Today we review Weapons, this year’s critically acclaimed mystery/horror film from Zach Cregger! Along with other fan-favorites like Werewolf by Night and Helstrom, Weapons definitely explores the spookier side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film stars Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal/the Silver Surfer, Josh Brolin as Thanos, Alden Ehrenreich as Ezekiel Stane, and Benedict Wong as Wong.

The story picks up right on the heels of the summer blockbuster Fantastic Four: First Steps (you watched that one, right?). Spoiler warning: when the Silver Surfer (Garner) pushes Galactus through the interdimensional portal, she finds herself on a parallel earth somewhere in the multiverse. Here things are…familiar, but not quite the same, and magical mysteries abound. To fit in with her new surroundings, the Surfer takes a job as a teacher at Strange Academy, where Sorcerer Supreme Wong (Wong) is the principal.

The plot soon thickens, though, when 17 students from the Surfer’s class mysteriously go missing all at once! Soon the whole town is looking for the lost children, and even wondering if the Surfer had anything to do with their disappearance. After all, it wasn’t too long ago that she tried to kidnap a baby for her master, Galactus! Could she be stealing kids for her old master again?

The Surfer has changed her ways, though, and now wants to help local authorities in the search for the missing kids. She teams up with Ezekiel Stane (Ehrenreich), who–after the events of Ironheart earlier this year–is also trying to turn over a new leaf, now serving on the local police force. Stane seeks the Surfer’s help on the investigation, knowing that he can’t go Solo for this mission!

The Surfer even encounters this universe’s Thanos (Brolin)–another suspect in the mystery, since he’s been known to make people disappear very suddenly with a mere snap of his fingers! But Thanos doesn’t seem to be the culprit this time–he’s actually searching for his son Thane among the disappeared. Thanos blames the Surfer for Thane’s disappearance and confronts her, searching for answers. In fact, many of the parents are concerned about their missing children, but–just like in Infinity War–Thanos actually got the Stones to do something about it!

In the end, the true culprit is revealed. Spoiler warning: It wasn’t Agatha all along, but another powerful witch (Amy Madigan), who turns out to be the manifestation of Galactus in this dimension. He survived after being pushed through the portal, but instead of draining the life force from planets, he now seeks to siphon the life energy from children to satiate his (her?) hunger. While the sinister witch doesn’t initially have any qualms about targeting children in this way, in the end she was pretty torn up about it!

While it’s definitely on the dark and creepy side for some viewers, Weapons is another solid Marvel movie that shows us a new corner of this sprawling, magical multiverse. It’s also an important chapter in the development of some characters before we see them return in Avengers: Doomsday next year. Go give it a watch before then!