All throughout the history of the MCU, Marvel executives Kevin Feige and Louis D’Esposito have reaped much of the credit for what is undoubtedly one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood history.
But on the other side of the lens, it’s casting director Sarah Halley Finn who deserves the most credit. She was the person responsible for drafting Robert Downey Jr. into the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man, all the while serving as casting director on both Guardians of the Galaxy and the so-hot-right-now Infinity War.
Finn’s latest gig? Captain Marvel, and at least according to Clark Gregg (Agent Phil Coulson), the talent scout has knocked it out of the park, as Brie Larson is simply “killing it” as Carol Danvers.
Brie Larson is amazing. Amazing person, amazing actor and she’s killing this role. It’s an amazing cast. She’s amazing. Everyone knows she won an Oscar…and she’s really special.
That’s exciting in and of itself, as leaked set photos have given us a sneak peek at Brie Larson in her full Kree uniform and, frankly, she most definitely looks the part. Set against a 1990s backdrop, back when Nick Fury had two functioning eyes and the Avengers Initiative was but a distant dream, Captain Marvel has also been described as an atypical origin story in that it plays with audience expectations.
Or so says Black Panther producer Nate Moore:
I think there is a structure to origin films that audiences sometimes can get ahead of very quickly. So, if we do origin films, internally, we talk about how we can subvert that structure. For instance, Captain Marvel is an origin movie in that you haven’t seen her before, but we think we’ve stumbled upon a structure there that isn’t the traditional structure of what origin movies typically are, which is you meet the character, they have a problem, they get powers at the end of the first act, and the end of the second act they learn about the powers, the third act they probably fight a villain who has a function of the same powers.
Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s standalone Captain Marvel movie has been cleared for take-off. Its estimated time of arrival? March 8th, 2019, by which point we should have a better understanding of what the Russo Brothers have rustled up for Avengers 4. Because unlike Infinity War, it will feature Carol Danvers mingling with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.