It is hard to deny that Marvel movies are becoming one big family affair the deeper we go into the story of the MCU, and the crossover of characters doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon as a new behind the scenes image from The Marvels seems to suggest that Tessa Thompson could well be making an appearance as Valkyrie in the upcoming Captain Marvel sequel. An image of the cast photos shared on Twitter seems to show Thompson’s picture alongside that of known cast members including Brie Larson, Iman Vellani and Zawe Ashton, as well as that of another unexpected face in Lashana Lynch, who it looks like will be reprising her Captain Marvel role of Maria Rambeau in some capacity.

While the shutters are currently down on all information surrounding The Marvels, Zenobia Shroff, who plays Muneeba Khan, the mother of Kamala Khan in the Ms. Marvel series, shared an image on her Instagram account in which she celebrated the cast of the Captain Marvel sequel, but she inadvertently revealed a little more than Kevin Feige would probably like. In the now-deleted image, which can be seen in the Twitter post below, the unexpected additions to the cast seem to be irrefutable, meaning that both actresses will appear in the already very female-orientated movie.

So far, the plot of The Marvels is a complete unknown, but we previously knew that Brie Larson’s Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel would be joined by Teyonah Parris reprising her role as Monica Rambeau from WandaVision, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan/Ms Marvel from the upcoming Disney+ series of the same name. In addition, Zawe Ashton joined that cast as the villain of the movie and Park Seo-Joon was also added to the growing list in an undisclosed role. Finally, there is the ever-present Samuel L. Jackson returning as Nick Fury, who will also be seen later this year in the Secret Invasion series on Disney+.

Tessa Thompson’s appearance in the movie will add another heroine to the strong female cast, and we may get a better idea of how she comes to be in the path of Captain Marvel when Thor: Love and Thunder arrives this summer. When it comes to Lashana Lynch though, it is a bit trickier to explain, as her character of Maria Rambeau – Monica Rambeau’s mother – is known to be dead in the MCU, which would suggest that the only way for her to feature would be in some new flashback sequences, and that itself would not be too unexpected considering the connection between Maria and Carol.

Teyonah Parris previously spoke to ComicBook.com about her role in The Marvels, and her comments suggested that there is a bit of history between the characters still to be explored in the sequel. She said:

"Yes, when Monica was an 11-year-old girl, with her mom and Auntie Carol, they had a beautiful relationship," Parris said. "And so I think what's been awesome with WandaVision is getting to see Monica grow up, and we haven't seen her for 20 years plus, or however many, and getting to see slowly, it's being revealed what her life has been since we last saw her. And so Carol Danvers was a part of her life when we last saw her, and seeing that there is still, there is something there, I think is very exciting. Because as we know, or maybe not, but I'll tell you, that Monica will be in Captain Marvel 2 with Carol Danvers and Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel. So that gives us space to further explore what might be happening there, so I don't want to ruin anything for you."

The Marvels will arrive in cinemas on February 13th, 2023.