From the very first trailer, it was clear Captain Marvel was going to be a game-changer in the superhero genre. And the movie proved as much as soon as it came out in March 2019: Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie shattered box office records by making $455 million its opening weekend. (It eventually made a cool billion dollars.) The best part? Captain Marvel was the first movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have a woman co-director and writer (Anna Boden) helming things behind the camera.
Now, according to the The Hollywood Reporter, a sequel to Captain Marvel is in the works. The company has reportedly started developing the new film, and while there are still a lot of details we don’t know, here’s what we’ve gathered about the project so far:
The cast:
The film is going to star Larson again, who reprised her role as Danvers for Avengers: Endgame. So far, she’s the only person listed on the sequel’s IMDb page, so we’ll have to wait and see who else is joining her in the follow-up adventure. We’re hoping Samuel L. Jackson comes back so he can recreate some adorable press moments with Larson.
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The director:
According to sources who spoke to THR, Boden and Ryan Fleck are busy with other projects and may not take on the second installment. However,
Marvel and Disney are reportedly working to find a woman director to take the reins from them.
The writers:
THR reports that Megan McDonnell, one of the lead writers on the Elizabeth Olsen-led series WandaVision, is in final negotiations to write the film’s script.
The premiere date:
The film is expected to come in 2022, although that could change, since the whole thing is still in development. Here’s hoping it coms sooner, though, because we can’t wait to see Larson kick ass on screen again.
Captain Marvel broke all kinds of records when it hit theaters in March 2019. It raked in $455 million its opening weekend, it was created by a team of powerful women, and it introduced audiences to a new kind of female superhero. Brie Larson, the star of the film, got tons of recognition for her work in such a badass production; however, when she was given the Best Fight trophy at the MTV Movie & TV Awards on Monday, she made it clear there were some unsung heroes who needed serious credit. So she went onstage to accept the award alongside her stunt doubles Renae Moneymaker and Joanna Bennett.
Larson made sure the spotlight was on Moneymaker and Bennett, who both worked intensely by her side on Captain Marvel. Stunt doubles often fly under the radar in action films, and they don’t always get recognized for their dedication. Larson wanted to change that, so the Oscar winner and new director completely turned the attention to her friends and colleagues.
“I wanted to take this moment to really say thank you to the two women who are standing here beside me,” Larson said. “These are the women that trained me and were also the stunt doubles for Captain Marvel. I could not have made this film without them. They are really the baseline of who she is. They are the living embodiment of Captain Marvel.”
After introducing them, Larson cheered, “Say whatever you want!” and turned the mic over to the two professionals, who have also been stunt doubles on Wonder Woman, Avengers: Endgame, and X-Men, to name a few. Bennett talked about how exciting it was to bring a strong female character to life, while Moneymaker recalled the female characters who had influenced her own career.
“As young girls, we wanted to be just like Lara Croft and G.I. Jane, so it’s a real honor to be a part of this character and hopefully pass along some of that inspiration and strength that those iconic women brought to us,” she said. “And lastly, a big thank you to Brie for acknowledging our role in this film. It’s truly a rare acknowledgement, and it means so much not only to both of us, but to the entire stunt community.”
The female hero is evolving rapidly, or maybe she just can’t be pigeonholed anymore. Whatever the case, it took long enough. Action movies with female leads, especially in the superhero subgenre, have certainly been few and far between compared with the slew of male-fronted films. Despite that, movies like Kill Bill, Foxy Brown, and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider paved the way for major female-fronted action franchises to take over the box office in the last decade, including The Hunger Games, Divergent, Star Wars, and, of course, Wonder Woman.
This weekend Marvel finally debuted its first solo female superhero movie, Captain Marvel—and with that came countless comparisons to DC’s Wonder Woman. But other than their genre and box office successes, the films—and their heroes—are nothing alike. In fact, as far as heroes go, Captain Marvel is the first of her kind.
Brie Larson as Captain Marvel
Marvel
Their differences are most notable in, where else, their superpowers. Wonder Woman’s defining message is that there’s strength in being feminine, and hers is tangible. We see it radiating off her glowing skin. We see the way her strapless breastplate and short skirt accentuate her curves and muscles. She’s an Amazon, a towering marvel of a woman. Wonder Woman’s calling card is that she’s unlike any male hero. She was literally created in the 1940s to be the antithesis of a male hero, an answer to masculinity—something that was not only revolutionary in its era but controversial.
Captain Marvel, as we’ve come to know her in the MCU, is not that. To start, her backstory is more modern: The character in her current iteration was created by Kelly Sue DeConnick in 2012. Carol Danvers is an Earth-born fighter pilot in the U.S. military. She’s one of us, she’s achievable. She shares our stories, our struggles in the real world. She’s bogged down by the chains of patriarchy, forced to find her own internal feminine strength to get back up each time she’s knocked down. She’s tomboyish—her off-duty wardrobe consists of Nine Inch Nails T-shirts, leather jackets, flannels, and baseball caps—and unlike Wonder Woman, her super-suit neither hugs her hips nor exposes her skin. But it’s not traditionally masculine, either. In some ways, Captain Marvel eludes gender, from her function-first suit to her nearly gender-neutral character development.
From left: Gal Godot as Wonder Woman, Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars
Warner Bros/Disney
Both Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel are monumental characters, and their differences are what make each of them so special and lovable. But while feminine power exudes from Wonder Woman in every action scene, her idyllic form dancing through war-torn fields and obliterating men, Captain Marvel’s is in the subtext. Take the famed No Man’s Land scene in Wonder Woman; Diana stands out in lurid color against a sea of gray male soldiers, towering over them, her long locks twirling with her sword. Captain Marvel’s strength is in her story rather than the visual aids. There’s a subtle nod to girl power in a fight scene set to No Doubt’s “I’m Just a Girl.” In another scene, a montage of misogynists tell Carol she’s too emotional to be a pilot, not strong enough to be an athlete. We watch a pilot prod, “It’s called a cockpit for a reason.”
