Oscar Winner Brie Larson Being Considered For Captain Marvel

Academy Award-winning actress Brie Larson is reportedly “circling” Marvel’s Captain Marvel, according to THR.

Larson is not the first actress whose name has come up in connection with the property, but the star, who just won an Oscar for Room, seems closer than anyone has been yet to actually sealing the deal for the film, making her Marvel’s first female superhero with a solo movie.

That might sound like it’s not much, considering that they’ve already had numerous superheroines featured in the wildly popular Avengers franchise, and a female-led TV series in Jessica Jones. The constant debates about the availability of Scarlet Witch and Black Widow merchandise, though, clearly demonstrate how different a female-led film would be. Merchandising and promotion would have no one else to focus on (true, also, for Jessica Jones, but Netflix and Marvel don’t merchandise their co-productions in the same way Marvel does its movies) and whoever gets this part could instantly ascend to being the most recognizable woman in Marvel’s pantheon.

The movie doesn’t have a director yet but does have a script by Guardians of the Galaxy co-writer Nicole Perlman and Inside Out‘s Meg LeFauve. It centers on Carol Danvers, an Air Force pilot whose DNA is fused with an alien’s during an accident, giving her powers. In the comics, Danvers was Ms. Marvel for years, and there have been several other characters known as Captain Marvel — most notably a Kree named Mar-Vell, who died of cancer rather than in battle.

The film is due in theaters in July 2018.