The Marvels Ending Explained: Decoding Climax and Mid-Credit Scene of Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani's Film and What They Mean for Marvel Cinematic 'Multiverse' (SPOILER ALERT)

The Marvels, the 33rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is directed by Nia DaCosta, uniting three superheroes on the big screen: Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, known as Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan, also known as Ms Marvel. The story revolves around their light-based powers becoming entangled, causing them to switch places whenever they use their abilities. A Kree supervillain named Dar Benn seeks vengeance, utilizing Kamala's power-bangle to create a space rift, enabling her to plunder resources from other solar systems for her dying planet. The Marvels Movie Review: Iman Vellani Salvages The Show But This ‘Mid’ Marvel Film Can’t Save MCU’s Downslide.

To thwart Dar Benn, the superheroes unite, overcoming internal conflicts. During this, we discover why Captain Marvel is dubbed the 'Annihilator' by the Kree. Nick Fury, Goose the Cat (and later her entire brood), and Kamala's family are entangled in this chaos. While the film follows a conventional ending, it hints at two significant ramifications for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Before delving further, be warned; there will be MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD...

Monica's Sacrifice

After escaping the destruction of Aladna (the movie remains silent about the fate of the planet and its Prince Yan), the trio confront Dar Benn, who has learned that Kamala possesses the other bangle. During the confrontation, Dar Benn seizes Kamala's bangle and uses both to open another rift in space. However, the combined power overwhelms her—similar to how Ronan the Accuser couldn't withstand the full force of the Power Stone—and she is obliterated. This new breach reveals an entrance to a different reality, which begins to leak into the old one.

Watch the Final Trailer of The Marvels:

To prevent this merging, Monica proposes closing the breach from the other side, while Carol and Kamala do the same from their end. After Carol retrieves the bangles, she and Kamala use their powers to further empower Monica, helping her fully embrace her Photon persona (her comic moniker, though the name is not explicitly mentioned... also her mother's nickname too). They succeed in sealing the breach, but Monica becomes trapped in the alternate reality, lost to her 'Aunt Carol.'

Carol Redeems Herself

Having lost Monica, Carol decides to act on her suggestion to save Hala by striking their sun with all her power, reigniting it and redeeming her standing before the Kree. Upon returning to Earth, she relocates Kamala and her family to Monica's former house, as theirs was demolished during the initial fight scene in the film. Carol now wears one of the bangles, while Kamala possesses the other, fulfilling the latter's wish to be twinsies. However, Kamala also has some other plans in mind.

In the subsequent scene, a character walks into a dimly lit apartment, where Pizza the dog is revealed. This character is none other than Kate Bishop, portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld, making her first appearance in the MCU since the Disney+ series Hawkeye. Kamala waits in the shadows, seeking to replicate Nick Fury's initial encounter with Tony Stark in the only post-credit scene of Iron Man (curious why the Kamala-Kate scene wasn't included in the post-credit scenes). Kamala echoes similar words to what Nick told Tony about the Avengers initiative, but this time, she aspires to form a team of young superheroes like hers, gathering intel on Kate from Monica's pad. Kamala even references Ant-Man's daughter, hinting at recruiting Cassie Lang, portrayed by Kathryn Newton in Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania, for her team.

Watch Post-Credit Scene of Iron Man, Featuring Nick Fury:

This signals the impending arrival of the long-awaited Young Avengers storyline in the MCU. Whether this team will have their own film or Disney+ series, or feature across multiple projects, is yet to be revealed. Beyond Kamala, Kate, and Cassie, other potential candidates for the team might include Kid Loki, the Hulk's son from Sakaar, one or both of Wanda Maximoff's children (if somehow resurrected in the Agatha series), and RiRi Williams, also known as Ironheart.

The X-Men are Here.... Again!

After the aforementioned epilogue, The Marvels features just one mid-credit scene, but boy, it's a major one! In this scene, we finally get to learn what happened to Monica, who wakes up in a strange facility and is shocked to see the person sitting next to her. It turns out to be her deceased mother, Maria Rambeau, except she isn't her mother. Similar to Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, Maria is once again a superhero. Here, she adopts the costume of Binary, an iteration of Maria's version of Captain Marvel. Loki S2 Ending Explained: Tom Hiddleston's God of Mischief Finally Gets His Throne and What It Means for TVA, MCU and Multiverse.

The Illuminati Scene From Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness:

Before we proceed, let's establish that going by what we saw in Doctor Strange 2 and now in The Marvels, it seems that in nearly every other universe, it is Maria who becomes Captain Marvel and not Carol. Carol might have only become so in the MCU original universe because her altercation with Maria during their flight race was an aberration, something Carol herself insisted on, as shown in the flashback scene conversation with her cancer-afflicted dying friend.

Returning to the mid-credit scene, Marvel fans are in for another surprise as another character is shown in the same room, who turns out to be Beast himself! Yes, the popular X-Men character is back, and he is portrayed by none other than Kelsey Grammer, who depicted the character in X-Men: The Last Stand. Additionally, Monica is actually in Professor X's hidden facility, and Maria even mentions him. However, Monica isn't too thrilled about this, as she realises her mother in this universe doesn't recognise her, and she has no clue how to get out of this reality. Perhaps she'll have to wait for Secret Wars, or maybe a certain Merc With A Mouth could come to her rescue in Deadpool 3.

It's intriguing to figure out which universe Monica has landed in. The X-Men were teased in Doctor Strange 2, which featured Patrick Stewart's Charles Xavier, but since Maria was Captain Marvel there, and she is Binary here, it indicates this is a different universe. Our next guess is that this could be the universe from the X-Men original trilogy featuring Grammer as Beast. However, a certain theme music played during the scene hints at another reality. The tune happens to be from X-Men: Days of Future Past, suggesting that this might be the reality where Logan wakes up at the end of the film, where the X-Men are portrayed by actors from the original trilogy, not the prequel series.

Logan Waking to Another Reality in Days of Future Past:

If this is true, then we might witness the return of the OG X-Men in either Deadpool 3 or Avengers: Secret Wars, or even in both. Is that an exciting news for your?

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 11, 2023 01:11 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).