Laura Karpman’s The Marvels is a superhero score done right, weaving a stunningly-crafted new main theme with thunderous orchestra and exquisite vocals through eighty minutes of spectactular musical story-telling. It is a shame that Pinar Toprak’s Captain Marvel theme doesn’t return though.

There’s always a slight sense of hesitation, at least for me anyway, when it comes to a composer being replaced for a sequel film score. Especially if the original score – in this case, Pinar Toprak’s Captain Marvel – was one that I actually quite liked. Don’t get me wrong, Laura Karpman is a genuinely fantastic composer and she showcases just how skilled she is throughout her frankly wonderful work for The Marvels as you’ll shortly see (well, hear), but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t just a little… disappointed when I heard Toprak wasn’t returning for this sequel. Her score for the first film was excellent and her theme for Carol Danvers was just as good, and sadly not even the latter reprises its role for The Marvels, which is a shame.

That being said though, Karpman pretty well makes up for it with a genuinely amazing new theme to represent the new film’s team-up of Captain Marvel (Danvers), Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and Monica Rambeau, and complete with A/B phrases, an ostinato and some exquisitely colourful orchestral writing it’s a theme that just shines all the way through this album’s eighty minutes. I mean seriously, I’m not kidding when I say this is one of the best superhero themes of this year, and it’s showcased in all its glory in opening and Standout Cue “Higher, Further, Faster, Together”. Quiet strings introduce the ten-note team-up motif right at the start of the track, before rumbling percussion and a sudden burst of grandly heroic brass bring the theme right to the thunderous forefront, and from there for two further gloriously upbeat minutes the orchestra just goes. Bombastic brass blasts, strings swirl, vocals soar and deafening drums march enthusiastically along throughout, and all-in as I said Karpman is a very talented composer, and the back half of this track is just testament to how utterly true that statement is. What an album opening.

Here’s a fun fact for you; this theme for The Marvels actually debuted right at the end of Karpman’s score for the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel last summer (a score I sadly didn’t get around to reviewing in the end due to time constraints, but it is very good), in track “Who…Is…That…??!!” from volume two. It went unnoticed by many (including myself) at the time, but it’s a pretty interesting thing to uncover now. But back to the score – in contrast to said main theme, “Dar-Benn” then introduces a malevolent motif of sorts for the film’s titular villain, except that this one serves as more of a stylistic presence rather than a series of recognisable notes. Now for me this is a bit of a shame given the sheer memorability of the aforementioned heroic piece, but then the shrieking, unnerving musical style consisting of tense vocals, brassy bursts and moody woodwinds displayed throughout “Dar-Benn” does a pretty excellent job of showcasing the dramatic threat of the film’s villain, so it’s hard to criticise it too much. The moodily ominous nature of the track then continues somewhat into the subsequent “Tear In Spacetime” until the main Marvels theme quietly sounds through on hopeful yet also rather serene strings.

The score’s first foray into action territory occurs with “Stop Spinning”; frenetic bursts of brass accompanied by hissing vocals occupy the first thirty seconds or so of the ninety second cue, before some very James Horner-sounding percussive blasts then sound through – à la Aliens – and ominous vocals then fade the track to a close. “Arrival On Tarnax” then leans into much more optimistic territory, with the orchestra playing loudly and proudly together with triumphantly ethereal vocals. “Free Fall” opens with an initially grand statement of the Marvels theme, but it then rapidly turns worrisome as the shrieking vocals from “Dar-Benn” reprise alongside tense percussion as the music springs into a minute of increasingly frantic action. “Evacuation” then continues where this leaves off, with chanting vocals and an increasingly intense orchestra building to crescendo in the opening thirty seconds. From there further tense action ensues until the main Marvels theme erupts semi-triumphantly at the two minute mark, but this optimism doesn’t last for long as the orchestra then spirals into a brass-heavy worrisome crescendo (which again intriguingly displays some stylistic callbacks to James Horner) until the action then thunders to a stop, and moodily morose vocals then lead a particularly mournful charge until cue’s end.

Seeds of hope sow gently back into the score in “Connected” as the Marvels theme plays on cheerful brass, with “Arrival On Aladna” then continuing in much a similar vein as a reprisal of the Marvels ostinato leads into a lengthy and loudly heroic rendition of the full theme on frankly gorgeous-sounding brass and vocals. “Voices Of Aladna” is then a very curious cue indeed, as it’s less a score track and more a song track with delightfully enjoyable vocal work from both Brie Larson and Park Seo-joon (who plays Prince Yan in the film) occurring all across the nearly seven minute setpiece to represent the musical culture of the planet Aladna. Four minute action cue “Forces Arrive” then dives deep into tension territory, with moodily malevolent brass and loudly in-your-face chanting vocals reprising segments of Dar-Benn’s sinister style for much of the track’s runtime opposite the occasional worrisome reprisal of the Marvels motif. The subsequent “Power” then continues to build frenetic orchestral tension with Dar-Benn featured heavily until a rumble of drums brings heroism back onto centre stage in “O Captain! My Captain!”, with the Marvels theme playing rapidly on increasingly triumphant orchestra.

With the album starting to approach its end, “On Fire” continues the tense action with rapid strings, frequent bursts of brass and even a Horner-ism as none other than his four note danger motif makes a surprise but welcome appearance at the seventy second mark before the main theme then enthusiastically swells to close out the track. “Dar-Benn’s Destiny” reprises the titular character’s moody motif one last time on deafeningly ominous brass, before “Greater Purpose” injects a familar sense of hope back into the score as upbeat woodwinds and strings reprise Karpman’s Ms. Marvel theme followed by the main Marvels motif on its now traditionally heroic brass and vocal combination. “Captain Rambeau” then intriguing debuts a brand new eight-note theme for the titular hero on proudly optimistic orchestra and grand vocals, before “Home” reprises Ms. Marvel’s theme one last and happily upbeat time together with a rather delightful piano rendition of the main motif. To close the album though, “The Marvels” then plays a more thunderous variation of the main theme rendition from “Higher, Further, Faster, Together”, ending the score on about as happily triumphant and indeed perfect a note as you can get.

Overall, Laura Karpman’s score for The Marvels is testament to just how utterly amazing a superhero soundtrack can be when it has a well-crafted and memorable main theme. Standout Cues “Higher, Further, Faster, Together” and “The Marvels” showcase this excellent theme in full force, with a luscious orchestra and unapologetically grandiose vocals holding the motif proudly high throughout both happily lengthy tracks. And speaking of the orchestra, this score’s musical style is frankly gorgeous – Laura Karpman properly shows off her compositional talents throughout this eighty minute album, with highlights (other than the main theme anyway) being the exquisite use of vocals across seven minute setpiece “Evacuation” and the thundering action through “O Captain! My Captain!”, to name but two. The Marvels isn’t perfect though; Dar-Benn’s theme for instance I feel could’ve been a bit more than it is – as it is essentially just moodily ominous vocals rather than an actual theme – Ms. Marvel’s theme doesn’t appear as much as you’d perhaps like and Pinar Toprak’s Captain Marvel motif is sadly missed… but all in all, the excellent main Marvels theme here combined with the genuinely immense orchestral style – complete with even a few surprise Horner-isms – goes a long way toward making up for this, and honestly, as such I for one count Karpman’s work here among one of the better scores of 2023.

Score: 8/10

Standout Cues: 1. Higher, Further, Faster, Together/28. The Marvels

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