Movie review
November 8, 2023 · 105 min · PG-13
Woke Score
Lower is better
Review
The Marvels is a 2023 Marvel Cinematic Universe film in which Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, and Captain Monica Rambeau form an unlikely team after their powers become entangled during a conflict with a Kree leader seeking to restore her damaged homeworld. The story centers on teamwork, personal responsibility, and fixing unintended cosmic consequences in a fast-paced superhero action format with humor and family elements. The all-female lead trio with visible ethnic diversity stands out as the main audience-noticeable element tied to representation priorities.
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for The Marvels.
Woke representation / casting
Prominent all-female lead team with ethnic diversity (Black and Pakistani-American Muslim heritage characters in key roles); highly audience-visible in a franchise shifting toward such lineups, though casting fits established canon characters without mismatches or legacy swaps.
Woke political dialogue
Almost none; dialogue stays within standard superhero banter, humor, and personal stakes with no activist speeches or modern political framing.
Identity-driven story themes
Light surface-level focus on a female team-up; core arcs involve trauma, teamwork, and power consequences rather than race, gender, or identity politics as drivers.
Western institutional / cultural critique
None; the sci-fi Kree conflict stems from past heroic actions causing ecological damage, presented as straightforward narrative stakes without reframing into modern activist critiques of patriarchy, systems, or Western norms.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Strong and repeated across social media, YouTube, and conservative commentary explicitly tying the film to forced diversity, female empowerment over story, and MCU identity politics; widely framed as evidence of "woke" failure.
Creator track record context
Mix of MCU leadership pushing broader representation (Feige, Finn) alongside Nia DaCosta's prior focus on racial injustice themes in her work.
Production
