Brie Larson just can’t seem to catch a break from fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a very vocal minority not happy with her mere presence as Captain Marvel, despite the fact the she’s more than proven herself as one of the fastest-rising stars in the industry after winning an Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA, headlining a comic book blockbuster that earned over a billion dollars at the box office and making her directorial debut all before she’d turned 30.
Even though Carol Danvers is widely expected to become one of the focal points of the entire franchise in the future as one of the MCU’s marquee names and the next leader of the Avengers, there are still numerous petitions being circulated demanding that she be removed from the role. While the success of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign proved that studios do pay attention to these sorts of things, there’s no chance Kevin Feige is even contemplating drastically shaking up his plans just because some people don’t care for the actress.
Some fan art that imagined how Charlize Theron would look in the role began circulating online last week though and now a lot of people have taken to social media to lament the fact that the Mad Max: Fury Road star wasn’t cast as Captain Marvel instead, and you can check out some of the reactions below.
thinking about charlize theron as captain marvel… maybe the world just wasn’t ready for that kind of cultural reset. pic.twitter.com/gmYeQI8RjR
— Julian (@julianwstoller) August 10, 2020
Over a year later and I’m still mad about the Captain Marvel casting… Charlize Theron would’ve been 10x better
— AT (@kal_eltigani) August 11, 2020
https://twitter.com/Nature3939/status/1292003775012577284
wishing charlize theron was captain marvel because i feel like she would’ve fit the role more
— silas (@imseedless) August 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/tedophile1/status/1291377438304288768
The captain marvel we should have had…
— Freddie Fort (@FreddieFort) August 8, 2020
Always wanted her as Captain Marvel
— Dalitso Adrian Zimba (@TheGreatPicnic) August 9, 2020
She was always my top pic for Captain Marvel. She would’ve been amazing.
— Andros Sant (@andros10) August 8, 2020
It was always clear that the studio wanted someone younger to play Captain Marvel from the start so that they could grow into the character over a number of years, with Larson only 26 when her casting was announced. Charlize Theron might be one of the finest talents of her generation, but she’s also fifteen years older than the person Marvel ultimately chose for the role. As such, it makes sense why she didn’t get the gig, but it’s also not like the actress hasn’t been doing exceptionally well for herself lately, firmly cementing her status as one of the industry’s biggest action stars.