*Monica-related WandaVision spoilers.*
Okay, so I know that The Marvels isn’t actually coming out until next year, but I’ve written about the two other main players in this upcoming team-up film, Carol and Kamala. And Monica has made her MCU debut, both as a child in her introduction in Captain Marvel and as a smart, badass S.W.O.R.D. agent in WandaVision. Clearly, I need to talk about her now so I’ll be ready to hit the ground running with the group interactions after the movie comes out.
As a child, Monica idolized her mom and her Auntie Carol—she was as clever and tough as the two of them and loved the thought of them kicking ass and taking names as pilots. When Carol returned after her long disappearance and needed Maria’s help to deal with the Skrulls, it was Monica who talked her mom into not backing out of the chance of a lifetime. “You have the chance to fly the coolest mission in the history of missions,” Monica pointed out. “And you’re gonna give it up to sit on the couch and watch Fresh Prince with me? I just think you should consider the kind of example you’re setting for your daughter.”
Fast forward to the post-Blip MCU. The last thing Monica knew, she was a S.W.O.R.D. agent and she nodded off by her mom’s hospital bed as Maria recovered from surgery. Suddenly, it’s five years later, and Monica is forced to learn that, in the blink of an eye, she disappeared with half the universe, and her mom passed still waiting for her to return.
That’s the state Monica is in when she gets tangled up in Westview. Only weeks post-Blip, she returns to work, where everything is different and the world has moved on without her. She’s sent to investigate a strange anomaly in New Jersey and quick gets pulled into it, caught in the Hex Wanda unwittingly created.
Initially, Monica is mind-controlled like everyone else caught in Westview, living out the safe, happy sitcom life Wanda has retreated into. But when she breaks through just enough to remind Wanda of reality, Wanda freaks and ejects her from the Hex to stay cocooned in her own denial. And it’s back on the outside that we start to see what a hero Monica really is.
She doesn’t have her powers yet, but Monica is more than just brave, intelligent, and well-trained. She’s compassionate. She felt Wanda’s grief within the Hex, understanding it as she understands her own grief for her mother. She recognizes Wanda’s actions as a result of deep hurt, and she realizes that their best chance of freeing the people of Westview is to reach out to Wanda, not try to outgun her.
This demonstrates a few different qualities. Obviously, she’s empathetic towards a grieving woman. She sees Wanda as a person rather than a walking collection of scary powers, recognizing that it’s possible to reason with a human in a way that you can’t with a weapon. And she’s practical enough to know that Wanda has S.W.O.R.D. outmatched in every way: if they go in guns blazing, they’re going to lose, and the people of Westview will get caught in the crossfire.
So she attempts to force her way back into the Hex to try and get through to Wanda, after working out a theory for how to get inside while escaping the mind control. She presses ahead despite Darcy’s warnings about how passing through the Hex multiple times will affect her. This is how she gets her powers, which widen her visual spectrum and allow her to absorb energy and phase through matter. Although things shortly pop off after she arrives and she’s not able to really speak to Wanda one-on-one, she uses her new powers to help the family when S.W.O.R.D. manages to break through and assists in helping the people of Westview once Wanda sets them free.
I loved getting to see the adult Monica in action in WandaVision, and I’m super excited to get more of her in The Marvels. WandaVision teased that her thoughts on Captain Marvel have definitely changed over the years, so I’m very intrigued to see what her reunion with Carol is like. And Kamala may be a Captain Marvel fangirl, but I can’t wait for her to meet Monica too!
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