Ms. Marvel actress Iman Vellani recently responded to The Marvels’ disastrous box office returns indicating that it has nothing to do with her. She also responded to critics describing the film as “woke.”
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 09: Iman Vellani speaks onstage during THE MARVELS Fan Screening Surprise Talent Appearance at El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, California on November 09, 2023. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)
The Marvels has set numerous Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) records including the worst opening weekend ever as well as the largest second weekend drop.
The film has currently grossed $65 million domestically and another $96.3 million internationally for a global gross of $161.3 million. As noted above, the film’s opening weekend domestic gross of $46.1 million was the worst in MCU history.
In its second weekend, box office grosses plummeted an estimated 78% to $10.2 million in its second weekend.
Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ THE MARVELS. Photo by Laura Radford. © 2023 MARVEL.
Vellani reacted to this in an interview with Yahoo! News’ Ethan Alter saying, “I don’t want to focus on something that’s not even in my control, because what’s the point? That’s for Bob Iger.”
She continued, “[The box office] has nothing to do with me. I’m happy with the finished product, and the people that I care about enjoyed the film. It’s genuinely a good time watching this movie, and that’s all we can ask for with these films.”
“It has superheroes, it take place in space, it’s not that deep and it’s about teamwork and sisterhood,” she added. “It’s a fun movie, and I’m just so happy that I can share it with people.”
(L-R): Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan and Goose the Flerken in Marvel Studios’ THE MARVELS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
As for critics who have described the film as “woke,” Vellani said, “I had a lot of experience in high school alone when I would share my excitement with someone and then they’d immediately shut me down for being so excited.”
“I would hate to see that within the fan community as well, because it does feel awful,” she continued. ” If people are excited about something, let them be excited about it. And if you have constructive criticism, voice it — but never be the wet blanket on someone else’s excitement.”
Vellani also noted she was happy to have Steven King defending the film noting, “Having Stephen King in anyone’s corner is pretty awesome.”
(L-R): Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan, Teyonah Parris as Captain Monica Rambeau, Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers, and Zawe Ashton as Dar-Benn in Marvel Studios’ THE MARVELS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. © 2023 MARVEL.
RELATED: Report: Gen Z, Women Abandon ‘The Marvels,’ Only 19% Of Film’s Audience Between The Age Of 18 And 24
King took issue with former MCU fans gloating over the film’s box office failure writing on X, “I don’t go to MCU movies, don’t care for them, but I find this barely masked gloating over the low box office for THE MARVELS very unpleasant. Why gloat over failure?”
Stephen King on X
He added in a follow-up, “Some of the rejection of THE MARVELS may be adolescent fanboy hate. You know, “Yuck! GIRLS!”
Stephen King on X
Former CBC executive Paul Chato explained to King why former fans were celebrating the film’s failure, “Because it’s not a failure of ‘We’ve done our best’. It’s a failure of ‘We’ve bent the original character, we’ve applied all the DEI rules, we’ve emasculated the men, we are shitting on the nerds and geeks we hate. We re shocked it failed.’”
Because it’s not a failure of “We’ve done our best”. It’s a failure of “We’ve bent the original character, we’ve applied all the DEI rules, we’ve emasculated the men, we are shitting on the nerds and geeks we hate. We re shocked it failed.”
— Paul Chato 🇨🇦 (@PaulChato) November 13, 2023
Alphacore and legendary comic book writer Chuck Dixon also noted why fans should be celebrating the film’s failure, “This bears repeating: Because the majority of us are tired of seeing characters and franchises we loved sacrificed on the altar of wokeness by people who don’t have the love, talent, craft or business ever getting anywhere NEAR these properties. That this movie is failing so big IS a cause for celebration.”
“It’s a wake-up call for the entertainment BUSINESS that they need to get back to producing the well-crafted stuff they used to be capable of,” he elaborated. “I mean, when a weak cheese movie of a dry-ball subject like Oppenheimer is out-earning the latest popcorn blockbuster that’s US telling THEM to get their s**t together.”
Chuck Dixon on Facebook
Vellani previously commented on the state of the MCU fandom in an interview with Slashfilm telling the outlet what she would like to improvement on when it comes to Marvel.
She said, ““I think a lot of things. I think not necessarily within Marvel — I think Marvel is very good about, they know where they go wrong, and they know how to fix it. It takes time to get there.”
Speaking specifically to the fandom, she said, “I would like to see improvement within the fandom. I think people need to be a little more positive. These fandoms, the whole point of them is so that people who are passionate about these nerdy things, they can talk about it without being judged and can share their excitement with the only other people in the entire world who will reciprocate.”
“So, it would just be like Marvel, they’re growing and they’re adjusting to the times, they’re listening and responding to the fans’ criticisms and feedback,” she continued. “So I think people just need to be a little patient, and let them cook. I think keep the fandom positive in the meantime, share what you are enjoying.”
(L-R): Brie Larson as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers and Iman Vellani as Ms. Marvel/Kamala Khan in Marvel Studios’ THE MARVELS. Photo by Laura Radford. © 2023 MARVEL.
What do you make of Vellani’s comments?
