The Marvels: The Huge Post-Credits Resurrection Explained

Contains spoilers for "The Marvels"

"The Marvels" has finally soared into theaters — and despite its box-office opening likely being among the worst in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it arguably serves as the franchise's most surprising installment of 2023. A large reason for this is its ending, including the jaw-dropping post-credits scene, which sees Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) waking up in an alternate universe — one inhabited by Hank McCoy, the furry blue mutant supergenius known as Beast (Kelsey Grammer, reprising his role from Fox's "X-Men" franchise), and Monica's mother, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch).

Maria (or at least a variant of her) was last seen in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," where she serves as the Captain Marvel of Earth-838, as well as a member of the Illuminati. She is seemingly killed by the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) during the latter's bloody quest to capture America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), so her appearance here — along with Beast's mention of Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart), whom Wanda also slays — essentially confirms that Monica is not in Earth-838. Instead, Maria's "resurrection" can be explained through multiversal shenanigans and good old-fashioned Marvel Comics lore.

This variant of Maria Rambeau (potentially hailing from Earth-10005) is wearing a white and red suit similar in appearance to that of the mysterious and relatively new Marvel Comics character known as Binary. Introduced in 2021's "Captain Marvel" (Vol. 10) #34, Binary is a duplicate of Carol Danvers she conjures out of her own energy. The duplicate eventually becomes sentient and is ultimately slain during a confrontation with an alien race called the Brood.

The fact that Maria Rambeau's Binary appears as an entirely independent physical entity represents a major departure from her comic book counterpart. There's even wiggle room here for Marvel Studios to connect this Binary to the Captain Marvel of Earth-838. After all, they are variants of each other, and we know that "Deadpool 3" will feature Hugh Jackman's Wolverine teaming up with Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson to take on some multiversal threat.

So while it's possible we won't get a glimpse of Binary again until 2027's "Avengers: Secret Wars," in which Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) will appear, we could see her as early as July 2024. MCU fans just have to be patient until the full story of all the variants of Maria Rambeau is revealed.