🚨 There are mild spoilers ahead for The Marvels! 🚨
1. First, director and writer Nia DaCosta said she was first approached by Marvel to direct and write the sequel to Captain Marvel around the spring of 2020.
2. In terms of story, Nia always knew it was "going to be Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Monica Rambeau" leading this film, and that it was something Marvel "really wanted to do."
3. Marvel always knew where Carol, Kamala, and Monica were coming from in terms of previous movies and shows, but because of release date shifts and more, what could and could not be included changed throughout the process.
4. The post-credits scene from Ms. Marvel, which featured Carol suddenly appearing in Kamala's bedroom and switching places with her was shot specifically for The Marvels and then was added into the show as a little teaser.
5. When it came to writing Nick Fury's character in The Marvels, Nia said she wanted to "really exemplify who he is to the MCU, which is like the dad of the MCU." She loved his individual relationships with Carol, Monica, and Kamala, and how he's always looking out for them.
6. For depicting Carol, Monica, and Kamala switching powers, Nia said it was "important" to her that "the audience was sort of disoriented with them" during the first big switching scene. Nia's goal was to make it feel like the audience was in the action with them.
7. In terms of how they filmed the power-switching moments, Nia said it was a big collaborative effort between herself, the stunt team, VFX, the overall crew, the director of photography, editors, and more.
8. To get all of the various versions of Carol, Monica, and Kamala switching powers, they would film Brie Larson, for example, doing all of her action, then have Teyonah Parris or Iman Vellani do "whatever [their] switch in [was] going to be."
9. For the scene where Carol and Monica come face-to-face for the first time in years, Nia explained that "good rehearsal time" helped make the scene so powerful. "Brie and Teyonah, in the rehearsal, were so beautiful, and just to see them as actresses, and as people who have been these characters already, like to work through what that should feel like, work the script, it was really, really great," Nia said.
10. Nia said she worked closely with Brie to help develop Carol's journey in The Marvels. It was a collaborative effort where Brie gave her feelings on what Carol has been up to between Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame, but she was also "open to exploring different parts of her character and turning over new stones."
11. When it came to Carol's character in this movie, Nia wanted to explore "her jadedness" and how she feels this heavy weight of abandoning Monica. So, what helped was having Kamala there to show Carol that she has done good in the world and that there are people who look up to her and see her as a hero.
12. Another important aspect of Carol's character that Nia wanted to bring to The Marvels, was being able to see what, "Carol does when she's not punching Thanos in the face or blasting her way through spaceships. I really want to know who she was as a woman, as a person, who feels this impossible weight on her shoulders."
13. One of the ways Nia was able to do this was in the opening scene where you see Carol getting ready for a seemingly typical day on her spaceship with Goose. In fact, the first version of that scene Nia wrote "was much longer."
14. The rehearsal process before filming began on The Marvels was really important to Nia, and it's something she took with her from previously directing indie movies. She also made sure every day started the same, so even though they were making a huge blockbuster movie, it felt like a very small production.
15. In fact, in rehearsals were where some comedic improv happened between Brie, Teyonah, and Iman that ultimately ended up making it into the final script.
16. When it came to creating the character of Dar-Benn, Nia wanted the villain to have "a very clear motivation" so you understood "what she wants to do and why she's at odds with Carol, and also the other two Marvels."
17. And finally, Nia absolutely loved being able to include big and small Easter eggs in The Marvels. In fact, she wanted to include even more than what we see in the final film.
The Marvels is in theaters everywhere now.
