Brie Larson’s statement about the character of Carol Danvers and how becoming Captain Marvel changed her life is inspiring since it’s opened her eyes to the possibility of a life she could have achieved at some point if she wanted, but was given a better glimpse of when she was tapped to become the iconic superhero. As far as her activism goes she’s been seen as a positive force by many people when it comes to advocating for people of color and for women and for anyone that’s not white, cis-gendered, and male. Yeah, that probably sounded a bit cynical simply because just below the positive surface of her activism and her ability to take on the role of Captain Marvel is the fact that she’s been a very divisive character since coming onto the scene. Like it or not, there aren’t a lot of people willing to forget that she’s been kind of outspoken when it comes to calling out what she sees as ‘toxic’ within the MCU fanbase and the fact that she actually did her best to ensure that she was interviewed by those that were anything but white and male. Diversity is great, there’s no doubt about that, but the manner in which Brie went about trying to attain it rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and made it appear that she was fully ready to alienate a big part of the MCU’s fanbase.
For a lot of people, it didn’t matter if she didn’t smile enough, or wasn’t muscular enough, or was being touted as the strongest character in the MCU, which is still up for debate. It was more along the lines that as powerful and overbearing as her character has been made, and it’s hard to argue that point since many of the MCU characters have been weakened, she just doesn’t feel like the leader that Disney is banking on. It’s great that the role of Captain Marvel has given her a bit of inner strength that she might not have been aware of before, but the whole idea of using her as the fact of the MCU doesn’t feel right to a lot of people and it does sound as though it’s one of the many ideas that will fall flat if it’s enacted in the way that Disney appears to want. The former face, Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., had a lot of character flaws and they were fairly obvious and not always desired, but he also had a great deal of confidence and a ton of natural charm that Carol Danvers just doesn’t have. Strong as she is, and destined as she is, it would appear, to be the new face of the MCU, it does feel as though this means that there are lackluster days ahead for the MCU unless her outlook is bound to change in a big way.
It’s not about smiling or looking even more impressive, it’s about being able to shoulder the MCU in the same way that RDJ did, and at this point, it doesn’t appear that she has what it takes since from the moment the first Iron Man movie started, RDJ walked in with the feeling that he was THE person that would take on the challenge of bringing the MCU into the forefront of entertainment, and he was THE guy that would exemplify one of the most popular characters in the entire franchise. Brie has one movie that has shown that her character is popular thus far since while she was a great help in Endgame she was also the Hail Mary that the Avengers needed and, in some ways, the MacGuffin that everyone should have guessed was coming. There is a desire to be as positive about Brie Larson as possible because she is a good actress and she is talented, but the MCU needs someone that’s better than what she’s delivered so far and someone that’s able to take the entirety of the franchise on their shoulders and run with it. Iron Man/Tony Stark did this in a way that was impressive since he could fill the room with his presence and make everyone simply pay attention even if they didn’t want to, within reason. Obviously, this doesn’t work too well with the Guardians of the Galaxy since there’s too much ego within the MCU to override it completely. But in terms of ego, letting Brie Larson have the keys to the kingdom so to speak feels as though the MCU is letting someone that knows how to do things her way take over, but of course, that worry is largely unfounded.
The fact that being Captain Marvel changed Brie Larson’s life is great, now if she can keep her hero persona and conform a little more to the MCU without losing any integrity, that would be great.
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