Moviegoers all over the world will meet a new Marvel superhero when Captain Marvel hits theaters next weekend. The title character has been described as the most powerful character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Power is not to be confused with perfection, however, as star Brie Larson was attracted to the flaws that make Carol Danvers who she is.
“There’s a lot to love about her, which is why I was really excited to do this in particular,” Larson said at the Captain Marvel press conference last week. “I was a little worried about playing somebody, a superhero that would be perfect because I don’t feel like that’s realistic, or something aspirational at all.
“So getting to play a character where the whole character arc and turn of this is watching her be this major risk taker, which means it’s not always going to work out the best. And those are the moments, the defining moments of her character, where she doesn’t lay down and she gets back up. I mean, that’s everything. That’s for everybody. There isn’t a person who can’t relate to that, I don’t think.”
Larson has spoken previously about finding strength she did not know she had while training for and then playing the role of Carol Danvers. Like her character, Larson found that discovering and unlocking the power within oneself can be a very emotional experience.
“All the time,” Larson confirmed when asked if she ever cried during all those hours in the gym. “I sobbed in the gym many times. My trainer would be like, ‘oh, she’s crying again.’ It’s very emotional when you’re kind of stirring up something very vulnerable and raw inside of you and you’re also learning that it’s just for you; there was nothing for me to prove. I wasn’t proving it to other people at the gym. It was for myself.
“And for me, the main reason for doing it was so that in moments like this when we’re talking about Carol’s strength and we’re talking about what I learned from her, it’s that I’m stronger than I realized. Of course, this movie is like assisted with the VFX, because I can’t personally shoot photon blasts. But I can stand here and say that I am really strong; I was able to dead-lift 225 pounds; I was able to hip-thrust 400 pounds. I was able to push my trainer’s 5000-pound Jeep up a hill for 60 seconds. So this concept, when it comes to gender norms or what the human body is capable of, or in particular maybe what a female body is capable of, it’s capable of a lot.”
It is the coupling of power and vulnerability that has helped make Carol Danvers such an incredible character in Marvel Comics. Larson’s ability to identify those qualities, among others, and bring them to the big screen through her performance will make Captain Marvel an even bigger hit with moviegoers.
