Nia DaCosta is opening up on the failure of The Marvels and her experience with the MCU machine and her future!
While the MCU had been showing cracks post Avengers: Endgame, 2023’s The Marvels was when the wheels finally came off this seemingly infallible box office machine. On paper, it should have worked: Brie Larson reprising her role as Captain Marvel, teaming up with Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau/Photon (Teyonah Parris) on a unique blend of comedy and superhero action.
Instead, the movie became the first outright flop since the MCU began. With a reported budget of $374 million, the film barely grossed over $200 million, not able to break even and the critical reviews were poor.
Speaking to Deadline, DaCosta (now directing 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple) opened up about her experiences and how it felt to endure the film’s failure.
"It’s so interesting, because the Marvel machine had so much chatter around it. But when I look back on it, everyone tried their best. Everyone was trying to make a great film, and I will say I’m really happy to have those relationships. I was just visiting the Avengers set last summer, which was really fun, catching up with the producers, seeing the Russos, and some of my friends were in the movie. So it was really nice, despite how everything went with the box office and the reviews, knowing that the relationships are so good. I look back and everyone tried their best and everyone was trying to do the right thing, and it is what it is.”
DaCosta’s words are frank yet also warm to show that she has no shame about the movie which fits as this film doesn’t deserve its reputation as a failure.
Why The Marvels deserves reconsideration
The movie was saddled with problems, such as the inevitable Marvel reshoots and rejiggering. More importantly, the months before its release coincided with the SAG-WGA strikes, meaning the stars couldn’t promote the film. That alone was a death knell for its box office take.
The movie was flawed, not helped by obvious cuts and reshoots and the main plot line was iffy. Yet whenever it concentrated on the main trio, it shone. Larson, Vellani, and Parris had amazing chemistry with the film focusing on their various struggles and issues, and Vellani in particular was delightful in her hero worship of Carol. It also didn't feel as bloated as some MCU entries do, which helped the pacing. How can you hate a movie with alien cats swallowing up people to "Memory?"
Maybe without the strikes and more promotion, the film could have performed better. It has gained a new audience on Disney+ and all three actresses seem set to return for the MCU in the future. There’s also the post-credits scene that sets up Avengers: Doomsday to make it an important chapter in the saga.
DaCosta has no bitterness over the situation, simply brushing off The Marvels’ failure as a noble effort that didn’t work out. It’s refreshing compared to directors who badmouth a film after it fails, and DaCosta seems open to an MCU return down the road.
Again, The Marvels wasn’t a success with audiences, yet DaCosta is still proud of it, and that hopefully can lead to a better reappraisal of this MCU failure.