Read a more detailed review from Ron at Women Write About Comics, and by Mon at Vocal. And, if you're wondering about our confusion about Nick Fury, read this explainer at Collider.com.

The Marvels promo images courtesy of Disney.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

We are The Stereo Geeks Podcast, and we're back.

Well, hopefully for a longer time than last time.

It was a sort of impromptu goodbye last time, because life got in the way.

You know, we are doing this podcast for fun.

I'm Mon, I'm a pop culture writer.

I write for Women Write About Comics.

You can also find me on HuffPost and tor.com.

Hello, I'm Ron.

I'm a marketer by day, pop culture writer by night.

I am an editor and writer for Women Write About Comics.

We got to see The Marvels at a press screening, and I have to say, we enjoyed it.

We were looking forward to it, and we had a good time.

Exactly, exactly.

For all the people worrying about the Marvel phase five properties, well, this was a good one.

It hasn't really been a very good year for Marvel.

For Marvel, let's just say that.

Yeah.

But this last bit with Loki season two and with The Marvels, it's given me some hope.

So let's just get into it.

So The Marvels, it takes off from the end of Miss Marvel, the TV show that came out last year.

The main character is Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers.

We last saw her properly in action in Avengers Endgame.

She's been name dropped ever since as well, and we did see her in What If, but that's a different version.

We find out what she's been up to when we're back in this film.

We also have Kamala Khan, Miss Marvel, whose escapades were seen during her TV show.

Her story takes place in New Jersey.

And then rounding it up is Captain Monica Rambeau, who we saw as a little girl in the first Captain Marvel movie.

And then we saw her as an adult in WandaVision.

So she has lived a life, an interesting life, especially post blip.

She's been really coming to terms with what happened to her, what happened to her life and her family.

So we do get all those touch points as well.

If you haven't seen all of these movies and properties and TV shows, everything is explained in this movie.

It's like they kinda assumed that a lot of people wouldn't have watched these TV shows and films, which is really sad, but in a way at least you have the context so you don't have to go through, I don't know, 15 years of Marvel stuff and even more reading up and research.

So I really like that about this film.

So the story kind of has three different settings.

We've got Jersey City with Ms. Marvel in it.

We've got Intergalactic Space with Captain Marvel, and we've got the SABER space station where Nick Fury is basically running the show and Captain Monica Rambeau is the person who takes care of everything.

And then we meet our antagonist, Durban, who is basically the leader of the Kree now.

Lots of things have happened since Captain Marvel took their evil AI down.

Darben has a score to settle.

Darben is played by Zawe Ashton.

This is her debut in the MCU.

And while she's on her mission, she doesn't realize that Captain Marvel, Captain Monica Rambeau and Kamala Khan all get sucked into her mission because of quantum entanglement.

I don't know what the actual term is.

I'm sure they mentioned it a few times, but quantum is the favorite word in the MCU.

So we're just going to use that anyway.

So suddenly these three find themselves in each other's lives.

Well, it's great for Ms.

Marvel, but for Monica and Carol, well, there's some history there.

So it's very interesting.

There's an emotional angle in there as well.

Not only do they have to deal with each other, they now have to deal with a new antagonist, the end of the world, the end of the galaxy, typical Marvel stuff.

Right, so what did we really like about this film?

It is really funny.

Exactly.

I did not expect to laugh that hard.

And like every scene, there is something really hilarious happening.

I love how whenever there is a comedic moment to take, this film just goes for it.

And they're like, you know what?

The actors have great chemistry.

They're really funny.

They're just riffing off each other.

Let's just let them do it.

I really quite enjoyed that.

I think Marvel has this habit of bringing in humor just to undercut really tense moments.

This film doesn't do that.

Yeah, I really like that because it just is funny.

For being funny's sake, it leans into that.

It leans into the weirder parts of it as well.

It's very sci-fi.

It's funny because like with Loki and The Marvels, I feel like they've really leaned into the sci-fi aspect of the storytelling and that's really worked for it.

We were just chatting one of the other day that almost all the properties this year for Marvel have really had very sci-fi heavy elements.

Marvel in general does have that aspect, but it's been more about action and adventure rather than sci-fi, but now it's really leaned into that, which is good.

But then with Ant-Man and The Wasp, Quantumania, as well as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3, I feel like they leaned into the wrong aspects of sci-fi.

