from the other MCU movies to date is that it’s really wacky, and silly," DaCosta told Total Film. "The worlds we go to in this movie are worlds unlike others you’ve seen in the MCU. Bright worlds that you haven’t seen before."

For more on the MCU, check out our guide on how to watch the Marvel movies in order. We’ve also got all of the confirmed upcoming new superhero movies, as well as a thorough guide to the Marvel timeline.