Relationship Spotlight: Monica Rambeau & Carol Danvers (The Marvels)

*Some Carol-Monica-related spoilers.*

Looking at another duo within the main Marvels trio. The Carol-Monica relationship is very different from Kamala-Carol, for all kinds of reasons. Carol and Monica’s history begins long before this film, and Monica doesn’t have the same hero worship of Carol that Kamala does. Not to mention, their dynamic in The Marvels is, by necessity, inextricably different than their dynamic in Captain Marvel.

Carol and Monica’s relationship goes back to before the events of Captain Marvel. Carol and Monica’s mom Maria are best friends (or possibly a couple?), two skilled pilots who are used to having their skills questioned by the men around them. Regardless of the exact nature of their relationship, they’re family, and that includes Monica, who Carol affectionately calls “Lt. Trouble.”

When Monica is five, Carol goes on the fateful test flight that results in her disappearance. Maria and Monica can’t begin to imagine that Carol is no longer on Earth, that she’s acquired colossal superhuman abilities and had most of her memories stolen. It’s not until six years later that Carol finds her way back, somewhat by accident. She struggles to put together the pieces of what happened to her and who she used to be. Monica is eager to help her remember, showing Carol old photos and keepsakes. She’s thrilled, not just to have her “Aunt Carol” back in her life, but to have her return as a superhero. At this point, 11-year-old Monica definitely does have a bit of hero worship going on, but whereas Kamala later approaches their relationship as an elated fangirl, Monica’s idolization is mixed with the genuine relationship she and Carol have had since she was little.

At the end of Captain Marvel, Carol needs to leave Earth again, on a mission to stop the Supreme Intelligence. She promises Monica she’ll be back soon, leaving her jacket with Monica for safekeeping. …And then, more than 20 years go by.

When we next see Monica as an adult, she’s barely post-Blip, having just come back into existence since the events of Endgame. She’s a badass but compassionate S.W.O.R.D. agent trying to get her life back on track, even as she reels from the recent discovery that, while she was Snapped, Maria lost her long battle with cancer. She’s wrestling with her grief and fighting to carve out a place for herself in the world she’s been Blipped back into, and there’s a palpable sense of her moving forward on her own. She no longer expects Carol to ever come back, and even if she did return, Monica wouldn’t really want to see her.

Which of course leads into The Marvels. When a cosmic accident causes their powers, along with Kamala’s, to become entangled, Monica and Carol are forced to work together. This is complicated on both sides. Carol, who still hasn’t been able to regain all her memories, is happy to see Monica again, but also wistful that Monica has grown up without her and guilty at having been away so long. She’s been carrying a secret shame that she’s been trying to make right, and she hadn’t wanted to come back until she was able to fix her mistake.

So it hurts Carol to realize Monica wants nothing to do with her, but Monica’s hurting too. She’s angry that Carol didn’t keep the promise she made when Monica was a kid, and her feelings are also tied up in her own grief over having been Snapped when Maria died. She feels like Carol abandoned them and isn’t prepared to just pick up where they left off.

This makes for a compelling, emotional dynamic between them, and that’s before you factor in the additional wrinkle that Carol’s powers slow down her aging—it’s been over 20 years and Monica is all grown up, but Carol still looks the same. Both characters are fairly good at compartmentalizing, so they’re able to put aside their differences for the sake of the mission, but that doesn’t erase what either of them are dealing with. Carol tries to respect Monica’s feelings and not push too hard, while Monica struggles with feeling so vulnerable at a time when she just wants to focus on the task at hand.

Relationship Spotlight: Carol Danvers & Kamala Khan (The Marvels)

*Spoilers.*

Things have been a bit all-or-nothing with Marvel this year. The first nine months of 2023 saw only two MCU movies and one show, but in the last month, we got The Marvels and season 2 of Loki, season 2 of What If…? is starting this week (multiversal Wenwu!), and Echo drops next month. I already have a backlog of topics to write about, and with the new stuff coming down the pipeline, there will be lots of Marvel content to discuss for the foreseeable future.

The point is, The Marvels gave me plenty to be excited about, including the relationships between our three heroines. I thought about doing a write-up for them all together, but I realized I had something to say about each duo within the trio. And in that case, the most delightful place to start is definitely with Kamala and Carol!

Kamala Khan is more than just a Captain Marvel fangirl. Arguably, she is the Captain Marvel fangirl. She’s a teen who is brimming with passion and creative daydream energy for her favorite superheroes, and Captain Marvel is far and away her most favorite. Not only is her entire bedroom basically wallpapered with memorabilia and fanart, and not only is her own secret identity, Ms. Marvel, inspired by her hero. But the moment when Kamala’s powers become entangled with Carol and Monica’s? She’s drawing a comic fanart in which she and Captain Marvel are superhero BFFs.

