SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for The Marvels. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!
Part of the fun of being a Marvel fan is knowing that the excitement in an MCU blockbuster doesn’t end when the credits start to roll. In fact, when the main story ends, there is an extra special kind of anticipation that builds. Stinger scenes have been a very special part of the franchise from the very beginning… and their latest doesn’t disappoint. While the film doesn’t have a post-credits scene, the brilliant mid-credits scene is more than thrilling enough to make up for that lacking.
So what happens in the Marvels end credits scene, who are the characters involved, and how does it potentially set up what’s in the future for the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Those are the answers that this guide is designed to answer, so let’s get things rolling with a quick recap of the events that go down.
What Happens In The Marvels Mid-Credits Scene
At the end of The Marvels, Monica Rambeau has to seemingly sacrifice herself in order to repair a potentially devastating rip in space and time, and Carol Danvers a.k.a. Captain Marvel and Kamala Khan a.k.a. Ms. Marvel are devastated to lose their friend. She isn’t dead, however – which is the first thing that we discover when the blockbuster’s mid-credits sequence begins.
Monica wakes up in what appears to be an all-white hospital room, and on top of being amazed to be alive, she is stunned to realize that she is not alone. Sitting at her bedside is her supposedly dead mother, Maria Rambeau (Lashana Lynch), who is wearing a superhero-esque uniform. She calls Maria, “Mom,” and cries as she explains that she missed her and is sorry, but the only reaction she gets is confusion. A person enters the room asking about their “mysterious visitor”… and it’s none other than Beast (Kelsey Grammer) from the X-Men.
Monica asks about where they are and what happened, by the furry, blue mutant explains that they were hoping that she would inform them – saying that she was found by Maria (whom he calls Binary). He theorizes (with spot-on accuracy) that Monica has traveled through a rip in space-time to a parallel reality that is not her own, but also says that would be impossible. When Monica starts freaking out, Beast calmly explains that her confusion is the first step on the road to knowledge, but Binary tells him that she is going to take over the case. He tells her that “Charles” (a.k.a. Professor X) wants an update and leaves the room, leaving Binary and Monica alone.
With Beast gone, Binary sternly asks, “Who are you,” and Monica can only reply, “Oh shit.”
Why Beast May Sound (But Not Look) Familiar
In the last 10 years, Beast has been primarily brought to life in the X-Men movies played by Nicholas Hoult – whose run as the character ran from 2011’s X-Men: First Class to 2019’s Dark Phoenix – but before the Favourite actor turned blue and fuzzy, it was Kelsey Grammer who played the first live-action version of the beloved mutant character. Beast wasn’t featured in either 2000’s X-Men or 2003’s X2: X-Men United (not counting the brief appearance of Steve Bacic as Dr. Hank McCoy), but Grammer was cast to play the cerulean hero for 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand, and he reprised the role eight years later for an uncredited cameo at the end of 2014’s X-Men: Days Of Future Past (fun fact: The Marvels mid-credits scene uses a sample of composer John Ottman’s score from that film).
Kelsey Grammer is instantly recognizable from his voice, but comic book movie fans will notice that Beast doesn’t look quite the same in the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure as he previously did. There’s a simple explanation for this: while Grammer previously wore special effects makeup to bring the hyper-strong/hyper-brilliant hero to life, this time around it appears that the character was rendered digitally. It’s unknown at this time if the Frasier star did his own performance capture work for The Marvels or if he only provided the voice (he is notably the only actor credited for the role).
As for the larger implications of Kelsey Grammer’s Beast cameo, that’s a whole other subject to dig into…
Is Monica Rambeau Now In The X-Men Universe From The X-Men Movies?
With the Marvels end credits scenes, speculation is sure to now erupt wondering if Monica Rambeau is specifically in the universe from the X-Men franchise, and that’s certainly a possibility… but we also don’t have nearly enough information to go on to know if that’s actually the case. One of the tricky things about the multiverse is that certain details can match up across multiple realities, but that doesn’t mean that all of those realities are the same.
Doctor Strange And The Multiverse Of Madness actually illustrates the situation quite well by featuring Patrick Stewart’s return as Charles Xavier, as Earth-838 in that blockbuster is most definitely not the X-Men franchise universe. The world in which Monica finds herself may have a Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast that sounds like Kelsey Grammer, but it could be different in an infinite number of other ways. Given that the character doesn’t appear in any of the X-Men movies, Maria Rambeau a.k.a. Binary’s presence could be interpreted as one of those differences... but it also may not be.
When will we get more answers on this front? It’s unknown for sure, but that time may be coming very soon. The upcoming Deadpool 3 is expected to be the first film that specifically addresses the existence of the X-Men universe in the same multiverse as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and part of that adventure may provide audiences with new information about Monica Rambeau’s situation. The movie is presently scheduled for release on July 26, 2024, but the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023 may end up forcing that to change because production was shut down during the summer. Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for more news on that front.
What Is Going On With Maria Rambeau a.k.a. Binary?
Let’s now dig into the presence of Maria Rambeau in the Marvels end credits scene, as there is plenty to unpack on that front as well. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Maria was the mother of Monica Rambeau, a friend of Carol Danvers, a pilot in the Air Force, and a founder/director of S.W.O.R.D., but she died from cancer while the world was dealing with the aftermath of Thanos’ notorious Gauntlet snap.
There are, however, an infinite number of Maria Rambeau’s in the multiverse, and we get to meet one in the Marvels mid-credits sequence.
In this new universe, Maria evidently never had Monica as a daughter, and while it’s unclear if she is a mutant herself, she is a powered individual who at the very least is friends with the X-Men. The designation Binary has origins in the pages of Marvel Comics, though that’s not a moniker that Maria ever took on: it was first a new name that Carol Danvers took on when she tapped into a white hole and got god-level powers, and later, it was the name of a Carol Danvers duplicate that the hero was able to create using cosmic energy.
As noted, it’s presently unclear when we’ll see follow-up to the major teases at the end of The Marvels, but for now, you can keep track of everything going on with the MCU via our Upcoming Marvel Movies and Upcoming Marvel TV guides.
