The Marvels recently hit Disney+ and a quick look online suggests that a lot of fans who skipped the Captain Marvel sequel in theaters are now reaching mostly very positive conclusions about the movie.
Regardless of whether you loved or hated Carol Danvers' team-up with Monica Reambeau and Ms. Marvel, it's fair to say Dar-Benn was far from the best MCU villain we've ever seen. Zawe Ashton tried her hardest with what she was working with but the character was underwritten and too obscure for even hardcore comic fans to care about.
We've heard The Marvels underwent fairly extensive reshoots, and Ashton has now confirmed the movie it once boasted a very different ending...which potentially resulted in Captain Marvel's demise!
"There was another ending that we did film where Brie and myself are kind of in space still having it out, and they kind of combust together, which was really amazing," the actress told ComicBook.com. "And that was just a day on wires hanging out with Brie, which is surreal and fun. But yeah, there were a few different plans, I think."
It seems likely Carol would have somehow survived (perhaps herself ending up stranded in a different reality) but Ashton confirms there was never a version of The Marvels where Dar-Benn made it out alive.
"There was always going to be an epic death just because in terms of, I just think in terms of just bringing that story psychologically for Carol to a close I think was always the best thing," she explains. "You don't want to think, did she defeat her? Is this over? Is she going to be kind of doomed to this life of feeling guilty about this whole thing forever and ever?"
"Or is she going get this redemptive moment where Dar-Benn's out of the picture and then she gets to almost take on the mantle of what she was trying to do? It is a really redemptive arc for that character," Ashton adds. "I will say I did a day's diving training because there was going to be a lot of water involved in the original death."
There's clearly a very different cut of The Marvels somewhere in the hallowed halls of Marvel Studios that we'll never get to see. The fact this original ending was cut suggests something about it wasn't working, and we can't help wondering what might have been.
The Marvels became Marvel Studios' lowest-grossing movie of all time when it was released last November. It ended with Ms. Marvel setting out to assemble the Young Avengers, Captain Marvel returning to Earth, and Photon trapped on a world with the X-Men. For the time being, it's unclear when these plot points will next be addressed!