I agree.

Quantumania was not good and Guardians of the Galaxy, I think tonally, it was so off for Marvel, it did not work.

I also think it didn't do the characters justice.

Obviously, there's a lot of concern going into the Marvels.

We have a new director and writing team, and I thought, oh no, maybe they won't understand these characters either.

Thankfully, they didn't do that.

And one of the things is that, yes, these characters can be funny, but they're not jokes.

And I really liked that they went with that.

What I really appreciated about this film, and I think you get a feeling of that from the very first scene, is that it leans into the vibe of what these characters have already been.

When Ms. Marvel is on screen, we get the essence of her show, which was very comic book-y and light and fun.

When Captain Marvel is on screen, then you have the very sci-fi elements.

And for Monica Rambeau, you get the more grounded, this is a person from Earth who is now in space kind of thing.

So it gets a lot of those aspects right, because it knows that the characters are the most important part of this film.

Yes, the story is interesting and it's fun.

And there are a couple of very fascinating sci-fi things that they do, which I was like, oh, okay, that was unexpected and also hilarious.

But the characters are why we came here.

We've seen these three women across the franchise.

Now we get to see them together.

It's the ultimate Marvel team up that fans have been waiting for, especially, let's just put it out there, female fans.

We haven't had very many female characters who get to lead the franchise, especially in Marvel, which has, what, 20 plus properties now.

It's taken a really long time.

The whole brouhaha around Captain Marvel's movie coming out was like they were doing something so out there.

I'm like, really?

A lady is leading a superhero film and that is a huge thing.

Exactly.

Now we have The Marvels, which has basically built on everything that Captain Marvel and WandaVision and Ms. Marvel has done before.

And Wakanda Forever.

Would have been fun if there was a Wakanda connection, but sadly, no.

But this film doesn't have all the burdens that comes with being the first woman led superhero movie in the Marvel franchise.

Just not like that.

It's just a movie with superheroes having fun.

Exactly.

I really like that it's not trying to break the mold because in a way, having so many female characters at the center is breaking the mold, which is ridiculous to say, but unfortunately we still live in that world.

It's just trying to have fun.

And I think I really like that.

This is escapist cinema.

And I think oftentimes superhero cinema forgets that.

So I like that about this film.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

And I think that it's really quite close to being perfect as a very simple Marvel story.

I don't know what people will be expecting from it.

I think it's just have fun.

That's it.

That is a good goal to have for a film.

Even the emotional beats, they work within the setting of the film itself and they don't like drag them on.

It has to be there because otherwise, why would we be invested in these characters?

It also doesn't tank the vibes.

Exactly.

When it's funny, it's funny. When it's emotional, it's emotional.

Got that balance right, which made it a lot more fun to watch.

And I think the other thing that I have mentioned in my review for WWAC is the editing was really crisp.

The pandemic has impacted the way people edit films.

There have been so many movies I've seen over the last couple of years that just feel like the scene dragged on too long or the cut was just too abrupt.

And I was just like, oh, we had this moment and you moved away.

I don't feel like the Marvels made those mistakes at all.

Yeah, I mean, there were probably three points which I think could have been re-edited a little bit tighter or a little bit more emphasis on the right places.

But again, those are tiny nitpicks for a film that is really tight, really crisp, really a brisk 105 minutes.

I feel like it's exactly the amount of time you need for the story, especially in a time when every movie has to be two hours long.

I honestly feel they could have added a few more minutes.

There is a significant incident in the past, which I really feel like they needed to flesh out a little bit more.

It doesn't mean that you don't actually understand what's happening in the film.

It just gets it across really quick.

I feel like this movie knows what's come before and that there's an audience who knows this universe quite well and understands the formula.

So when they do give us something that we may know what the outcome will be, maybe slightly predictable, they're like, there's no point belaboring that point.

We know what's gonna happen, but we want you to live with the characters in this moment.

Let's just let it play out.

And if it takes a long time, fine.

If it takes a shorter time, fine.

I honestly could have done with certain scenes being dragged out a little bit more.

The three actors have so much chemistry, like they could have ripped off each other for maybe five, 10 minutes more.

But the director, Nia DeCosta, was very clear about wanting this film to be under two hours. And that's what she made.

So fine.

Even if I wanted the moments to drag on, she did it.

That's the way we've got it.

That's fine with me.

Yeah, I'll also mention that we have read that Nia DeCosta may not have got her final vision in the end product.

I don't know what her vision would have been.

That being said, despite studio interference, this is a good film.

It does what it says on the tin, which is that it brings these amazing superhero characters to the fore.

It gives us a lot of story, gives us a lot of plot, action scenes.

The effects are much better than in quantumania, if you're worrying about that.

That's a low bar.

I thought the space scenes were really captivating.

I love space anyway, and on a big screen, it's gorgeous to look at, but there were a couple of shots where I was like, hmm, that looks very different from what we've seen before.

And that's saying something, considering the Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy and Infinity War and Endgame have a lot of scenes in space.

I feel like the Marvels really enjoyed the setting of space and putting these characters in space.

Of course, Captain Marvel is used to it.

Monica is an astronaut, but Ms.

Marvel's journeys in space are particularly fun to watch in this film.

Yeah, and let's not forget the supporting characters.

There's Nick Fury.

He's carrying the franchise at this moment.

Exactly, exactly.

That being said, I think he would be one of the aberrations with the characters.

Not to say Samuel L.

Jackson isn't brilliant.

He's so good.

I think this is one of his most fun, exciting performances in the MCU, simply because he seems to be enjoying himself.

He seems to be enjoying riffing off these different actors.

But where does this version of Nick Fury fit within the story of Nick Fury?

I have no idea.

We've just seen Secret Invasion.

The man we see in The Marvels is nothing like the man we see in Secret Invasion.

When did the story happen?

I have no idea.

It just doesn't make sense.

That was a very confusing part of the film for me.

So I felt when I was watching The Marvels that the Nick Fury we see in this film is supposed to be for audiences who haven't watched Secret Invasion.

I don't know if Marvel realized that Secret Invasion wasn't going to do as well as they hoped because people did not take to it at all.

There were a lot of things I really enjoyed about Secret Invasion.

I mean, Samuel L.

Jackson's acting is great, but Nick Fury, the character was all over the place.

There were so many dropped story beats.

There were things that were happening that just didn't make any sense.

It didn't flow from anything.

And what we kept hearing was, this is gonna lead directly into the Marvels, so you need to watch Secret Invasion.

But there is no connection at all.

This Nick Fury is super chill.

He has not gone through the events of Secret Invasion.

That's what I'm thinking.

Yeah, that's exactly how you feel.

And it's come to a point where maybe they've realized you don't have to watch and consume all of Marvel to enjoy any of the Marvels.

That being said, what's the point of having an expansive universe if they don't sort of tie into each other?

Well, that's the thing, because the Marvels does have a few cameos that directly link to other franchises within the MCU.

And that's great.

But at the same time, it does feel like it's aimed at audiences that don't want to watch the previous Marvel movies.

And I'm very confused about that particular aspect of it, because with Loki, with Ant-Man, with the Guardians of the Galaxy, there's a heavy emphasis on, you have to have seen everything that came before.

Is there a reason why the Marvels is not getting the same treatment?

It's an interesting point, and I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

In one way, that means a lot of people can go into the Marvels gold.

That means new audiences, audiences who've been kind of afraid of the vastness of the MCU, they can actually be introduced to these characters, enjoy these characters, which is especially important for a film that has, you know, a white female lead, a black female lead, a South Asian female lead.

You're getting those audiences, those communities in there.

That's great.

But very interestingly, The Marvels, which has these female leads, is the one film where Marvel goes in thinking, yeah, nobody's ever watched any of this other stuff before, so we might as well put in the context or just keep it completely separate, standalone from all the other properties.

I don't know the thinking behind that.

Is it good?

Is it bad?

We can only tell if this movie is a success, box office success, and also has a legacy.

That's the important part.

But we're already seeing people complain about some aspects of it, which again, you can enjoy this film, you can nitpick, you can have critiques about the story, the directing, the editing, et cetera.

So far, I haven't seen that much of the misogyny that came across with Captain Marvel, which is good.

Maybe they've learnt their lesson, but I do feel like there is still a kind of thinking for a lot of folks where it's like, if it's not perfect, it's bad, we should never do it again.

I agree.

I'm hoping that things get better.

Mostly I've seen very positive reviews.

I feel like Marvel and Disney are relying heavily on word of mouth from press screenings and things because there hasn't been as much marketing for The Marvels.

