Brie Larson had already won an Oscar before being cast as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Carol Danvers and the announcement she'd play the hero was initially met with positivity from fans.
However, the tide turned when various soundbites from past interviews were circulated on social media (with the suggestion being she must "hate" men). Larson not smiling enough in trailers for Captain Marvel also became an issue for some and the review-bombing which followed led to Rotten Tomatoes changing how its Audience Scores were generated.
Captain Marvel still made over $1 billion at the worldwide box office but The Marvels flopped at the end of 2023, likely bringing an end to any future solo adventures for Larson as the character.
While she is expected to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, it feels like her time as Carol may be winding down. The actor didn't address that in an interview with The Telegraph but did reflect on the impact playing Captain Marvel for the first time in 2019 had.
"I was aware that taking Carol would make me more of a public person than I was before," she told the site. "But I thought that what the film was saying was more important than my fear, and I also thought I trusted myself to know how to manage my life."
"It was a life-changing experience. A lot of the characters I play, I’m like 'thank you, goodbye' once it’s done," Larson added. "I don’t feel the need to bring them home. With Captain Marvel, most of the things I learnt from her – her agency, her sense of self – I’m keeping. It was great that she could also be this experience for others."
When the interviewer asked her to weigh in on why some men were threatened by her casting, the report claims "the temperature in the room plummets." Here's an excerpt from the piece:
"'I don’t know,' she says blankly. 'I… don’t pay attention.' I ask if not paying attention is her way of dealing with the misogyny. A few seconds of chilly silence pass before she replies. 'What I would like you to see is that by continuing this conversation, you are putting me in connection with something that is nothing to do with me.'"
"This seems a startling thing to say. I try again by asking whether she believes that the film industry continues to pigeonhole actresses to the point that a female superhero can, for a certain sort of viewer, still feel like an aberration. 'I don’t think there is a way for me to answer that,' Larson replies, 'without it becoming a problem for me.' Her publicist intervenes to ask me to move on to the next question."
Larson was likely concerned that whatever she said would be used to fuel further online hate towards her, so it's easy enough to see why she didn't want to wade back into that.
Marvel Studios hasn't taken full advantage of Carol in the MCU; setting her origin story in the past kept her separate from the present-day MCU and her role in Avengers: Endgame was minimal. The Marvels, meanwhile, was meant to be an important chapter in the Multiverse Saga but never quite clicked.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released in May 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive in May 2027.