The Marvels trailer breakdown: the 10 biggest Easter eggs and secrets
Take a deep dive into all the references and secrets hiding in the trailer for The Marvels
The first trailer for The Marvels is here, bringing together Carol Danvers, Monica Rambeau, and Kamala Khan for a cosmic MCU adventure.
And as with all of Marvel Studios' productions, there's a wealth of references to both comics and to the rest of the MCU in the exciting teaser trailer, which shows Carol, Kamala, and Monica all swapping places through the entanglement of their powers.
With that in mind, we've gone through The Marvels trailer with a fine-toothed comb, picking out the Easter eggs, secrets, and plot points lurking inside.
SABER space station
The first shot of the trailer shows Nick Fury on the space station we saw him occupying in the stinger scene of Spider-Man: Far From Home. In The Marvels trailer, the station is named as the SABER station.
We don't yet know what SABER stands for, but it seems to be an evolution of SWORD (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division), which was seen in WandaVision. It's also possible that SABER is the name of the station itself, though it visually resembles The Peak, the comic book headquarters of SWORD.
Trading places
Kamala Khan, Carol Danvers, and Monica Rambeau all seem to be switching places throughout the trailer for The Marvels, flashing back to the final scene of the Ms. Marvel streaming show (more on that in a moment).
The reason for the entanglement of their powers has yet to be explained, but it could have something to do with Carol's connection to the Space Stone as the origin of her powers, crossed with Monica's powers coming from Wanda Maximoff's reality altering abilities, and Kamala Khan's origins with the extra-dimensional Clandestine.
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Monica Rambeau's powers
Monica Rambeau got her powers in WandaVision, after being swept up in a wave of Wanda Maximoff's reality altering abilities. And now, with The Marvels trailer, we get our first real look at how her powers work, "controlling light energy."
In comics, Monica's powers are a bit different in that they go beyond just controlling light, allowing her to control all kinds of energy including the Gamma Rays that transformed the Hulk, and the Cosmic Rays that empower the Fantastic Four.
Ms. Marvel stinger scene
Speaking of the stinger scene from Ms. Marvel in which Carol Danvers switches places with Kamala, that scene itself is shown in the trailer, establishing the concept of Kamala, Carol, and Monica switching places when they use their powers.
Interestingly enough, the original comic book version of Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell, possessed artifacts known as the Quantum Bands that allowed him to switch places with his human counterpart Rick Jones - so swapping places is an old school part of comic book lore.
Kamala Khan's family
Along with Kamala Khan herself, her whole family seems to be coming along for the ride with The Marvels. Will any of her extended family - those with connections to cosmic powers - wind up showing up in The Marvels as well?
It looks like Kamala is fresh off capturing someone, who is tied up in her house, indicating that she's still very much active as a superhero, with her family's help.
Kree warriors
When we catch up with Kamala Khan after she switches places with Carol Danvers, she's in a dark corridor, possibly on a Kree ship - and apparently caught up in a fight started by Carol.
The Kree warriors here wear versions of their classic comic book military uniforms, likely indicating that Carol is once again directly at odds with the Kree.
Flerken
Kamala also meets Carol's petGoose, who may look like a cat, but who is actually an alien Flerken, as seen by the horrifying tentacle attack it uses to eat some Kree, freaking out Kamala.
Later in the trailer we see a whole clowder of cats - probably actually Flerken - which means that Gosoe seems to have found a family of his own.
The dance number
There's a quick glimpse of what appears to be some kind of dance number, with Carol Danvers peeking out from underneath a colorful disguise.
We don't know exactly how this scene fits in The Marvels just yet, but it appears to take place on the planet Aladna, which is known in Marvel Comics as a planet where people communicate only through song. Will Brie Larson get to flex her singing chops?
Prince Yan
On that note, there's a brief glimpse of actor Park Seo-joon's still officially unnamed character in the trailer, apparently leading some troops.
Though it remains unconfirmed, it's likely that he's playing Prince Yan of Aladna, who was at one point betrothed to Carol Danvers in comics - much to her chagrin.
Zawe Ashton
Finally, there's a look at Zawe Ashton's villain, Dar-Benn. Though there was some speculation about which Kree warrior she might be playing in the film, Marvel has now confirmed the character's identity.
In comics, Dar-Benn is one of two Kree warriors who seize control of the Kree Empire in a coup. It's possible Zawe Ashton's version of Dar-Benn will have a similar origin as the new Kree leader.
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I've been Newsarama's resident Marvel Comics expert and general comic book historian since 2011. I've also been the on-site reporter at most major comic conventions such as Comic-Con International: San Diego, New York Comic Con, and C2E2. Outside of comic journalism, I am the artist of many weird pictures, and the guitarist of many heavy riffs. (They/Them)