The Marvels Director Reveals Scrapped Character, Multiverse Story Pitches

The Marvels is the next big blockbuster coming down the line, and there have already been plenty of rumors about potential cameos, Easter eggs, and ties to the larger Marvel multiverse. It stars Brie Larson as Captain Marvel, Iman Vellani as Ms Marvel, and Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau, the heroine known as Photon. Rambeau’s mother — Maria Rambeau, played by Lashana Lynch — appeared in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, playing another universe’s version of Captain Marvel and opening the door to some interesting multiverse shenanigans in The Marvels. And according to director Nia DaCosta, there were even more of those kinds of conversations behind the scenes.

The story came up after interviewer Jake’s Takes asked DaCosta what was the wildest thing she would do, if she could make a Marvel movie without the restrictions of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. DaCosta said she actually had an early pitch for The Marvels that would have been a lot different.

“Actually interestingly, one of the first things I pitched way back when was having Adam Warlock and time travel in the movie,” DaCosta said. “But Adam was going to be in [Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3], and I think they have enough time travel in Loki, so we didn’t do that, but we have some fun stuff in that realm in the movie anyway.”

She added that her idea would have been to introduce Adam Warlock in The Marvels, then explore his backstory in a follow-up film later. Of course, fans already had a basic idea of Adam’s MCU backstory dating all the way back to Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, so it’s likely her origin would have lined up with James Gunn’s pretty closely, if it had happened at all.

You can see her full interview below.

In The Marvels, which arrives in theaters on November 10th, Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel (Brie Larson) has reclaimed her identity from the tyrannical Kree and taken revenge on the Supreme Intelligence. But unintended consequences see Carol shouldering the burden of a destabilized universe. When her duties send her to an anomalous wormhole linked to a Kree revolutionary, her powers become entangled with that of Jersey City super-fan, Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) aka Ms. Marvel, and Carol’s estranged niece, now S.A.B.E.R. astronaut Captain Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). Together, this unlikely trio must team-up and learn to work in concert to save the universe as “The Marvels.” The Marvels will also see the franchise returns of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Saagar Shaikh as Aamir Khan, Zenobia Shroff as Muneeba Khan, and Mohan Kapur as Yusuf Khan. New cast members include Zawe Ashton, Park Seo-joon, and Shamier Anderson. Produced by Marvel Studios, The Marvels is directed by Nia DaCosta with a script from DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, and Elissa Karasik.