The Marvels: Who Is Binary? What You Need to Know About Captain Marvel’s Mysterious Doppelganger

It’s almost showtime for The Marvels, with the Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbuster arriving in theaters in just a matter of days. To get fans hyped for what the film has in store, Marvel Studios released a final trailer during Monday Night Football on Monday — and it just might have revealed a surprising character cameo. Towards the end of the trailer, Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) can be shown alongside someone in a red and white supersuit, which happens to look a lot like Marvel Comics’ Binary. 

While there’s no telling at this point who is wearing the Binary costume in the MCU, we’re here to break down the character’s unconventional Marvel Comics origins. 

Who Is Marvel’s Binary?

The Binary alias was created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum in 1982’s Uncanny X-Men #164. The issue saw Carol Danvers on a space adventure with the X-Men, after she had previously been depowered, nursed back to help by Professor X and the X-Men, and then entered into a rift with the Avengers over the way the team handled her controversial son-turned-assaulter, Marcus. During this space adventure, Carol gets experimented on by The Brood, and this transforms her into Binary, who can harness the powers of the fabric of the universe.

More recently, in Kelly Thompson’s Captain Marvel run, Binary essentially starts out as a clone of Carol, after she accidentally shaped her photon blasts in the shape of a human. This alternate version of Binary lived for only a handful of issues, dying in Captain Marvel #48 during a fight with the Brood’s Empress.

How Will Binary Appear in The Marvels?

At the moment, there is no indication of exactly how Binary will factor into The Marvels — much less who is portraying the character. While the comics precedent would suggest at it potentially being an alternate Variant version of Carol — or maybe even Earth-616 Carol transformed — other fan theories suggest that it could be Monica or even her mother, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch). 

How Do Captain Marvel and Binary Tie Into the X-Men?

As mentioned above, Binary was the alias that Carol assumed while teaming up with the X-Men. With Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel (Iman Velllani) seemingly now a member of Marvel’s mutants, there’s a chance that she could be a connection to the X-Men as well. Either way, director Nia DaCosta is playing coy about the possibility, only referencing her favorite X-Men in a recent interview.

“I really like Scott Summers and Storm together and their dynamic fighting over who should lead the X-Men, like in the Chris Claremont run,” DaCosta said. “I think some Cyclops and Storm team-up movie would be fun.”

What Is The Marvels About?

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.

What do you think of the newest trailer for The Marvels? How do you feel about the first look at Valkyrie’s appearance in the film? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

As mentioned above, The Marvels will be released exclusively in theaters on November 10th.