Brie Larson and cast LOVE that women take center stage in “Captain Marvel”

Editor’s note: Our contributor Angela Reyes returns to share this report from the press conference for “Captain Marvel.”

“Captain Marvel” is the first MCU film to have a woman as its lead hero. In a recent press junket for this film in Los Angeles, the cast and crew sat down and discussed bringing Carol Danvers to life and what the film represents in this newest addition to the MCU.

Brie Larson, who portrays Danvers in the film, started off by explaining just what she thinks is so relatable about her character.

Without giving too much away, she explained how Carol Danvers is a character who takes risks and how the “defining moments of her character [are] where she doesn’t lay down, she gets back up” and how that her resilience is something that everyone can relate to and find meaning in.  Of course, it is safe to say that as the first female lead in an MCU film, Captain Marvel is something even more meaningful to women.

Larson expressed her interest in “female complexity” of the character, and how she did not want to play her to be perfect because she does not feel that is “realistic or aspirational at all.” Fortunately for Larson, Danvers is nowhere near perfect.

Lashana Lynch, who plays Danvers’ best friend, Maria Rambeau, agreed with this wholeheartedly. Lynch said that what makes Carol so great is that Carol is “just a normal person. She is able to be every facet of what a woman represents today.” She went on to explain that her own character, Maria, is a “matching version” of Carol, and the two actors agree on the significance of the women’s relationship in the film.

Relationships and love are huge aspects of many films, after all, and Larson claimed that the friendship between Danvers and Rambeau is “the great love” of the film. It is what keeps our hero fighting. This demonstration of such a natural, strong bond between two women was both touching and inspiring, especially in a society where women are often seen as being in competition with each other.

Larson continued to praise not only the relationship of these women, but of Rambeau’s character in and of herself. “It’s like the movie shifts when [Rambeau] is on the screen, because there is a level of power that she commands,” Larson said before explaining how the people she watched the film with felt a personal connection with that character.

Connecting with characters helps make a movie great and Lynch further praised Rambeau’s ability to connect on a deeper level, in that she is “not only representing women, [but also] black women, single mothers, and representing all women in the military.” Not only is Carol Danvers a huge positive symbol for women, but so is her best friend, Maria Rambeau.

This film, not surprisingly, has such a strong, female presence in it that was truly enjoyable to me, as a woman and long-time fan of the MCU. I’m certain other women will feel the same way. Even Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Coulson in the MCU, commented on how significant it was, how he has taken his “young daughter to see a bunch of Marvel movies” but now he’s taking “a 17-year-old young woman to see ‘Captain Marvel’. . . and [he’s] never been more excited to take her” to an MCU film.

Fittingly enough, the last question of the conference was posed by a 12-year-old girl in attendance. She asked the cast and crew what they thought kids should take away from the movie. Brie Larson turned the question right back at her, saying they made the movie for her and how “the world is already telling [kids] so much about how [they’re] supposed to think and interpret things.” The girl expressed how she thought Captain Marvel was such an “empowering, female role figure.” The rest of us in the audience seemed to be in agreement that this was an excellent summary of what Carol Danvers and the movie in general represents to women and girls everywhere.

“Captain Marvel” is coming soon to theaters on March 8, 2019, which also happens to be International Women’s Day.