Remember The Marvels? The 2023 team-up that got dunked on, tanked at the box office, and took a beating from review-bombers before it even opened? It is quietly having a second life with fans who are catching up and wondering why everyone was so mad about it in the first place.
Quick refresher
The Marvels brings together Brie Larson as Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel. The hook: every time one of them uses their powers, they swap places with another. It is a playful, chaotic setup that forces the trio to actually team up, not just pose together.
The reappraisal
Over on Reddit, a bunch of MCU latecomers are reporting back with a very different vibe than opening weekend. One viewer who finally pressed play after falling a couple years behind summed up the mood like this:
"Very confused about the negativity... what a pleasant surprise."
What the re-watch crowd is saying
- The chemistry lands: plenty of people think the Carol/Monica/Kamala dynamic is the whole show, and it works. The action is solid, but the trio bouncing off each other is what sells it.
- Kamala stays a standout: multiple fans called Iman Vellani the highlight, especially whenever Kamala geeks out over Carol. Some even said the movie became a comfort watch and made them realize how much they adore Vellani.
- Specific scenes got upgraded to MCU gold: the baby flerken bit and that first space-swap fight are getting singled out as top-tier sequences.
- But the knocks are real: even among defenders, there is agreement that the story wobbles, the villain is thin, and the CGI goes soft in spots. A few called it weird and occasionally nonsensical, albeit in a fun way.
- The discourse factor: some fans argue the backlash was not just about craft, pointing at the ugly corner of the fandom where sexism and racism still live. Two of the leads are women of color, and all three heroes are women; people think that mattered in how loud the hate got.
- And not everyone is convinced: others left disappointed we still do not know what Carol was up to between this and her first movie. There is also the take that Ms. Marvel has not been given much to do on the big screen yet, despite the character being beloved.
Why this feels like inside baseball
The movie was an easy target in the moment: pre-release review-bombing, a messy rollout, and sky-high expectations for anything with Captain Marvel in the title. Watching at home, without the noise, it plays more like a breezy, clever body-swap team-up that lives or dies on cast chemistry. For a lot of viewers catching up now, that chemistry carries it.
What is next on the big screen
Next up for the MCU in theaters is reportedly Spider-Man: Brand New Day, currently dated for July 31, 2026.