Rumor has it we’re getting another Oscar-winning superhero. As Variety reports, Brie Larson, who won Best Actress this year for her performance in “Room,” is in early talks to play Captain Marvel in the comic studio’s 2018 movie.
Captain Marvel is a character whose role has been taken on by many people in the comics universe. Both men and women have held the title. Thankfully, Marvel decided to utilize Captain Marvel’s most recent identity of Carol Danvers, also known as Ms. Marvel, rather than making another male-led superhero flick. Danvers first appeared as Ms. Marvel in 1968 and assumed the Captain Marvel mantle in 2012. (As a side note: the current Ms. Marvel is 16-year-old Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American and Marvel’s first Muslim to headline her own comic.)
As The Guardian notes, the upcoming iteration of the story will follow Danvers as “an air force pilot involved in an accident that combines her DNA with that of an alien. This then leads to her possessing super strength.”
Larson would join a long line of Oscar-winners who have also starred in big-budget comic book films since they became the tentpoles that they are. Just before winning Best Actress for “Monster’s Ball,” Halle Berry played Storm in 2000’s “X-Men,” and afterwards played “Catwoman” in a ill-received solo outing. Gwyneth Paltrow has played Pepper Potts for a few “Iron Man” movies. Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton have joined the Marvel universe and will appear in “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Doctor Strange.” Natalie Portman played but has since abandoned the role of Jane Foster in the first two “Thor” movies. In the comics, a female Thor took his place and it was eventually revealed that Jane was behind the Thor mask. We’d love for Portman to revisit the role now that Jane has become an Asgardian Goddess.
Another Oscar-winning name is also circling the project. It’s been speculated that Angelina Jolie is among those being considered to direct the film. Other names flying around the director’s chair include “Whale Rider” helmer Niki Caro, and “The Babadook” director Jennifer Kent. Cinematographer Reed Marano is interested as well.
