“The Marvels” First Reactions: A Boisterous, Fast-Paced, Surprisingly Sweet Treat

The Marvels had its premiere in Las Vegas on Tuesday, with additional press screenings in New York and Los Angeles. This means we’ve got your first reactions to co-writer/director Nia DaCosta’s first MCU film, which features the return of Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel as she finds herself teamed up with her estranged niece, Teyonah Parris’s Monica Rambeau (reprising her role from WandaVision) and her number one fan in Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel (reprising her role from her Disney+ series). 

The Marvels finds these three, literally star-crossed superheroes (their powers are all mixed up thanks to the cosmic fallout from an anomalous wormhole) facing off against a formidable foe in Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton), a Kree revolutionary with a major bone to pick with Captain Marvel. As the final trailer revealed, Dar-Benn’s powers only seem to expand when she fights with the exponentially potent Captain Marvel, so the superhero trio will need to work together to find a way to stop a villain who is every bit Captain Marvel’s match.

“This film is so much fun and exactly what a comic movie should be,” the Washington Post‘s Herb Scribner wrote.  “The Marvels is so much fun, action-packed goodness, but genuinely hilarious and exciting to watch from start to finish,” wrote Mary Sue‘s Rachel Leishman. “This thing moves! The location-swap action is a blast,” writes Fandango’s Erik Davis. This is the general tenor of the reactions—genuine delight at a film that’s short, sweet, and filled with well-paced action.

Let’s have a glance at what some of the critics are saying in their first reaction to The Marvels.

For more on the Marvels, check out these stories:

“The Marvels” Final Trailer Reveals Major Cameo From MCU Star

“The Marvels” Clip Reveals What Happens When a Superhero and a Superfan Become a Superteam

“The Marvels” Teaser Tracks the Evolution of Captain Marvel

Featured image: (L-R): Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, and Teyonah Parris as Captain Monica Rambeau in Marvel Studios’ THE MARVELS. Photo by Laura Radford. © 2023 MARVEL.

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The Credits is an online magazine that tells the story behind the story to celebrate our large and diverse creative community. Focusing on profiles of below-the-line filmmakers, The Credits celebrates the often uncelebrated individuals who are indispensable to the films and TV shows we love.