‘The Marvels’ Hints at the Survival of This Forgotten Character

There weren’t a lot of things that were easy to miss in ‘The Marvels’ because this short yet very precise movie was able to deliver its promise of giving fans an enjoyable superhero movie. Of course, the post-credit scene was also incredibly informative, as it gave us one of the most interesting scenes about the future of the MCU. We are talking about a certain someone who managed to survive arguably the most brutal series of deaths that Marvel Studios has to offer. And this is what we are here to talk about.

Monica meets her mother in another universe

The storyline of ‘The Marvels’ explored the relationship between Monica Rambeau and Carol Danvers incredibly well as we realized that Monica felt alone when her aunt never visited her even after the passing of her mother, Maria, who died from cancer during the time that Monica was away after the Snap. Carol and Monica were able to resolve their issues after they understood how they felt about the things that happened to their lives in the past.

With this resolve, Carol and Monica teamed up with Kamala Khan to take Dar-Benn on in their final confrontation with the villain as they managed to defeat her. But Dar-Benn overloaded and exploded after trying to use the power of the Quantum Bands. The explosion created a hole that tore through time and space and led to a different universe. 

Monica figured out that the only way for them to close that hole was for her to absorb the full powers of Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel so that she could use her own powers to close the hole from the other side. As any true hero would, Monica closed the hole with no hesitation, even though she knew that she was going to get stuck in a different universe. So, while Carol, Kamala, and the rest of S.A.B.E.R. grieved the loss of their friend, Monica woke up in another universe during the post-credit scene.

In that scene, she found herself waking up on a bed next to a familiar face. Maria Rambeau, who we know as Monica’s mother, was lying on the next bed but was visibly perplexed when Monica started becoming incredibly emotional. 

Beast arrived to tell Monica that she was in a universe that was parallel to her own universe. Meanwhile, Maria, who was clearly the Captain Marvel of that universe, was still confused as to who Monica was, thereby proving that Maria never had a daughter in that universe, just like how Carol had yet to have her own family in her own universe.

Could this Maria Rambeau be the one from Earth-838?

Of course, we are not strangers to Maria Rambeau as Captain Marvel. We know that this was a possibility because in ‘The Marvels,’ Carol told her universe’s version of Maria that she should have won the friendly race that they had decades ago. If Maria had won that race, there was a good chance that she would have been the one who got exposed to the explosion of the Light-Speed Engine to become Captain Marvel.

This possibility was shown in ‘Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,’ where Maria, as Captain Marvel, was part of the Illuminati of Earth-838, which is a universe that’s parallel to the main MCU universe, which is Earth-616. In this universe, Maria had all of the same powers that Carol had in Earth-616.

But Scarlet Witch used the power of the Darkhold to possess the body of the Wanda Maximoff of that universe. She invaded the base of the Illuminati and killed everyone in sight, including the members of the Illuminati. But the thing that needs to be considered is that every member of the Illuminati except Maria died without leaving any room for doubt.

Black Bolt’s head exploded when Wanda closed his mouth before he used his power, thereby making his power backfire. Mr. Fantastic was basically torn to shreds before Wanda killed Peggy Carter by bisecting her using her shield. Of course, Professor X’s neck was snapped inside his mind.

On the other hand, Maria’s death was inconclusive. She charged toward Wanda head-on. But Wanda used her powers to drain Captain Marvel’s energy, thus weakening her. Scarlet Witch buried Maria under a huge statue as it was hinted that Captain Marvel died right then and there.

But we do know that it would take more than just a statue to kill Captain Marvel, even in a weakened state. We’ve seen Carol taking her fair share of bumps from incredibly strong attacks. In ‘The Marvels,’ Dar-Benn even absorbed her powers using her Quantum Band and hurled her hundreds of feet away as Carol crashed into a building. However, Captain Marvel came out of that unscathed.

There’s also the fact that there was a reason why the Maria we saw in the post-credit scene of ‘The Marvels’ was also lying down on a bed and was seemingly receiving treatments from Beast. She was also seemingly scarred, as this could be a hint that this Maria was the very same one who we thought had died from Scarlet Witch’s attack in ‘Multiverse of Madness.’ As such, Monica may have found herself on Earth-838.

What Maria Rambeau’s possible survival means for the MCU

At this point, there are a lot of possibilities related to Maria Rambeau’s survival. We know that there’s a good chance that this Maria is the very same one we saw in Earth-838 and that she was able to survive Wanda’s attempt at her life. 

If that’s the case, the dynamic between the characters of Earth-838 and Earth-616 would be very interesting to see in the future because there’s a good chance that those in 838 won’t be friendly to those from 616 due to the events that transpired in ‘Multiverse of Madness.’

We know that a Secret Wars movie is in development and will be released in a few years as one of the biggest Avengers movies in recent memory. It is also rumored that this movie will be the one that would allow multiple universes to converge and allow the Mutants and the Fantastic Four to exist in the MCU.

So, if this Maria was the one presumed to have been killed by Wanda, things between her and the people of 616 might not be so cordial and friendly because she knows that the people of 616 led to the deaths of her allies and nearly led to her death. And it would be interesting to see the relationship involving her, Monica, and Carol at some point in the future when universes begin to collide.

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