The most feminine part of Captain Marvel is her ability to overcome in the face of misogyny. It’s endurance—a feminine strength that may not be inherent but is certainly learned, or forced upon women in the real world. I love this about Captain Marvel, along with her inability to be pinned as any type of female hero that came before her. Because while Wonder Woman is powerfully female, many action franchises’ leading women are almost conventionally male. Rey in The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens is reminiscent of the golden boys of saviors past, a Harry Potter reboot. Ellen Ripley of Alien also contains conventionally masculine power, a morally sound badass with brawny muscles.
Marvel’s first female-led superhero movie is officially a record-breaking success: Captain Marvel made a reported $153 million in its opening weekend, just in the U.S. alone. It brought in another $302 million internationally for a huge total of $455 million worldwide ticket sales, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The movie stars Brie Larson as Carol Danvers, a pilot who becomes Captain Marvel after she finds herself in the middle of an intergalactic war. It’s also the first in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have a woman behind the camera—co-director and writer, Anna Boden.
Those numbers make Captain Marvel the biggest opening of 2019, as well as the first film to break the $100 million dollar mark this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the global sales also make Captain Marvel the biggest launch for a female-fronted film ever and the second-largest superhero film behind Avengers: Infinity War. It’s the sixth-best opening worldwide of all time.
Clearly, moviegoers were ready for a female superhero to take charge in her own piece of the franchise. This, along with the smashing success of Wonder Woman, should put an end to any doubts that female superheroes can’t sell at the box office.
Fans took to social media to give their own mini-reviews after seeing the film. “I saw Captain Marvel tonight,” wrote one user. “I am such a fan of the @kellysue comics, and was KINDA nervous. Because SOMETIMES screen things aren’t as good as paper things. BUT I LOVED IT. Truly. Madly. Deeply. #HigherFurtherFaster” Another said, “I just wanted to tell you that we WE ARE SAFE NOW MISS CAPTAIN MARVEL IS HERE AND SHE IS GLOWING.”
“#CaptainMarvel was good fun, and the backlash against it pre-release was ridiculous,” said another user. “Go see it and support it – shouldn’t matter to whiny nerds what gender or race the lead in a Marvel movie is, it’s still a Marvel movie. Representation clearly matters.”
Next up for Captain Marvel? She’ll help take on Thanos when Avengers: Endgame opens on April 26.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is home to some badass female characters. Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell), Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders), the list goes on and on. But Captain Marvel, in theaters now, marks the first time a MCU woman has ever been center stage in her own movie. And it’s about time.
Set in the 1990s, the film features Academy Award winner Brie Larson as Carol Danvers (known as “Vers” to some), an Air Force Pilot who, after an explosion, becomes Captain Marvel and finds herself caught in the middle of an intergalactic war. Not only is she Marvel’s first solo female lead in a film, she’s also one of the most powerful heroes in the entire universe, full stop.
It makes sense, then, that the team behind Captain Marvel is made up of some powerful women. Anna Boden directed and wrote Captain Marvel—along with her partner, director and writer Ryan Fleck—and the film boasts several female producers, writers, department heads, and crew members. We spoke with four of the women behind Captain Marvel about their careers, what it was like to work on this groundbreaking Marvel film, and more. Check out our conversations, below.
Courtesy of Pinar Toprak
Pinar Toprak, film composer
Toprak was born in Instanbul, Turkey and has been studying music full-time since she was a young girl. “I’ve always wanted to score film,” she tells Glamour. “I moved to the United States for it, when I was 17 years old. I didn’t even know English when I first moved here.”
Determined nonetheless, Toprak gained admission to the Berkeley College of Music and graduated in two years. “I felt like how Carol feels when she arrives to Earth in Captain Marvel,” she says. “It was an entirely brand new experience to try to master, to say the least.” After graduation, she moved to Los Angeles, received a masters degree in composition, and landed an internship at the Paramount Pictures Music Department. In the early aughts, she began working for the legendary Hans Zimmer, who’s produced music for The Dark Knight, The Lion King, and other blockbusters.
But even with all her knowledge, Toprak still found she had to keep proving she could write for action and sci-fi as a woman—but she pushed through. “I love comic books, in general, I love fantasy, and I grew up watching Westerns,” she says. “But for me, it’s not really about the genre. It’s about the story.” Now, creating music for action and sci-fi projects has become what she’s known for: She has credits on Syfy’s Krypton, video games like the massively popular Fortnight, and films like Justice League and, of course, Captain Marvel.
Captain Marvel marks the first time a woman has scored a film for the Marvel cinematic universe, and the accomplishment is one Toprak holds closely. “It means everything to me,” she says. “It means that my dreams were possible, and my efforts were noticed.” Working for Marvel was a huge step for Toprak, and she was relieved to find the creative executives at the company, as well as her Captain Marvel team, were receptive to all she had to offer. “They’ve been really wonderful with being open to ideas, because I heard a very high-risk score from the start,” she says.
The “high-risk” score Toprak had in mind was a mix of musical homages and throwbacks one might not expect to hear in a movie debuting in 2019. She wanted to match the energy and feel of the scores accompanying the action films in theaters during the events of Captain Marvel—’90s classics like Bad Boys and Heat. “Even when I brought that idea, the idea of having the homage to the nineties action films, they were just game for trying anything,” she explains. “Of course, Marvel is a well-oiled machine, so they like things done in a certain way, but I had a pretty large playground to play in. It was wonderful.”