That’s the world that Carol crashes into when their entanglement causes them all to switch places, suddenly appearing in Kamala’s bedroom surrounded by lovingly rendered images of her own face. And that’s very much the energy Kamala brings to going on an unplanned superhero team-up. Yes, she’s amazed at being transported into space, thrilled at meeting Nick Fury, and horrified at seeing Goose unleash her tentacles. But when she switches back home and learns that Captain Marvel was there? It’s on a whole other level.

So Carol, who’s been doing the opposite of the team-up thing of late, taking calls from Nick but working on her own, is now in the position of collaborating with an excitable superfan who’s not the least bit shy about her hero worship. Kamala is a lot, and I don’t begrudge her her admiration, but I understand Carol’s wariness too. Apart from her more usual go-it-alone approach, the fight to stop Dar-Benn hits some deeply personal buttons for her, and it can’t be easy to have a starry-eyed teenage girl sighing, “You know my name,” and babbling apologies about copyright infringement re: their similar monikers.

Early in the adventure, there’s a sobering moment where the heroes are leading an evacuation of Skrulls off a planet that’s being ripped apart. As the last ships are about to leave, Carol realizes there’s no way they can get everyone off the planet, and when Kamala pushes back against that, Carol draws a line, bluntly telling her, “We save who we can.” It’s a harsh thing to hear for a teen superhero who wants nothing more than to help people, and it hurts even more coming from her idol. It’s an important exchange, because even though it doesn’t shake Kamala’s ultimate faith in Carol, it does help Kamala start to see her as more of a person and not just a hero. (Not that it’ll stop her from writing Captain Marvel fanfic, of course!)

At the same time, while Kamala’s ardor can be overpowering, it’s also good for Carol to be around someone who admires her so much at a time when she herself is getting pulled down by the weight of her past failures. As Carol presses forward, trying to right a colossal wrong, she’s affirmed by a budding superhero who believes the best in her.

And really, I just love seeing teenage superheroes interact with adult ones. The dynamic is always interesting, and for me, even though their relationship is wildly different, Kamala and Carol are up there with Miles and Peter B. Parker from Into the Spider-Verse. The mentorship is fun, and it’s cool to watch young heroes come into their own while finding commonalities with older, more experienced heroes, both making each other better through their influence.

The Marvels (2023, PG-13)

Listen, I’m not here to talk about superhero fatigue or box office numbers or dudes who bleat about the “M She U.” I had a great time during this movie, complete with a lot of laughter, a few tears, and some badass heroes figuring out how to pull together as a team. Let’s do it!

A cosmic accident causes the powers of Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan to become entangled, making them switch places in space whenever they use them simultaneously. As they navigate this tricky issue, they’re not only searching for a solution to their entanglement—they’re also determined to thwart a Kree extremist who’s causing devastation to planets across the galaxy.

Look, I loved Captain Marvel, I loved Ms. Marvel even before the TV show came out, and I loved Monica on WandaVision. I went in ready to love this movie, and it didn’t disappoint. It’s not perfect—Dar-Benn is kind of a flat antagonist, and the story can get choppy and rushed in places—but it’s damn good and hugely entertaining.

These three heroes are a perfect storm to be thrown into a situation like this. We have Carol, who is actually very personable but who’s been on her own for a long time and tends to think she has to go it alone. We have Monica, who’s angry at Carol for dropping out of her life when Monica was a kid and never coming back, even after the Blip. And we have Kamala, certified Captain Marvel superfan who is so excited to be a part of this that she’s practically having an out-of-body experience. It makes for a great mix of personalities, relationships, and attitudes, and it’s both fun and compelling to watch these three work things out. There’s an awesome training montage, some lovely emotional moments, and copious amounts of Kamala just fangirling everywhere.

While the Marvels themselves are the main attraction, there’s a lot more than those three packed into a relatively short film. The Khan family is featured more than I would’ve expected (although, ugh to Mohan Kapur,) I feel like Fury is used better here than on his own show, and the cameos are equal parts fun and relevant. The planet of Aladna is a delight, and there’s all kinds of good flerken content. This is definitely a film I’m looking forward to watching again.

All three stars do a bang-up job. I love Brie Larson’s take on Carol, and it’s interesting to watch how she responds to being so forcibly prevented from going off and doing the solo hero thing this time. Teyonah Parris is wonderful as Monica, focused and professional but also deeply hurting; she strikes a great balance with her scenes. And Iman Vellani just is Kamala, there’s no two ways about it—100% endearing and an absolute hoot. The returning characters all do well with what they’re given, and I enjoy Seo-joon Park as Prince Yan of Aladna.

Warnings

Comic book violence, language, and thematic elements.