The Kree Villain in THE MARVELS Confirmed; Brie Larson Talks About Film's Focus
Marvel Studios released the first trailer for The Marvels this week, and it looks like the film will be a lot more fun than I was expecting. I’m especially looking forward to seeing Kamala Khan’s (Iman Vellani) story arc expand because she’s a fun character.
One thing that I wasn’t sure about with the trailer, is who the main villain in the story is. There are a few shots of Zawe Ashton's mysterious Kree character, seen wielding a Cosmi-Rod, which is similar to what was used by Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace).
Thanks to a press kit that was sent out, it’s been confirmed that the villain in the film is the Kree warlord Dar-Benn. The obscure character first debuted in the 1990s as part of the Silver Surfer comic series, and at one point was the emperor of the Kree Empire.
Dar-Benn only has a few appearances in the comics and I imagine that this live-action version of the character is going to be a completely new character that just uses the name. The character is seen in the trailer wearing a bangle similar to the one Kamala Khan.
Brie Larson returns to the role of Carol Danvers, a.k.a. Captain Marvel, in the film, and in an interview with Good Morning America, the actress talked about the focus of the sequel and her character: "The first one was the origin story of who she is. Now it's digging into some of the complexities. That there is much more to her than that, that there are parts that are not so great about her. That we can see a hero as being a person that doesn't make every right decision all the time."
She went on to talk about how much fun she has with this Marvel gig, saying: "I am so lucky that I get to play pretend with my job. The fact that I'm an actor came from me being a small child and saying it to my mom. I feel like sitting here on this couch talking about these projects is honoring this inner child inside of me. I have a very vivid interior world and it's something that I've cultivated and is very special to me.”
The movie follows the events of Ms. Marvel and sees Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) as unexpectedly swapping places with each other every time they use their powers, so they have to team up to figure out why. The film also sees the franchise returns of Samuel L. Jackson, Saagar Shaikh, Zenobia Shroff, and Mohan Kapur. New cast members include Zawe Ashton and Park Seo-joon.
Nia DaCosta is directing the movie from a script by written by Megan McDonnell. The movie is also said to “include many important MCU characters,” with the film being described as a "mini-Avengers film."
The Marvels is set to hit theaters on November 10th.