Last week’s The Marvels trailer reawakened an unpleasant side of the internet. Back in 2018, Brie Larson made some innocuous comments about feminism during a Captain Marvel press conference. Awful internet men reacted like a vampire being flicked with garlic-scented holy water and a cavalcade of YouTube videos by upset bearded men with names like “theANGRYman” and “TheCriticalRage” and whatnot flourished, all chanting “get woke, go broke” and assuring everyone that Captain Marvel would be an embarrassing flop for Marvel Studios.
Captain Marvel made $1.1 billion at the box office and their response? *crickets chirping*
But now, with The Marvels teaming up Larson with Iman Vellani’s teen Muslim superhero Ms Marvel, those rusty old pitchforks have been dragged out of the closet for another round of waving and wailing. The latest story going around is that Brie Larson has been kicked out of the MCU and replaced by Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke. So, is it true?
Well, what do you think?
No, Brie Larson has not been replaced as Captain Marvel and we’d be a little concerned if you had actually believed this for a second. Larson remains a considerable box office draw, is front-and-center in the new movie (which completed its shoot long ago) and continues to maintain good relations with Marvel Studios.
You may see stories that Larson is at the center of some controversy or other, that her co-stars secretly hate her, or that Kevin Feige is desperate to be rid of her once and for all, but these are fantasies designed to boost clicks on sad little YouTube videos.
There will come a day when Larson says goodbye to Carol Danvers for good and exits the MCU, though right now the studio and her co-stars are firmly lining up behind her.
So where is this story coming from?
The root of the story seems to be a headline from Inside the Magic that reads “Confirmed: Emilia Clarke is new ‘Captain Marvel’ actress in MCU”. This is misleading, as the actual story is that Emilia Clarke will reprise her upcoming Secret Invasion role of the Skrull G’iah in The Marvels.
G’iah made her debut in Captain Marvel as the young daughter of Skrull General Talos and his wife Talos. The child version of the character was played by sisters Harriet and Auden Ophuls in Captain Marvel, with Clarke taking over now that she’s all grown up in the modern MCU. Clarke’s character will play a major role in Secret Invasion and then go on to appear in The Marvels, with the Disney Plus establishing the Skrull status quo in the MCU.
The Marvels (firmly starring Brie Larson) arrives in theaters on Nov. 10.