In a final push to get people to secure their tickets for the Captain Marvel sequel, simply titled The Marvels, which comes out this weekend, Marvel Studios pulled out the big guns. And by “the big guns” I mean the canons that are on each of Tessa Thompson’s arms. Because Valkyrie, the love of my nerdy geeky ass life, is back in The Marvels final trailer. And she is gazing upon Carol Danvers’ face with the warmth of a thousand suns.
This is not Valkyrie in The Marvels trailer. I just wanted to make sure you got the joke about her arms. Have you seen them? My god.
It’s a nice confirmation of a long-standing rumor that Valkyrie would be making a guest appearance in the film for years now (some eagle eyed fans caught a glimpse of Tessa Thompson’s headshot in the background of a Captain Marvel behind the scenes all the way back in 2021).
Of course, fans have long wanted Valkyrie and Captain Marvel to be the cosmic superhero power couple of the MCU. Valkyrie’s been gay coded since she was first introduced making a strap-on joke about a laser gun. Carol’s first feature-length debut was so gay that Autostraddle dedicated an entire post just to ranking her outfits by lesbianism. Captains of the Carol/Valkyrie ship include none other than Brie Larson and Tessa Thompson themselves, who used the entirety of their 2019 press run leading into The Avengers: Endgame to spread the good word of fandom’s unrelentless gay agenda. Plus, there were some heavily unsubstantiated rumors in 2020 that a girlfriend for Carol might be on the horizon.
Alas, I have to be real with you. Valkyrie is only in The Marvels trailer for a millisecond (two milliseconds, if you include the voice over before we see her face). Now, is that enough to stir back up the Marvel fan within me and force her to finally get life together and buy a ticket? Of course it is. Am I probably being queer baited by the House of Mouse once again? You know it. But I only have one precious silly life, and if I want to spend two hours of that life looking upon Tessa Thompson being hot in a three-piece suit and Brie Larson as a lesbian superhero (I said what I said) breaking spaceships apart with her bare hands, then it is my god given right to do so and you cannot stop me.
If you’re coming to The Marvel for the plot — and I mean the actual plot, not the thing gays do when we say “I’m here for the plot” and the plot is Tessa Thompson’s face — here’s what you need to know: Since the end of Avengers: Endgame Carol Danvers has been off-world fighting baddies, meanwhile her step-daughter niece Monica Rambeau grew up to be a superhero in her own right (now played by Teyonah Parris as an adult). She has a lot of hurt feelings about Carol, which we assume are about Carol abandoning her as a child, but that’s not confirmed yet. The two of them will also be meeting Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani, superhero name Ms. Marvel) who is a Muslim teen nerd from New Jersey and a Carol Danvers’ superfan. The three heroes will be joining forces to battle Dar-Ben (Zawe Ashton) who is mad at Carol for… reasons we don’t know yet. But things will go bang bang clang boom I am sure, and I believe wholeheartedly that it will be great.
The Marvels has seen some brutal pre-release ticket sales slumps, in large part because of the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. The strike means that no stars of the film could promo it (though director Nia DaCosta has been on a quite press run, she’s the youngest director and the first Black woman to helm a Marvel release. I love her work!). Studios should give actors a fair deal that includes common sense understandings of the impact AI will have on creative industries and actors’ likeness. Without the work of actors, projects like The Marvels wouldn’t exist. Just had to get that off my chest! Back to Valkyrie and Carol Danvers, I wish them a lifetime of gay happiness — whether that be in fan fiction or maybe one day on the big screen.
Oh, could you imagine the massess losing their damned minds if Val kissed Marvel?
I’d pay extra to see that.
Personally, I went to see The Marvels for very shallow reasons: Brie Larson. Her jawline… does things to me.
That being said, the film turned out super enjoyable and entertaining. Pure frivolous fun with some surprising cameos. There’s also a scene between Valkyrie and Captain Marvel that’s probably spawned at least a dozen fanfics by now.
I noticed that among Danvers, Rambeau, Khan, Fury, Dar-Ben, and maybe Valkyrie, who seem to be the main characters, there’s just one white character. Who is probably going to be the primary focus, but it’s still notable.