Nearly two full years after it was announced that Captain Marvel would be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Phase Three slate, Marvel confirmed at San Diego Comic-Con 2016 that Brie Larson would be the actress bringing Carol Danvers to life for the franchise. Headlining a superhero movie isn't a decision taken lightly by any accomplished actor, and the reason Larson eventually decided to star in Captain Marvel was because the story's "size" appealed to her. She explained:
I spent months thinking about whether or not I was going to do the film, and I realized that it was a chance to tell a story on the largest scale possible. I know it is going to make me lose some of the things I love most about my life, but I think it's worth it.
Brie Larson being cast as Captain Marvel came several months after she won an Academy Award for her performance in Room. Since then, she's appeared in movies like Free Fire and The Glass Castle, but Captain Marvel will unquestionably be the biggest movie of her career thus far. As Larson noted during her interview with Porter Magazine (via W Magazine), she had to make some sacrifices to join Captain Marvel, which will eventually include her losing some of her privacy as she becomes more famous across the globe, something that frequently happens with actors starring in Marvel movies. So here's hoping that Captain Marvel ends up being a fruitful endeavor for her.
Fortunately for Brie Larson, Captain Marvel won't be her first time being a lead actress in a blockbuster movie. She already has some experience in that department through her role as Mason Weaver in Kong: Skull Island, but unlike the latest King Kong feature, where she was part of an ensemble, the spotlight will primarily be on her in the upcoming Marvel movie. Captain Marvel will be the first MCU movie to have a superheroine leading the charge, and ideally this will leave just as positive an impact, both commercially and socially, as Wonder Woman did this past summer.
Taking place in the 1990s, Captain Marvel will show Carol Danvers' origin story and her conflict with the Skrulls, the shapeshifting alien species that is at war with the Kree. Nick Fury will also appear in the movie, and at this point in time, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent still has two working eyes. While Carol and Fury are the only officially confirmed characters so far, it has been rumored that Mar-Vell, the Kree operative who was responsible for Carol's powers in the comics, will also appear. Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck are directing Captain Marvel, and Meg LeFauve, Nicole Perlman and Geneva Robert-Dworet have worked on the script.
We'll see Brie Larson debut as Carol Danvers when Captain Marvel flies into theaters on March 8, 2019.
