The Marvels Star Reveals Alternate Ending, Shocking Major Death Plans (Exclusive)

The Marvels is now available on Disney+ and drops on physical media this week, meaning spoilers for the film are fair game in interviews. During a Phase Zero Spotlight episode, The Marvels star Zawe Ashton talked in detail about spoilers for the film but also opened up about sequences which were changed for the final cut of the film. While Ashton teased several deleted scenes which may or may not become available with the blu-ray and 4K copies of The Marvels, the actress did open up about a very different version of the ending which might have been fatal for Carol Danvers.

Major spoilers for The Marvels follow! As the story goes, The Marvels saw Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan get the best of Dar-Benn and the character combusted in space. It ripped a hole in the multiverse which Monica went to close, finding herself in an alternate universe. However, the originally filmed ending had both Dar-Benn and Captain Marvel combusting in that moment, a sequence which sounds like it may have taken Carol Danvers from us while the final cut of the film sees Carol survive, instead. 

“There was another ending that we did film where Brie and myself are kind of in space still having it out, and they kind of combust together, which was really amazing,” Ashton revealed. “And that was just a day on wires hanging out with Brie, which is surreal and fun. But yeah, there were a few different plans, I think.”

Dar-Benn, however, was never going to make it out of The Marvels alive. “There was always going to be an epic death just because in terms of, I just think in terms of just bringing that story psychologically for Carol to a close I think was always the best thing,” Ashton recalled. “You don’t want to think, did she defeat her? Is this over? Is she going to be kind of doomed to this life of feeling guilty about this whole thing forever and ever? Or is she going get this redemptive moment where Dar-Benn’s out of the picture and then she gets to almost take on the mantle of what she was trying to do? It is a really redemptive arc for that character. I will say I did a day’s diving training because there was going to be a lot of water involved in the original death.”

The full interview with Ashton is available on Phase Zero, the latest Spotlight edition of the podcast which also recently hosted Tom Hiddleston, Iman Vellani, and Hayley Atwell. “It’s like putting respect on the fans’ names and their investment in these films,” Ashton said of the changes to The Marvels. “You want to pull those threads together in everything for everything. So you are genuinely part of this universe that needs to all check out and needs to compliment each other in every way really. I’m happy to be a kind of movable it just jellylike actor. I’m happy. You tell me it’s a different scene every day. I’m good. It kind of keeps it exciting in a way.”

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