Brie Larson was officially announced for the lead role of Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel over the summer, but Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has just revealed something huge about her powers. Namely, she beats everyone in the MCU.
Meg LeFauve and Nicole Perlman have written the script for the film, which Feige recently confirmed would be an origin story (we're not surprised). They've yet to decide on a director, but reports have named several women who are in contention.
“I expect to have a director by the end of the year,” he explained to Vulture in a recent interview. “We've been meeting amazing filmmakers, but often the way we work, as was the case on Doctor Strange and most of our movies, is that we have a … I don't want to say a 'road map,' but we have a general view of what the movie is and then we meet with filmmakers and share that with them and then they pitch it back to us in a better fashion.”
At a Doctor Strange screening event earlier this month, Feige noted Captain Marvel would be the most powerful character they've ever introduced. He expanded upon this idea with Vulture:
“It's very important to us that all of our heroes do not become silhouette-perfect cutout icons. All of the Marvel characters have flaws to them, all of them have a deep humanity to them. With Captain Marvel, she is as powerful a character as we've ever put in a movie. Her powers are off the charts, and when she's introduced, she will be by far the strongest character we've ever had. It's important, then, to counterbalance that with someone who feels real. She needs to have a humanity to tap into, and Brie can do that.”
There's already been talk of the writers changing up Carol's origin a bit because it seemed too similar to DC Comics' Green Lantern, so we don't really know if her power set will be exactly the same as it is in the comics (super strength, flight, energy blasts, a partial Kree physiology) but this is pretty major.
Saying Carol is stronger than characters like the Hulk or Thor really makes me wonder what she'll be up against. And frankly, her being the strongest makes sense when you consider Marvel's female characters overall (excluding any X-Men). She may not have always had the kind of name recognition Wonder Woman has with non-comic readers (even when she went by her previous moniker, Ms. Marvel) but she's always been one of their powerhouses.
For her part, Larson has been prepping for the role and is thrilled to be featured in Marvel's first woman-led superhero film. The character will also have a role in Avengers: Infinity War, but I'm thinking that will likely be a smaller cameo. If so, it's a shame because we recently found out Evangeline Lilly's Wasp will not be in that team film leaving Black Widow as the only female Avenger again.