‘Captain Marvel’: Brie Larson On The ‘Black Panther’ Comparison & Expectations

You might be surprised to learn that Brie Larson doesn’t want to experience any sort of barrier-breaking epiphanies when introducing “Captain Marvel,” Marvel Studios‘ first solo lead female superhero to the moviegoing audience.

While the phenomenal commercial and critical success of “Black Panther,” centered around Marvel’s first solo lead black superhero and a predominantly black cast, was universally hailed as a significant moment – and a triumphant victory – for diversity and representation in pop culture, during a spring visit to the set of “Captain Marvel,” Larson asserted that she didn’t really want or expect any similar hoopla about glass-ceiling shattering for her center-stage superheroine.

“I don’t know how it’s any different. To be honest, I don’t want it to feel different,” Larson explained. “I’m kind of over the, ‘First female blah blah blah,’ and ‘Wow, maybe women can actually do the same things that dudes can do – what a crazy concept!’ I feel like the more we talk about it, the more we perpetuate the myth that it’s an impossible task. No, if it wasn’t like that before, it’s because it was wrong. That was just wrong. Now we’re just doing what’s natural.”

Larson waved away questions about elements of the film that might have thrilled or pleased her in terms of new pinnacles of female empowerment. “It doesn’t matter what I make, I feel really firmly that art is made to be enjoyed and interpreted, and you get what you need out of it,” she said. “My favorite books I’ve read multiple times in my life, and they mean something totally different to me every time I read them. Art isn’t made to be processed and labeled and organized in the way that we do it now. I even have a hard time with the idea of genre, and that we place value based off of, ‘Well, it’s really good for a this kind of movie.’ What’s that even mean? I don’t understand.”

“It’ll be what it is, and I think there’s gonna be lot there for people to digest and feel,” she continued. “And hopefully it’ll be the movie that you want to revisit again and again, and as life goes on, it’ll have more to it. I just want to make art that lasts. I want to make art that you grow with. That’s all.”

Larson isn’t preparing herself for any specific reaction from moviegoers when the film is released. “I hope I’m not ready,” she said. “Because if it is something, then I want to be surprised, and I don’t want to have expectation, because I’m not in it for that. I didn’t make this movie for any of those things, so that I could attach a numerical value to it.”

Even the film’s inspiration aspect she leaves to emerge on its own. “Even that is not up to me,” she said. “You don’t get to decide if you’re an inspiration to people or not. “Since I’ve agreed to do this role, people have said, ‘Oh, well you’ll be a role model, blah blah blah.’ I’m just gonna do what feels true to me, and if people want to tag along, they can, and if they don’t, they can bounce, and that’s cool. I’m not gonna go out of my way to do things in order to be something to people.”

“All of my heroes were just unapologetically themselves,” she explained. “And they were flawed at times, and that’s okay. So for me, it’s part of who Carol is, too. She’s flawed. She’s not perfect. So in order for me to feel comfortable stepping into this position, I have to accept my humanness, and remind everybody that I’m a human, and I’m an artist. And I just want to make art, and that’s really it.”

Captain Marvel follows Carol Danvers as she becomes one of the universe’s most powerful heroes when Earth is caught in the middle of a galactic war between two alien races. Set in the 1990s, Captain Marvel is an all-new adventure from a previously unseen period in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Captain Marvel stars Academy Award® winner Brie Larson (Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Ben Mendelsohn, Djimon Hounsou (Korath), Lee Pace (Ronan), Lashana Lynch, Gemma Chan (Minn-Erva), Algenis Perez Soto, Rune Temte, McKenna Grace, Kenneth Mitchell (Joseph Danvers), with Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), and Jude Law.

Captain Marvel launches on March 8, 2019, while Avengers 4 hits on May 3, 2019, followed by Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.