Laura Karpman has been a vital presence in shaping the Multiverse Saga of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though some may not know about her. Karpman first joined the successful franchise in 2021, composing the music for the animated series What If…? That series was a big step for Marvel Studios, as it was their first major animated project while also exploring various aspects of the newly formed Marvel multiverse, which has become a big aspect of their post-Infinity Saga plans. That series managed to weave classic tones from other heroes’ past stories while also giving the multiverse its own unique sound.

After 2021’s What If…?, she did the score for Ms. Marvel in 2022. Now, in 2023, she has written the music for The Marvels, the epic team-up movie that unites Captain Marvel (Brie Larson), Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani), and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris). With three different heroes from different backgrounds, one wonders how that influenced the soundscape of the film. “We mostly focused on where they were coming from emotionally, as you do any part of any film,” said Karpman. “It’s about where the characters find themselves, how they collaborate, and how they grow together. I think that is where our musical and emotional focus was for this film.”

Karpman sat down with MovieWeb to talk about The Marvels, and you can watch our video interview above.

From Out of Sync to in Sync

With The Marvels coming out after Ms. Marvel, one would assume that Karpman landed the job for this film after working on the Disney+ series. Yet it is, in fact, the other way around. “I started working on The Marvels and wrote some of the big themes, and then I was brought on to do Ms. Marvel. It is the opposite order of what you’d think, so I felt very comfortable going back and forth between these two projects.”

The Marvels has been in pre-production since 2021, around the time Ms. Marvel began filming. “I started The Marvels and was working on that simultaneously with Ms. Marvel and focused mainly on Ms. Marvel during that time period.” Karpman revealed just how different the two projects were in terms of her prep time. She said:

“Every project is different, and these two were completely different. Ms. Marvel was fast. I think I came on in February and it premiered in June, so it was very compressed. The Marvels has been longer […] which I appreciated, having come from television because you don’t often get the chance to have 12 ideas for a scene. You get to look at it, maybe with some people, and go, ‘let’s try this.’ I love that ability to come back and play with stuff and make it exactly what I wanted it to be.”

Laura Karpman Goes Higher, Further, Faster, Together
Marvel Studios

Despite working on Ms. Marvel, Karpman knew that all three Marvels needed to be represented in the team. “You have to think of this like The Avengers to Captain America. This is a new team, and they needed their own music,” said Karpman. “They come from all these places in the MCU, but what we focus on is how they are together as a crew, and how they are interacting when things aren’t working for them and when things are working for them, which is why I wrote a new theme for this particular film.”

Related: Most Iconic Songs in the MCU’s Infinity Saga

A common way to distinguish various characters in a musical piece is with a particular instrument. The most famous example is Peter and the Wolf, where the bird is a flute, the cat a clarinet, the wolf a French horn, and Peter is some type of string instrument. Yet that was not the case with The Marvels. “I didn’t think of assigning different instruments to them,” said Karpman, adding:

“I thought about creating a musical palette for the film and having this theme that could work with them. There is a chosen family theme because, in essence, that’s what they are. You have this history with Maria and Monica and Carol. You’ve got their main character theme, ‘Higher, Further, Faster, Together.’ It was mostly based thematically and changing that instrumentation on where we find ourselves.”

The Marvels Is an Intergalactic Space Opera
Marvel Studios

Music is an important aspect of The Marvels, as one can tell by the marketing department’s use of the Beastie Boys song “Intergalactic,” which may hint at some themes in the film. Yet the film has also been rumored to feature the MCU’s first big musical number. While Eternals featured a Bollywood dance number and Hawkeye featured a stage musical, since the first trailer dropped, fans have been speculating whether The Marvels will feature an actual musical sequence where characters break out into song and dance.

Related: The Marvels Review | The MCU Returns to Having Some Lighthearted Fun

Karpman didn’t want to spoil anything but did hint at a creative process. “I will wait until people see the film, but Nia [DaCosta] first approached me and said, ‘I want a space opera,'” Karpman said. “We talked a lot about different kinds of voices and how we can use them. She wanted real low voices throughout the whole score, and singing is a big part of the sound of this film.”

After three projects in the MCU, Karpman still seems to really enjoy working in the franchise. With so many projects on the way, ranging from Agatha: Darkhold Diaries to Fantastic Four, we were curious if there was a certain character that Karpman had not yet done that she wanted to write music for. Yet, for her, something else motivates her to take on a project. She said:

“I think it is more about how these characters can grow. How does Carol grow from project to project? How does Kamala grow and Monica change? Every place they find themselves is different, and that interests me. How does something evolve or change? That’s the cool thing about the MCU and that comes from working on What If…? where you are taking these characters and throwing everything upside down. So that has trained my mind in terms of the MCU.”

The Marvels opens in theaters on November 10, 2023. You can watch our video interview with the wonderful executive producer of The Marvels, Mary Livanos, below: