Why It Would Be A Mistake To Recast Brie Larson As Captain Marvel

Ahead of The Marvels, Marvel Studios’ follow-up to Captain Marvel has had rumors circulating about a potential Brie Larson recasting. As of yet, this is completely unfounded. The Short Term 12 actor was recently filming in London for The Marvels before its delayed release to February 2023. Not only is Larson back as Carol Danvers, but Captain Marvel will be even more powerful than before. The controversy around Larson seems to stem from her vocal feminism and a targeted campaign leading up to Captain Marvel‘s release. As the first solo female-led MCU movie, Captain Marvel was likely to ruffle the feathers of an angry minority – but that’s no reason to bump Larson from the role of Captain Marvel. Luckily, that’s not happening.

Some recastings – like T’Challa or Hulk – may be necessary for a range of reasons. In T’Challa’s case, the debate has been raging on as to whether Marvel Studios should replace the late Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther 2 after his tragic and untimely death, but Marvel chose not to move forward with recasting the role of Black Panther. In Edward Norton’s case, his relationship with the studio turned sour after creative differences.

Even if Marvel encountered similar issues with Larson, recasting the character would be pointless with Monica Rambeau and Ms. Marvel appearing in The Marvels. If the movie bombs, perhaps they would sideline Captain Marvel as a character altogether to make space for fresher blood. However, the half-measure of recasting would just confuse the narrative of a franchise that’s now starting to brim with alternate timelines and variants.

The first Captain Marvel movie wasn’t a box office disaster by any stretch of the imagination, raking in a cool $1.128 billion, placing it among the higher-grossing films on the MCU slate. People voted to keep Larson as Carol Danvers with their wallets. While Captain Marvel was far from a perfect movie, partially due to a needlessly convoluted script and irregular character choices, it’s convenient for some to blame Larson for its flaws due to her comments in support of feminism and diversity, rather than looking deeper into the structural and conceptual problems with the MCU installment.

Given the political nature of the attacks on Larson, recasting her would set a terrible precedent for political witch-hunting. Even Gina Carano’s role as Cara Dune in The Mandalorian was ditched entirely rather than recast after unconscionable comments related to the Holocaust. Switching out a popular and recognizable iteration of a character messes with the story for both the writers and audiences who eat it up.

However, if Marvel truly wanted to recast Larson, they could use the “variant” excuse. If she’s from a different timeline in the Multiverse, she can look however the creators wish – one Loki variant in Loki was an alligator in a hat. And while most actors in the MCU are cemented into their roles and contracts, for the foreseeable, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that a major lead could be recast. Still, Larson is safe in the Captain Marvel franchise cast and should play a larger role now that the Skrulls and Celestials are starting to present cosmic-level threats in Phase 4.

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