‘Superheroes Can Look Like Any of Us’

The Marvels star Teyonah Parris shared her thoughts on being part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at a time when the franchise is constantly expanding its diverse cast of characters and actors. In the last few years, the MCU has gained equal amounts of praise and backlash over the diversifying of its characters – including various characters being gender or race swapped from their original comic book appearances.

In a new interview with IGN, Parris, who plays Monica Rambeau, expressed her thankfulness for being part of the MCU’s story at a time when “superheroes can look like any of us.” Explaining how the current wave of diverse heroes is something she needed to see when she was younger, Parris said:

“I am so grateful for that. I am excited that my child, this whole generation of younger people and also adults… I actually needed this sort of content in college. Right now in the MCU and in this superhero space, it has opened up so much to be more diverse and show that superheroes can look like any of us.

“Just to see people who look like you, [or] who don’t look like you, be in situations that are familiar but are also quite extraordinary, and how they deal with those circumstances and trials that may come to them and watching them be human, they are super.”

The Marvels Received an Unfair Amount of Hate

The Marvels was expected to close out another strong year for Marvel Studios in 2023 – or at least that was the perception at the beginning of the year. However, as the MCU struggled to bring in the numbers, The Marvels gained an altogether more unwanted and unwarranted tag of being the lowest grossing movie of the entire 15-year-old franchise. This was a far cry from the $1 billion success of Captain Marvel back in 2019, a movie which itself saw star Brie Larson on the receiving end of much online criticism.

For Parris, the blowback the film received did not hit quite as hard, mainly because, due to the various strike actions happening at the time of the movie’s release, the stars of the film did not do the usual press tour. Parris said of the reactions:

“I can’t say that I really felt the hate because we were in a very disconnected time. I was surrounded by people who were excited for me, people who wanted and were waiting to see me and these other women get up here and kick butt. So I felt a lot of love.”

However, the arrival of The Marvels on Disney+ saw many people sharing their disappointment of not having seen the movie in cinemas. With many people seeming to favor the option of streaming a movie over the idea of seeing it on the big screen, there is a lingering question of just how much harm the quick turnaround time between theatrical release and streaming release does to the box office performance of some movies.

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The Marvels Is the Most Predictable Disaster in Movie History

The Marvels demonstrates that great stories do in fact need an end; they need denouement, catharsis, closure. That end was four years ago.

Following the disappointment of The Marvels, the MCU has a little bit of time to lick its wounds after being battered and beaten over the last two years. 2024 sees only Deadpool & Wolverine flying the flag for the franchise, along with a handful of Disney+ shows. A more normal service will be resumed in 2025, with the release of several big movies, including The Fantastic Four and Captain America: New World Order. How those movies fare is something Marvel Studios and Disney will be watching very closely indeed.