Marvel Studios is back with its first new movie since “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and, should the release schedule hold, its last new movie until the third “Deadpool,” which doesn’t come out until next July.
This being a Marvel movie, there are characters old and new to keep track of, as our heroes jet across the galaxy in an attempt to thwart a massive threat to our world and countless others.
Here’s a complete cast and character guide for “The Marvels.” The only folks we have left out are the ones you definitely don’t want spoiled.
Brie Larson as Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel
Carol Danvers is a former test pilot turned superhero, whose origins were traced in “Captain Marvel” and who was last seen in 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame,” lending a hand in what is now canonically referred to as the Battle of Earth. (She was a major player in the defeat of Thanos.) She is also briefly scene during a mid-credits scene in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” She is one of the more powerful heroes in the MCU. And she has an adorable pet cat/alien sidekick named Goose.
Larson won an Oscar for the 2015 film “Room.” She also appeared in “Kong: Skull Island,” “Fast X” and can currently be seen in “Lessons in Chemistry” on Apple TV+ and can be heard in “Scott Pilgrim Takes Off,” premiering next week on Netflix.
Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau
Rambeau is the grown-up version of the character seen in “Captain Marvel” as a young child. The adult version of the character was introduced in “WandaVision,” where she gained special powers after walking through the Scarlet Witch’s mighty hex. (Comic books!) Rambeau now works for S.A.B.E.R., which is kind of the space version of S.H.I.E.L.D., hopefully with less corruption.
Parris co-starred in “The Marvels” director Nia Da Costa’s previous film, 2021’s “Candyman.” Before that she starred in Spike Lee’s “Chi-Raq” and Barry Jenkins’ “If Beale Street Could Talk.” Earlier this year she starred in “They Cloned Tyrone” on Netflix, one of the year’s best movies. Watch it.
Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel
One of the newest heroes in the MCU, Kamala Khan has light-based powers, at least partially unlocked by a mysterious bracelet sent to her by her grandmother. But that’s only partially where she gets her powers, as it was revealed in the last episode that she’s a mutant. You know, like the X-Men! How cool is that? Anyway, she’s from Jersey City. And she’s thrilled to team up with Monica and Carol. Like over the moon.
Vellani’s first project was “Ms. Marvel.” The only other thing she has done, in character, was for the Disney Wish cruise ship in a dinner show. Remember to tip your cabin crew.
Zawe Ashton as Dar-Been
Dar-Been is a unique villain in that she has ties to both Kamala (as she is searching for the bracelet that Kamala wears; she’s got the other one) and Carol (her planet was plunged into darkness following a visit from Captain Marvel, who she refers to as the Annihilator). She is from a planet that is dying and she is looking to reclaim resources from other planets – including our own – by any means necessary. She leads the Kree and has a weapon very similar to Ronan the Accuser’s in the first “Guardians of the Galaxy,” for what it’s worth.
Ashton is a British actress who has ton a ton of television work (including an obligatory appearance on “Doctor Who”). She might be familiar to American audiences for her work on “The Handmaid’s Tale” or for her appearances in movies like “Greta,” “Nocturnal Animals” and the deeply underappreciated art world horror movie “Velvet Buzzsaw” for Netflix. It’s a trip.
Park Seo-joon as Prince Yan
Prince Yan is the leader of an idyllic planet where they communicate exclusively through song. This leads to one of the more charming and bizarre sequences in any MCU movie. He also shares an unexpected history with Carol that’s too good to spoil here and helps the team with battle-ready upgrades to their costumes.
Park is, judging by the amount of Beatles-like screaming that accompanied his fairly limited screen time, a dreamboat. He has also starred in several TV series in Korea (including “She Was Pretty” and “What’s Wrong With Inspector Kim” – great titles) and movies like “The Chronicles of Evil” and “Concrete Utopia,” which came out this year.
Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
Nick Fury returns! A foundational member of the MCU who first appeared in a post-credits scene at the end of “Iron Man” way back in 2008. Back then he was proposing to Tony that they put together a team. Soon he would lead S.H.I.E.L.D. and now S.A.B.E.R. He was last seen in this year’s Disney+ series “Secret Invasion,” as he tried to thwart a terrorist Skrull uprising. Now he’s attempting to figure out what is going in with the team’s powers switching and saving his space station from an alien infestation.
A living legend, Jackson has appeared in the “Star Wars” prequels, movies for Paul Thomas Anderson (“Hard Eight”), Quentin Tarantino (“Pulp Fiction,” “Jackie Brown,” “Django Unchained,” “The Hateful Eight”) and John McTiernan (“Die Hard with a Vengeance,” “Basic”). He also memorably provided the voice of Frozone in “The Incredibles” and its sequel. You can watch him next in Matthew Vaughn’s “Argylle,” out in February.
Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba Khan, Mohan Kapur as Yusuf Khan and Saagar Shaikh as Aamir Khan
Muneeba and Yusuf are Kamala’s loving, somewhat overprotective parents. Aamir is her loving and not as protective older brother. They get swept up in the adventure, spending time with Fury on his space station and attempting to save it from the aforementioned alien menace. All three performers previously played the roles on “Ms. Marvel.” Shroff is an Indian-born American actress who you might remember from “The Big Sick.” She was also a voice in Pixar’s “Soul.” Kapur is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi films and – fun fact! – has dubbed a lot of stars for the Hindi version of their movies, including Dwayne Johnson, Nicolas Cage, Jackie Chan and Tom Hardy. How cool is that? Shaikh is a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade and can be heard in this year’s blockbuster videogame “Starfield.”