It's been the usual, oh, we've got trailer, we've got a new trailer, we've got a new trailer.

Okay, what about other stuff?

It doesn't help that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes had to be on all this while.

They fortunately have finally been resolved, yay.

That's happened just as we were recording, but here's hoping it stays that way and the strikes are resolved.

Right, the Saga After deal is tentative still, so I'm hoping that everything will be finalized soon.

But yes, maybe it would have made a huge difference if the actors were there to promote the film, but I don't see why that should be a problem.

I don't think so either.

I'm really excited that this film came out.

I'm really excited that it came out good and fun and enjoyable.

I do think it's a family film that everyone can enjoy.

Yes, you can enjoy it if you've never seen a Marvel film before, which is great, which is really important.

One of the most fun parts of this film, and I think which will appeal to a wider audience, an audience that has been left out a lot in superhero and genre fare, are the Khan family.

So Kamala Khan, she has her mom, her dad and her brother.

And surprisingly, they have a much larger role in this film than I expected.

I really thought they'd be like in one scene in the beginning and we'd never see them again.

But no, they are recurring throughout the story.

I really appreciated this film, just wanting the Khan family to experience all this absolute insanity.

And you know what?

At the end of the day, yes, Kamala has powers and Ms. Marvel is Jersey City's new hero, but her family are just like regular people who are just trying to live their lives.

And I like the comedy that comes from being the family of a superhero who is very young, very impressionable and a huge fan of somebody that she's actually meeting.

And the film just riffs on that.

It just has so much fun with their scenes.

And I was just very delighted to see them appear again and again in the movie.

And there was some really fun, relatable South Asian moments that happened in this film and I was just like, yes, this is exactly how South Asian family would act.

It was very, very amusing.

There was a South Asian person at the screening with us and she was really feeling it.

There were a few moments that, honestly, that's like pointing at the screen, hooting with laughter, slapping your knee kind of funny, because we've seen it happen before.

It's relatable.

It resonates.

It's good.

But also it doesn't demonize the family, even when they're being like overbearing and overconcerned.

It's okay.

That's understandable.

Kamala's a teen, you know?

Obviously her family is gonna worry about her.

It doesn't demonize them.

It doesn't make them a joke.

They're not just comic relief.

The thing is everybody is comic relief in this film.

So that's the good thing.

Everyone's funny.

Everybody has these moments.

So I really appreciated that, that they're a normal family.

They just do things which, when you're not Kamala Khan having to deal with it, is very funny.

Exactly, and what I really liked about the Khan family's involvement in the Marvels was that it harkens back to the comics.

After a while, Kamala's family does get involved in her adventures and not always because they want to, but some of their adventures, even the ones out in space, they do get involved in those and they're always very supportive and they understand why she has to do what she has to do.

That doesn't change the fact that they're very worried about their daughter or sister and this one really enjoyed that aspect of it.

There was a comic book that I had read, which was not written by a South Asian person and in that comic, not gonna name who it was.

This doesn't sound good.

It wasn't because I was reading it and this person had just completely misunderstood the relationship that Kamala has with her parents.

And yes, there's teenage angst and everything. Everybody goes through that, that's fine.

But there was such a very obviously racist element to, oh, her Muslim parents are being like this because they are Muslim.

And this film does not do that.

It doesn't do that.

It's just like, this is a family who loves their child and they're worried about her, but they also know why she has to go fight the universe.

So yeah, I mean, it's a small thing, but it's actually kind of big considering what's happening in the world right now.

And we need that kind of positivity.

If it's not obvious yet, we highly recommend this film.

You have to go watch it, enjoy it.

I'm not gonna say, go watch it on the biggest screen.

Honestly, it's up to you, but I would highly recommend watching it.

We want more films like this.

We want more films with inclusive, diverse representative cast.

We want the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be fun and good quality.

Exactly, like it used to be.

Phase five has been not great.

And there is hope now.

I'm really excited for what The Marvels is saying about what's gonna happen in the future of the MCU, what's gonna happen with these characters.

And you know what?

If you just want an hour and 45 minutes of laughter and joy, this is it.

This is your movie for the fall.

Go ahead and see it.

Thanks, and that's all from us for this episode.

And hopefully you will hear from us again very soon, unless life gets in the way.

Don't quote me on it.

The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva.

The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.