The Marvels Star Zawe Ashton on MCU, Alternate Endings, and More | Phase Zero Spotlight

Ahead of The Marvels becoming available on blu-ray, 4K, and digital downloads, Zawe Ashton joined the Phase Zero podcast for a Spotlight episode centered around her work as Dar-Benn. Ashton joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe for 2023’s last Marvel movie, being the first to portray Dar-Benn in live-action and portraying the adversary to Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel. With the film having completed its theatrical run and now being available on Disney+, Ashton was able to talk full spoilers about the film in this new episode of Phase Zero.

“I’ve auditioned for many Marvel roles before and the process is usually the same,” Ashton explained. “You have these sides that are dummy sides, sides meaning these small pieces of script that you go in and you prepare and you say, but you have no idea the character that you might be playing or you have no idea of the movie and then the movie comes out and you’re like, ‘Huh! It was that character. Wow. Oh, I get it now.’ So, with this, my audition really was just meeting Nia [DaCosta] and we had this amazing connection over Zoom during Covid talking about a completely different movie and when Covid was kind of being worked through in terms of being able to get back to set and stuff, she was like, ‘I have this new job. I want you to be in this movie.’ I was like, ‘What movie?’ She’s like, ‘Captain Marvel 2!’ I was like, ‘Okay!’”

From there, Ashton and DaCosta got to work! “It was full throttle, getting the information, understanding the character, understanding that Dar-Benn was not necessarily a character that we knew very well from the comic book source material and just having to build out this villain and have her go up against the most powerful person in the universe and how that was all going to look and sound and work. And so that was my entry point really. “

Phase Zero‘s Spotlight episode with Zawe Ashton surrounding The Marvels can be watched in its entirety in the video above. The Marvels is available on blu-ray and 4K on February 13. Links to Phase Zero can be found below:

• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• YouTube

Why is Phase Zero the Best MCU Podcast for you?

Launching on January 15, 2021, Phase Zero made its goal of building a fun and welcoming community of Marvel fans clear. In the time since, more than 3,000,000 listens across platforms and countless comments from listeners and viewers, the community has become one which celebrates the Marvel fandom and regularly engages in conversation about past and future titles. Having connected fans with some of their favorite actors, provided expert knowledge on upcoming titles, and analysis with comparisons to comics, Phase Zero is the one-stop podcast for all things Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

The newly launched Spotlight episodes have featured guests looking back at new and exciting Marvel projects, with the likes of Tom Hiddleston, Iman Vellani, and Hayley Atwell joining the show. For more What If..? chatter, be sure to listen to the Spotlight episode with the creators of the series! 

Phase Zero invites you to celebrate all things Marvel, hosting a weekly conversation of theories, speculation, and exclusive interviews and insights. It’s the number one spot for MCU fans, welcoming those new to it all and those who think they know it all! New episodes are recorded live on Youtube every Wednesday at 12pm ET before being made available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio, and wherever podcasts can be found. For updates regarding the Phase Zero podcast, follow the official Phase Zero account on Twitter!