Brie Larson officially announced as Captain Marvel

Room Oscar-winner Brie Larson is taking the lead as Captain Marvel, marking the first time a woman will play the title character in a Marvel Studios movie.

After months of rumors, the actress, also known for her roles in Short Term 12, 21 Jump Street, and (going further back) the teen comedy Sleepover, was revealed at San Diego Comic-Con as the star of the March 2019 film.

Larson took the stage during the Marvel’s Hall H panel, joining Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige as well as the casts of Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and Spider-Man: Homecoming for a Marvel family portrait.

She later tweeted a photo of herself wearing a Marvel Studios cap to celebrate the announcement. “Call me Captain Marvel,” she wrote.

Captain Marvel has had many iterations in the comics, but when Feige announced the project in October of 2014, he confirmed immediately that this version of Captain Marvel would be a woman.

“Let me clarify,” Feige said. “Captain Marvel has gone by many names in the comics, has had many people who’ve inhabited that costume and used that power base. I want to make it very clear: This hero’s name is Carol Danvers.”

Danvers was created in 1968, appearing in Marvel Super-Heroes #13 — a Captain Marvel story — as an American security officer working alongside Captain Mar-Vell, an alien sent to study the planet Earth. She debuted as the super-powered character Ms. Marvel in the pages of Marvel Comics after her human DNA was fused with genes from the alien race known as the Kree. She went on to inherit the title of Captain Marvel in 2012.

Feige previously said this cinematic version of the character will “straddle two worlds. Her origins are very much Earthbound, but her adventures and power base come from the cosmic realm.”

The character almost appeared in a cameo at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron, except… they didn’t have an actress cast in the role.

Now, if Marvel follows its previous game plans, we can look forward to her turning up onscreen in a cameo before her own movie debuts.

Source: Entertainment Weekly