Since first being announced as part of ‘Phase 3’ of Marvel’s ongoing box-office domination back in 2014, Captain Marvel has had its release date swapped around, pushed back and played down, all with no announcement of who exactly would be playing Air Force pilot turned superpowered Avenger Carol Danvers. In the midst of unveiling full casts for their upcoming films like Doctor Strange and Black Panther at Comic-Con, Marvel finally revealed that they had cast the role.
Room actress Brie Larson has officially been announced as Captain Marvel. The winner of this year’s Best Actress Oscar had been linked to the part for a couple of weeks now, but stepped out following the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 section of Marvel Studio’s Comic-Con in order to make it official. She then took to Twitter to make the announcement, sporting a nifty hat:
Call me Captain Marvel. pic.twitter.com/IgqRIb9ijM
— Brie Larson (@brielarson) July 24, 2016
Carol Danvers has been around in the Marvel universe since the 1960s. An officer of the US Air Force, she met hero Captain Marvel, a member of the alien race the Kree (it’s complicated) and was later caught in an explosion of a Kree device that rather than killing her, gave her the abilities of a human-Kree hybrid. The character has had a long and complex history since then, going by the names Ms. Marvel, Binary and Warbird while teaming with the Avengers, the Defenders and even the X-Men. In 2012, she emerged as one of the most prominent characters in Marvel’s comic line-up, taking the mantle Captain Marvel herself in a popular series written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, becoming a feminist favourite and leading to the creation of vocal fan group the Carol Corps.
Captain Marvel won’t be released for another three years, a long time to wait for Marvel’s first female-led film three phases and twenty films in, but the long-overdue announcement of Larson as Danvers remains an exciting one. Here’s hoping the film can be a success and lead to film appearances from similar characters like Monica Rambeau (the original female Captain Marvel) and Muslim icon and current Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan. Captain Marvel is scheduled for March 8, 2019.