Monica Rambeau was introduced back in 2019’s Captain Marvel as a young child, but due to a few snaps and a handy time-skip, she’ll be returning in the Marvel film’s upcoming sequel as a young woman played by Teyonah Parris. And though the The Marvels is looking to be a pretty crowded ensemble piece featuring not only the return of Brie Larson as Carol Danvers but young Muslim superhero Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), the sequel still plans to expand on the character dynamics introduced in Captain Marvel and WandaVision, particularly pertaining to Monica Rambeau.
Parris made her debut as the S.W.O.R.D. agent and future superhero in WandaVision, where we saw her gain her powers as well as deal with the trauma of losing her mother Maria. But there were still a few unanswered threads with Monica after WandaVision wrapped up its story: what will Monica do with her newfound superpowers? Why did she bristle at Carol Danvers’ name when she idolized her as a child? Those threads will be picked up in The Marvels, in which Parris is set to reprise her role as Monica Rambeau and expand on the character dynamics teased in both Captain Marvel and WandaVision.
In an interview with Variety, Parris revealed how The Marvels will expand on what we saw of the relationship between Carol Danvers and Monica Rambeau:
“Little Monica had a relationship with Carol Danvers, and we’ll get to see what happens with that relationship, and how or if, it brings them to the present.”
Parris added, “With Monica, we’ve established who she is in WandaVision, and in The Marvels, we have an opportunity to further understand who this woman is.”
Monica was the daughter of Carol Danvers’ best friend, Air Force pilot Maria Rambeau (played by Lashana Lynch in Captain Marvel), who had just recovered from cancer when we first meet Monica in WandaVision. But Monica disappears from her mother’s hospital bedside during the Blip (damn you, Thanos), and returns five years later to discover that her mother’s cancer had returned, killing her while Monica was gone. Soon after, Monica dives into investigating the Westview anomaly, but it’s clear over the course of WandaVision that she still has not processed her mother’s death, and may have an unspoken grudge against Carol Danvers because of it.
Monica Rambeau and Her Complicated History With Captain Marvel
In Marvel Comics, Monica Rambeau is the superhero who became the first female Captain Marvel, debuting in 1982 and going on to lead the Avengers. As she passed the mantle on, Monica adopted a slew of other superhero aliases, including Spectrum and Photon — the latter of which is the pilot callsign of Monica’s mother Maria in Captain Marvel.
In Captain Marvel, child Monica Rambeau quickly came to adore Carol Danvers after the former Air Force pilot reunited with her friend Maria and recovered her memories. But following the events of Captain Marvel, which was a prequel that took place during the ’90s, Carol Danvers leaves for outer space and doesn’t return, which might have stung Monica over the years, as she was raised by a single mother who later grew sickly.
All the way back during /Film’s Captain Marvel set visit, producer Jonathan Schwartz hinted that “there’s more story to tell with Monica,” saying, “I hope there’s more story to tell with Monica, certainly the movie leaves it open for that stuff. I think one of the things that was really fun about the stories that came together and the Monica relationship and the Maria relationship with Carol was being able to tell this story of female friendship, and intergenerational female friendships.”
Considering the way Monica bristled whenever Captain Marvel was mentioned in WandaVision, it may take a while for that relationship to become a friendship again.
The Marvels is scheduled to hit theaters November 11, 2022.
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