There’s a lot to be excited about when The Marvels will come out next year. It is not only the direct sequel to 2019’s Captain Marvel, but the film also continues Monica Rambeau’s story from WandaVision and has the youngest director ever to helm an MCU project in Nia DaCosta. It is fair to say that the most anticipated MCU project for fans, Ms. Marvel , has been her TV show Ms. Marvel . Marvel.
Kamala Khan is aware that The Marvels shouldn’t be considered a standard MCU movie. There is potential to create something completely new, and ultimately something amazing. The Marvels should make a Bollywood film.
This sounds, at first glance, like a bad idea. If done right, it can work. The Ms. Marvel TV series is strong because it’s unapologetically presented from Kamala’s point of view. With little drawings and doodles, the audience views the world from Kamala’s perspective. Kamala’s house transforms into a concert venue when she starts singing. Kamala envisions herself as Captain Marvel when she imagines her house being transformed into a Hollywood stage.
Why wouldn’t Kamala Khan’s big-screen debut feel just like the Bollywood and Indian movies she loves? Kamala wasn’t in the original film, unlike Monica Rambeau and Carol Danvers. Kamala is very new to this world on a metatextual basis, and it is an opportunity for her to show a different world to the viewers.
Furthermore it allows the filmmakers to have fun in an entirely new way. Indian blockbusters have a unique style and are vivid visually. You can imagine a Marvel space opera with all the action, musicals, and dance numbers you only see in Indian cinema. This would infuse The Marvels with the exact same infectious joy as Ms. Marvel, without any lowering of the stakes. It’s clear that Western viewers can access the stylistic and bombastic tendencies of Indian cinema, as has RRR . This is evident from RRR success with Western audiences.
This could be the ideal opportunity to do something completely new within the MCU. Similar to Ryan Coogler’s embrace of African culture in building Wakanda’s world in Black Panther , DaCosta, The Marvels . could be a similar approach. It would only be an integral part of the movie’s DNA, and not a separate entity. The Marvels will be an excellent Bollywood movie. Anything else could be the greatest missed opportunity for the MCU.
To see what direction the MCU goes, The Marvels is set to release July 28, 2023.